19/09/2021
Ten reasons why you need a website for your small business
1. A website makes you look professional
84% of todayâs consumers think a website makes your business more credible than companies who only have social media profiles. Your website is also the perfect place to show off any professional certifications or awards your business has.
Beyond that, having your own website lets you create a branded email address (e.g. [email protected]) which adds a level of professionalism to all of your correspondence, especially if youâve used a personal email address to conduct business up until now.
2. Your website can attract new customers through Google
You may be happy with the current size of your business, but every company experiences customer turnover. To encourage continued success, you need to attract new customers, and one of the best ways to do it is by making yourself visible on Google.
A well-optimized website can help your business rank well for a variety of search terms and attract a steady stream of new customers. There are several free SEO tools that make it easy to optimize your website without any prior training.
3. You can clearly showcase your products and services
You can show potential customers what theyâll get when they work with you by displaying high-quality photography on your website. Take a look at how the UK restaurant Blackhouse has accomplished this on their website:
The Blockhouse business needs a website to show pictures of its food
You can also use your website design, along with the featured images, to give people a sense of what it feels like to enter your physical location. This works particularly well if your brand is closely tied to the âfeelâ of your location, like the Canadian restaurant Stormcrow Manor.
The Stormcrown Manner need a website to give a feel for its decor
Another thing you can do is publish important information about your products and services on your website to make sure youâre attracting the right customers. For example, if you run a restaurant, you might want to mark any items on your menu that are gluten-free so people with Celiac or other conditions that make gluten dangerous know they can eat in your establishment.
4. You can display your best reviews and testimonials prominently on your website
Displaying your best reviews and/or testimonials prominently on your website is a great way to establish social proof. This might come in the form of personal customer testimonials, like this review on the website of the non-profit organization STEAMLabs:
Testimonials at the Steamlabs website
If your business has appeared in articles from newspapers or popular local blogs, you can also feature those, as Stormcrow Manor has done below:
Storm Crow manner publication list
Publishing your best reviews on your website also serves the secondary purpose of creating a permanent archive. This means that even if third-party review sites close at some point in the future, youâll still have access to your best reviews.
5. A website can encourage customers to contact you
A website is a great place to make your contact information easily available to potential customers. You can even publish your contact information in a header or footer so it appears on every single page. Snakes and Lattes, a small chain of board game cafes, has placed phone numbers for all four of their locations in their website footer:
Snakes and Lattes displaying its various locations
Modern website builders (more on those in a bit) also make it easy to create a contact form, which can protect your business email from spam.
6. You can integrate your website with Google Maps so people can find you more easily
A website lets you embed maps directly into your content. Some businesses, like STEAMLabs, have a map embedded directly onto their home page:
Steamlabs embeds a Google Maps map
An embedded map makes it easy for people who donât spend a lot of time in your area to find your business. This is particularly great if you host events, as they might attract people who wouldnât otherwise spend time in the neighborhood your business is in.
7. Your website establishes your place in the industry
If your competitors arenât online yet, they probably will be soon. Establish yourself as a leader in your field by building a high-quality website first.
If your competitors are online, you have a different kind of opportunity: you can build a website thatâs completely different from your competitorsâ sites, showing potential customers what makes your company stand apart.
8. A website is no longer intimidating to create and manage
Modern website builders like Squarespace and Wix make it easy for you to build an attractive, mobile-friendly site without any knowledge of code. Even WordPress, the most popular way to make a website, has transitioned to a block editor:
The WordPress block editor makes it easy to create a website for your small business
In other words, it has never been simpler to create a functional, aesthetically pleasing website.
9. A website ensures your success over the long term
In 2020, almost 4.54 billion people (59% of the global population) use the Internet, and more and more people are getting online.
Without a website, your business is invisible to these people. As we progress further into the digital era, your business will become invisible to everyone unless you invest in a website.
So to stay competitive in this increasingly digital world, your business needs to get online.
10. You can get all of these benefits without spending a fortune
Building a website isnât just easier than it used to be; itâs also more affordable. If youâre willing to follow a simple, non-technical DIY approach, you can build a website for as little as $70 per year.
WordPress, which again is the most popular way to build a website, is 100% free for the core software. If you add a free WordPress theme like Neve or Hestia and cheap website hosting, you can be up and running at a very low.
So, do I need a website for my business? The final verdict
Hopefully, by now youâve realized that the question isnât âdo I need a website for my businessâ, but âcan I afford to not have a website in the digital eraâ. And the answer, if you want to continue thriving in the long term, is no. A website is one of the best investments any business can make in its future.
