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There aren’t very many businesses without websites, but is yours working hard for your business? Many owners of small or medium-sized businesses use their website like a business card — it’s there, but that’s it.
The good news is that a website can do so much more than that for your company! The benefits of having a website for your small business go far beyond sharing a business card or having your phone number online.
Wondering why a website is important? Let’s take a look at 10 reasons.
You wouldn’t just rent any building and slap your sign on the outside and call it your business. Choosing a location for your business takes a lot of time and thought. You want the right location, an attractive building, the right layout, and proper parking, just to name a few things.
The same is true for your website. It’s your official online storefront, and you can’t afford to have it be outdated, unwelcoming, or anything else that drives away customers.
Your website should be branded, attractive, and easy to navigate. You want to ensure it’s optimized for both small screens as well as regular computers — after all, more than half of web traffic today comes from mobile devices.
Your website is what welcomes your online visitors, browsers, and customers. Make it count!
No matter what business you’re in, from plumbing to B2B, there are competitors who also do what you do. Why should a customer choose you over other companies who provide similar products and services?
A lot of it has to do with what you stand for. As John Vuong, owner of Local SEO Search, points out: “People don’t want to buy from just anybody. They want to buy from people who have values that resonate with them, who have a story.”
Your website should be focused on your customers and how you can solve their issues, but on the About page you have an opportunity to go deeper into why you do what you do. You can share your story and values to build a better relationship with your customers and prospective buyers.
When people want to know more about your industry, or your products and services, they need a place to go to answer those questions. What’s important is that you answer the question, rather than your competitors.
The best way to do that is to have a website with a lot of useful content. From your blog to your service pages, you can present how you solve customer problems and why you do it better than others. This content may not be easy to write, which is why many businesses choose to work with an SEO marketing company to create content for them.
If you’re still wondering, “Is it important to have a website?” you can now see that it very much is! Educating your customers sets you up as the expert and helps people choose to buy from you instead of a competitor.
One key reason why having a website is important for your business is that it helps improve your brand profile online. With so many people — and businesses — operating online, you have to have a strong online presence in order to keep your brand visible.
Your logo isn’t the primary element of your branding. Instead, it’s all of the assets that help create an overall impression of your business. That includes your website. Consider going to the websites of some of the most recognizable brands in the world. What do you see?
What you’ll see is an extension of the rest of their marketing and branding. Clear brand colours and messaging, images, and even video that all support the brand. Your website can do the same. One of the many uses of a website is to extend your brand.
The importance of website design is that it creates a clear link between your website and the company. By using the same colours, messaging, and logos, it’s clear to customers who you are.
Building a relationship with someone else requires a number of elements. You need to see them in some way, and you need to communicate with them. You also want to learn about them and make sure that they understand you as well.
When customers build a relationship with your brand, it works the same way. Your potential customers discover you and then visit your website to get to know you. On your site, you communicate with them through your homepage content, your blog posts, and service pages.
You also need to ensure your visitors know that you understand their needs. You can communicate this by focusing your content on the desires of your target audience and how you can solve the problems.
“Will a website help my business?” If you use it to build relationships, yes!
Another one of the benefits of having a website for business is that it helps build your crediblity. Your credibility is important to both your customers and the search engines, like Google. The more experience and expertise you have, the more trustworthy your business becomes.
Make sure your website showcases your expertise without removing your focus from your customers. For example, you might say, “We know the best way to solve {problem} because we have 20 years of experience.” Your message is that the customer issue matters and your experience allows you to solve it quickly.
You can also use testimonials and case studies to build credibility with your audience. These stories show clearly exactly how you have helped other customers succeed in the past and give your readers confidence that they can get similar excellent results.
Why does a business need a website? To show their expertise and build credibility.
Do you need more leads? Who doesn’t? When you have a business website, you can optimize it using a process called search engine optimization (SEO). This allows you to place keywords in the right places so that your website is more likely to rank on the first page of Google for relevant searches.
The goal is to focus on keywords that your ideal customers use when searching for your product or service. When you incorporate these into your website in a variety of ways, they help Google understand what your website is about. You become relevant for those keywords.
Google’s goal with every online search is to serve up the most relevant, useful information for its users. When your website is highly relevant to specific search terms, it increases your chances of being on page one for that search.
On page one, you’ll get a lot more attention and clicks through to your website than you will on later pages of search results. That means more ideal leads and ready-to-buy customers will see what you have to offer, improving your chances of getting new business.
When you optimize with SEO, you can discover the answer to “How much does a website increase sales?”
A smaller company often gives little thought to the idea of having a blog. They focus instead on having an attractive homepage and informative service pages. That’s a great start, but it’s not all you need.
We mentioned SEO in the previous point, and one important element of ranking highly on Google is having fresh content on a regular basis. Your blog is the perfect place to do that. But what do you write about?
The best option is to start your blog writing about the common questions you hear from customers on a regular basis. The goal is to educate and engage them so that they trust you as an expert. You can also invite them to take further action, like signing up for your email list so they can receive special offers.
Many small business owners feel like they don’t have the time or skill to create new content on a regular basis. That’s when they discover the importance of website management by a skilled marketing firm like Local SEO Search. We can help you optimize your website and create new content to stay fresh and relevant.
We’ve put a lot of emphasis on your website in this article, and for good reason. There are tons of benefits to having an up-to-date, relevant, and optimized website. One of the biggest reasons, however, is that a great website is the foundation of an excellent digital marketing plan.
When you have regular blog posts with fresh content, you can share those on social media. Your social media accounts help extend your impact and amplify your message. You can also use social media accounts to engage with your audience, answer questions, and even handle customer concerns.
Another element of digital marketing is claiming your Google My Business profile and optimizing it. It should have specific keywords similar to your website. You can also ask customers to put reviews of your business on your Google account, which will help new customers trust you and choose to work with you.
When you have a high-quality website as the foundation of your digital marketing, your company will be positioned for significant success.
Now that you’ve seen the power of a website for your small or medium-sized business, it’s time to maximize the potential of this important asset. How is your website doing on each of the points we’ve made?
If you’d like your website to work harder for your business, it’s time to take action. A fully-optimized website can be a 24/7 sales representative, bringing significant revenue to your company.
We can help you get there. When you hand website management over to us, you can focus on what you do best — running your business! Contact us today for a free consultation to see how we can improve your website and help you grow.
