Do I Need a Website for My Business?

If you’re asking yourself the question ‘why do I need a website for my business?’, you’re probably looking at ways to grow your customer base, and wondering if a website will do the trick.

Well, we’re here to tell you the top five reasons why it will.

The top five reasons why you need a website for your business are:

Click on each reason to find out more.

Reason One – Tapping into a Bigger Audience

These days, it’s not enough to rely on a small ad in the telephone directory to grow your customer base. In fact, a recent report by Social Media Today suggests 70% of Americans don’t even open their phone book. Compare that to the 77% of people in the US who own a smartphone, and you can figure out where most people do their searching.

In fact, we can narrow this down further. Just take a look at these stats from a report conducted by Bright Local:

• 54% of people use the internet to search for at least one local business a month
• 78% of people who search for something nearby end up visiting a local business within a day

But let’s not look at this from a US perspective alone. For companies looking to operate on an international level, it’s worth knowing some worldwide figures, too:

Now do you see the potential? Having a website will enable you to tap into the worldwide web – the biggest customer resource. And with the right marketing strategy behind it, you could be looking at thousands of website visitors a day!

What are you waiting for? Fill in our form to receive quotes from top website suppliers and get your business out there for all to find.

Reason Two – Gain More Credibility

These days, it’s all about being transparent. People really want to know who they’re handing their money over to. This is where a website comes in handy. ‘About Us’ pages, testimonials and galleries are all great ways to instill trust in your business – and you can’t have all that on a flyer.

Doesn’t a Facebook page do the same thing? Not really. While you can have contact details, reviews and pictures on your Facebook page, you can’t customize it to your business’s exact needs.

And not everybody uses social media. Consider this: A third of Americans don’t have a Facebook account.

You could be missing out on loads of potential customers by limiting yourself to social media only.

Reason Three – Essential to Any Digital Marketing Strategy

As we’ve already established, the internet is a fantastic customer resource. But you’ve got to know how to work it. The best way to do that is to set up a digital marketing strategy, and you can’t do that without a website. A website is key to each point mentioned in the graphic below:

SEO

Search Engine Optimization is all about getting your website on the first page of Google. Have your website ranking on the first page for as many search terms as possible, and you guarantee yourself a steady flow of visitors.

Content Marketing

A surprising 97% of businesses stated that they use content marketing as an important tactic for their overall digital marketing strategy. Content marketing combines the powers of ultra-relevant web pages, blogs, video and social media posts. But you need somewhere to host all of this content, and a website will provide a home for all four.

Email Marketing

For email marketing to work you need… email addresses. Websites are a great way to grab people’s email addresses. How? Thanks to your contact page. Make sure you have a user-friendly form on your contact page so people can provide you with their details.

Social Media Marketing

When people look you up on Facebook, they’re often looking for more information about your business. Help them out by linking from Facebook to your website. You can also link from your website to your Facebook page, so potential customers can check out what you’ve been up to – this all helps with gaining credibility.

Ecommerce

Why stop at bricks and mortar? Online giants eBay and Amazon have made a success out of selling products online, so why can’t you? Whether you create your own website using a website builder, or ask a web designer to design one for you, giving your customers the option to buy your products online will only boost your appeal (and revenue!).

Reason Four – Start Selling Your Products Online

When the figure is that big, you know you’re really missing out on a great opportunity to increase your revenue by not having a website.

Luckily for you, getting an ecommerce website up and running is easier than you may think. Website builders such as Shopify, GoDaddy and Wix already have ready-to-go templates, so all you need to do is:

The hosting fee doesn’t need to be expensive. For example, Wix charges just $27 a month for a basic ecommerce site – you can earn that back after one sale. And with that, you can choose your own website address and receive payments 100% commission free.  For more information, check out our Wix review.

If you’re looking for the best ecommerce website builder, Shopify is certainly worth considering. While Shopify is much more expensive than Wix, you’ll get much better inventory management and control over dispatch and delivery. That makes Shopify more suitable for growing businesses rather than local stores.

If you do decide to go ahead and build a website, you’ll need to ensure you hit web accessibility standards. That’s especially important if you are selling your goods and services through your website, as you could face fines like Domino’s did.

Reason 5 – Open For Business 24 Hours a Day

Having a website where people can access your products and services 24/7 is a surefire way for you to increase your revenue. And it doesn’t need to be a huge time sink; these days there are AI website builders that can get you up and running online within half an hour.

And don’t think it’s all about your customers coming to you. The more customer details you collect via your website, the more data you have to play with.

Start looking into CRM (customer relationship management) software and use it to auto-send emails with links to your products, services and offers while you’re tucked up and sound asleep in bed.

The Expert Verdict

So, ‘do I need a website for my business?’. The stats on this page indicate that you very much do. In the digital age, you need a website to keep up with your customers and your competition, even if it is just a simple site with a couple of pages.

And a website costs far less than you think. There are plenty of options out there, so check out our page on ‘How Much Does a Website Cost?’ for lots of useful info.