If your business has come this far without a website, you might be wondering: do I need a website for my business? What’s the point if my business is already successful without one?
The short answer is that there has never been a better or more important time to invest in a website for your business. A website offers a wide variety of benefits to small businesses, and most of these benefits are growing exponentially year by year, just like the internet itself.
Not convinced? We’ve rounded up ten of the biggest benefits your small business can get from a simple website.
10 reasons why you need a website for your small business
1.A website makes you look professional
84% of consumers today believe a website makes your business more credible than businesses that only have social media profiles. Your website is also the perfect place to show off any professional certifications or awards your company has.
Beyond that, having your own website allows you to create a branded email address (eg, diana@yoursite.com) that adds a level of professionalism to all of your correspondence, especially if you’ve used a personal email to do business so far.
2.Your website can attract new customers through Google
You may be satisfied with the current size of your business, but every business experiences customer turnover. To encourage continued success, you need to attract new customers, and one of the best ways to do that is to get 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 present your products and services
You can show potential clients what they’ll get when they work with you by displaying high-quality photography on your website. Find out how UK restaurant Blackhouse accomplished this on their website:
You can also use your website design, along with the featured images, to give people an idea of what it feels like to enter your physical location. This works especially well if your brand is closely tied to the “feel” of your location, like Canadian restaurant Stormcrow Manor.
Another thing you can do is post important information about your products and services on your website to ensure you attract the right customers. For example, if you run a restaurant, you might want to mark all items on your menu that are gluten-free so people with celiac disease or other conditions that make gluten unsafe 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 can take the form of personal customer testimonials, like this review on the non-profit organization STEAMLabs website:
If your business has appeared in popular local newspaper or blog articles, you can also feature them, as Stormcrow Manor did below:
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, you’ll 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 accessible to potential customers. You can even post your contact information in a header or footer to appear on every page. Snakes and Lattes, a small chain of board game cafes, placed the phone numbers of their four locations in the footer of their website:
Modern web designers (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 allows you to embed maps directly into your content. Some companies, like STEAMLabs, have a map embedded directly into their homepage:
An integrated map makes it easy for people who don’t spend a lot of time in your area to find your business. This is especially great if you’re hosting events, as they might attract people who wouldn’t otherwise spend time in the neighborhood your business is located in.
7. Your website establishes your place in the industry
If your competitors aren’t online yet, they probably will be soon. Establish yourself as a leader in your field by first creating a high-quality website.
If your competitors are online, you have a different kind of opportunity: you can create a website that’s completely different from your competitors’ sites, showing potential customers what sets your business 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 create an attractive, mobile-friendly site without any knowledge of code. Even WordPress, the most popular way to build a website, has moved to a block editor:
In other words, it has never been easier to create a functional and beautiful website.
9. A website ensures your long-term success
In 2020, nearly 4.54 billion people (59% of the world’s population) use the Internet, and more and more people are going online.
Without a website, your business is invisible to these people. As we move into the digital age, your business will become invisible to everyone else unless you invest in a website.
So to stay competitive in this increasingly digital world, your business needs to go online.
10.You Can Get All These Benefits Without Spending a Fortune
Creating a website is not easier than before. it’s also more affordable. If you’re willing to take a simple, non-technical DIY approach, you can build a website for as little as $70 per year.
WordPress, which is again the most popular way to build a website, is 100% free for the basic software. If you add a free WordPress theme like Neve or Hestia and cheap website hosting, you can get up and running at a very low cost.
So, do I need a website for my business? The final verdict
I hope you have now understood that the question is not “do I need a website for my business”, but “can I afford not to have a website in the digital age” . And the answer, if you want to continue to thrive in the long run, is no. A website is one of the best investments a business can make in its future.
If you’re ready to get started with a website for your small business, contact us at Twice Box. Again, WordPress is the most popular way to build a website – it powers over a third of all websites on the internet. It is also affordable and accessible to non-technical users, which largely explains its popularity.
Finally, if you want a website for your small business, Contact Us!
