The marketing days of rusty phone books and flyers are over. In this modern world, if your business doesn’t have a website, you might be as good as invisible to the customers.
A website can be your virtual storefront that serves the customers day and night, where you can show all your products in great detail and exactly the way you want.
If you are still not convinced, here are 9 reasons why every business needs a website.
1. Organic Traffic
When you’ve got an SEO-optimized website, you can pop up in Google/Bing search for products and services. Your customer base will grow by multiple folds, and the best thing is they’re ready to buy.
Every day there are 5.6 billion searches on Google. So, at this very moment, many people might be looking for the exact service you offer. Without a website, you risk losing all these customers to your competitors.
For example, suppose you’re a bakery owner who makes customized cakes. Let’s say someone in your area wants a custom cake for their birthday and search for “Custom Cakes Near Me.”
The SERP (Search Engine Results Page) will show many bakery shops including your competitors, that have well-made websites displaying their beautiful cake designs.
But the user has no idea that your bakery shop exists. As a result, they will click on one of your competitor’s websites and you’ll lose a potential customer.
To prevent that from happening, you need to act fast and build a website for your business ASAP.
2. Builds Credibility
In the past, maybe 10-15 years ago, you could get away without having a website. But now, not having a website is simply not an option.
If you don’t have a website now, people will question your legitimacy, and it will hurt your business’s credibility.
A website gives the visitors all the info needed to judge the product/service and make an informed decision.
Here, you can offer visitors a visual and informative experience through HD images, detailed descriptions, and user-friendly navigation to explore and understand your products.
Without a website, you’ll have to answer product-related questions over the phone, which isn’t ideal for customers and neither you.
3. 24/7 Revenue Generation and Global Market Reach
A website makes sure that your business is always open. For example, if you have an e-commerce store, you can let customers buy products any time they want.
Or if you are the owner of a hotel/restaurant business, you can allow online bookings through the website and maximize the revenue potential.
So, even when you’re sleeping, your website can make you money. It also allows you to take your business to different countries and sell it to a wider audience.
For instance, if you sell a Spanish language learning course, your website can attract students from all over the world instead of students just from your local area.
In short, a website is vital to the revenue and growth of any business.
4. Diversify Your Online Presence
Social media is not enough to grow your customer base. People are no longer spending the same amount of time on social media like Facebook. That’s why you can no longer rely on social media only and must build your own website.
You can create a beautiful website that resonates with your customers. Through analytics, you can see who is visiting your website and make content that will ensure they keep coming to your website.
So, even if Fb or Instagram shuts down your page for some reason, your core user base will still be there.
5. Offer Exclusive Deals
You can offer the customers discounted deals on certain products and gain traction. For example, you can offer “Buy One, Get One 50% Off” on selected items.
This prompts many to make the purchase and take advantage of the discounts.
Also, you can generate leads through downloadable instructions such as “10 Best Workout Tips for Beginners”. Visitors will have to enter their email addresses for this, and later you can promote your products directly to them via their mail.
6. Control the Narrative
Today, it’s very important to control the narrative around your brand. Once a brand becomes big, there’s a good chance of misinformation being spread about it.
Through your website, you have the power to tell your story, spread your message, and dictate the narrative.
The ‘About Us’ page of the website provides a great opportunity to share your mission, vision, and goals with people and create a perception that’s ideal for your business.
You can showcase the history and accomplishments of the brand and the team behind it to build an authentic connection with your customer base.
7. Maximize ROI with Conversion Optimization
Maximizing ROI is key to any business’s growth. You can work on the conversion rate to do that.
You should create clear and compelling call-to-actions and make sure they stand out. For example, when you want someone to buy a product, use a CTA button like “Buy Now” or “Add to cart.”
You also need to simplify the checkout process and minimize the steps to increase the likelihood of the purchase.
You can also do A/B testing and experiment with headlines, color, and layout to find out what works with your customers.
But keep in mind that this is a continuous process, and you’ll have to keep tinkering to serve the best content to the customers.
8. Build Social Proof
Social proof can influence the customers purchasing decisions strongly. A service or product gets validated by social proof, which helps to build credibility among the customer base.
Here’s how you can create a social proof with your website –
Reviews and Testimonials
Show positive reviews by people that have used the products. You should also display their picture alongside the written review. The best option is to use video testimonials. That way people will know that reviews are genuine.
Case Studies
You can highlight the successful projects that you have done. In the case study, you can explain the process and the outcome of the project.
For example, if you’re a digital marketing agency, you can show how you grew the traffic of a website in a certain amount of time.
These case studies prove that you’re the real deal and you know how to get things done.
Awards
If your business has won any awards, you can display them on your website to show your excellence.
9. Compete with Industry Giants
A website gives you a fair opportunity to compete with the goliaths of your industry. And if SEO is done properly, you can even beat them.
For example, if you run a fitness, you can build a visually appealing and SEO-optimized website to attract visitors.
You can create posts targeting keywords like “personalized fitness classes” or “specialized training programs” that suit the services you offer.
If an individual in the local area searches for these terms, you have the chance to rank in top positions and get their clicks. By targeting keywords like these you can compete with larger fitness chains that have huge ad budgets.
In Summary
In today’s digital era, a website is essential for any business, enabling visibility, accessibility, and revenue generation. It goes beyond social media, shaping narratives, offering exclusive deals, and establishing social proof.
With optimization and competition, a well-designed website fuels growth and success. Embrace its benefits for business advancement.
