DO I NEED A WEBSITE FOR MY BUSINESS?, the answer of course is Yes, if only to avoid losing business to competitors that already have a web presence. It doesn’t matter if you don’t sell your products or services online, if you are not online you will be losing business, it is the first place people go to find products or services they need.
This article tries to explain the reasons why a business needs an effective website.
Why Does My Business Need A Website?
Take a look at these statistics.
- 46% of searches on Google include local intent.
- 97% of users use a search engine to find local businesses.
- 28% of users purchased an item after a local search.
But I Have a Facebook Page
Many businesses have a Facebook page, for some they class this as their website, however, although it’s free (at the moment) there are drawbacks.
- You don’t own it, Facebook decides the look & feel of your business page, and it determines what you can show and who sees it.
- Facebook by its very nature will make your business page look pretty much the same as all your competitors Facebook pages.
- Limited SEO, when people search for your business they are directed to Facebook.
- Limited attention span, you may attract some people on Facebook but most people are browsing the posts and videos and are not interested in adverts.
A Facebook page should support your business website not replace it, with your own website you have full control over the look and feel, it will reflect your brand, your vision and your values, in a way it also shows your customers you are her to stay.
Why a Website Is Important To Local Businesses
A website is Essential for local businesses as these statistics show.
- 70% of users will visit a business because of what they found online.
- Mobile searches of “near me” increased by 136% last year.
- Over 50% of “near me” searches resulted in a visit to a business.
- 62% of customers will disregard a business if they can’t find them online.
Another interesting statistic s that 86% of users search for local businesses via Google maps showing the importance of correctly setting up your Google MyBusiness page (and of course linking it back to your business website).
A user who finds you on Facebook usually doesn’t know who you are, where you are and whether you are a scam or not.
What Will An Effective Business Website Do For My Business?
No matter what size your business is, the internet is a great leveller it can give you as much credibility as a larger competitor.
An effective business website can:
- Build credibility.
- Make you look professional.
- With a website, the size of your business usually doesn’t matter.
- It will attract new customers.
- It should showcase your products and services.
- Show testimonials and reviews to reassure potential customers.
- It should generate leads.
- It will help new customers find you more easily.
Benefits of a Business Website
Choose a platform which is easy to manage (We use WordPress) a platform which includes an easy to use CMS (content management system), you need a platform that not only grows as your business grows but allows you to easily add the functionality you need such as appointment booking or can be turned into an ecommerce website to sell events, digital downloads, products or services.
The platform should be updated regularly and be popular so there is a constant flow of plugins to keep up with technology.
Why You Should Invest In a Web Designer
Unless you know what you are doing (and I mean really know what you are doing) building a website can be a daunting task, especially if you are trying to build a business at the same time.
Partnering with a web design agency isn’t an unnecessary cost, a web design agency should take away the time consuming tasks and the pain of keeping your business available online 24/7.
A website isn’t just the visuals there are many free DIY website builders around (don’t forget you don’t get anything for free), but a website also needs to be well structured, it needs to have quality content and well thought out meta-data. It is built from the ground up to encourage the search engines to rank it highly.
An effective website is built around your chosen keywords and phrases it isn’t just text and pretty images. Once the website is built it needs hosting then the fun really starts. Not only does your website needs protecting from hackers (and fixing if they do get to it) it will need backing up, the platform (WordPress in our case) needs updating regularly, plugins need updating regularly and unfortunately updates can at best affect the look of a website and worse case they can take the site down requiring either fixing or a rollback.
If you get a business website go for fully managed, let the agency worry about security, update issues and availability of the site.
We have other articles you may find interesting
If you would like to know more or simply need to chat about your next web project, get in touch T: 0800 246 1209 or hello@activdmeastyorkshire.com
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Before you build your website, you may want to read this post here.
