Intro
Knowing the reasons your small business needs a website during the post pandemic period is vital.As the world moves further into the digital age small business owners are confronted with the reality of having to adapt to the times. Long gone are the days in which you can depend on going outside and handing out business flyers. More than ever before small businesses are required to have an online presence so that they can remain afloat. Keeping up with today’s consumer trends and growing your clientele cannot fully materialize unless your business has a website.
Being able to succeed online will determine whether your business goes to the next level or whether it stagnates. In this article we will look at 10 different reasons why your small business needs to have a website.
Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website
Provides your business with a good first impression
A first impression can set the tone on the overall experience that a potential customer can have with a business. We live in a world in which it takes about 1/10 of a second for a person to perceive something. A good first impression allows you to build trust and long term relationships with people. How can you attract potential customers when you do not attempt to form trust or long term connection with them? With a website you can provide customers with the opportunity to showcase your product, convince them why they need your product and inform them on how your product regularly benefits customers. You can also receive feedback from those who view your website.
Makes your business appear professional
In the 21st century professionalism equates with credibility. Take a glance at reviews on Google or customer review sites like Yelp and Trust Pilot. You’ll notice the countless complaints that customers have regarding their negative experiences with particular businesses. One of the most common complaints that these customers have is the lack of professionalism that they encountered. Don’t we all value when a company that we interact with understands us as their clients and acts accordingly? You might be saying to yourself as you read this article that your business always treats its customers fairly. I am sure it does, but we are in a different time period. A website lets people recognize your investment in them. This goes a long way when it comes to displaying professionalism to your clients.
You can run your business from home
An advantage that you have with a website is that you can conduct business from the comfort of your home. Whether it’s updating your products, creating ads, answering emails or receiving orders, a website does these things. The best part about this is that you do not need to be sitting in an office. Running a business from home provides you with several advantages. One, you can set your own hours. Second you do not have to worry about travel expenses. Third, you can avoid the stress that comes from being face to face with customers. With a stable inter connection, a laptop and a running website you can also conduct your business from anywhere. This is a luxury that did not exist several decades ago that small business owners can appreciate and enjoy.
You can reach more people
As a small business owner or someone who is responsible for growing a small business isn’t one of your main goals to reach as many potential customers as possible? Having the right website will guarantee that your business will reach these people. According to Oberlo,
In 2020 51% of small business owners increased their interactions with customers by using the internet
This proves that there are a great percentage of people who will not know that your business exists if it has zero online presence. Many consumers are discovering small businesses through blogs, online stores, social media platforms and Google searches. If you aren’t able to reach this market of people your competitors will and it’ll hurt your business in the long run as the world becomes more virtually dependent.
People are shopping on their mobile devices
This reason overlaps with the previous one and illustrates how many people’s shopping preference is reserved to them clicking on a touch screen. A lot of small businesses recognize this trend and are creating new methods to reach this demographic.According to Linkedin,
50% of international online shopping revenue came via mobile devices in 2020
It is evident that the same people that walk around with their cell phones or tablets to take selfies, post video shorts on TikTok and connect with their friends and family are also doing their shopping on these devices. As a business owner not only must you create a website that will reach people it must be one that is mobile-friendly. A website that allows shoppers to click on a button in order to make a purchase and be visible from a 6 inch screen will help your business be extremely profitable and up to date with the times that we’re living in.
More Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website
Ecommerce is popular
If you have never heard of the term ecommerce before or have not really understood what it means then I am glad that you have read this article. To give you a simple definition, it is a fancy term used to describe the process of purchasing and selling products and services via the internet. Some of the things that can fall under the category of ecommerce include retail items, master classes and affiliate marketing. There is an entire online world of ecommerce that is gaining more traction from both customers and small business owners. According to Forbes,
ecommerce sales are expected to grow 10.4% and the U.S. ecommerce market is expected to reach over $1.1 trillion in sales in 2023
I believe that it is a great mistake when a small business owner decides that his or her business does not need a website because of past success without considering the fact that research proves that more consumers are doing their shopping online as opposed to going to the mall or other shopping venues.
Most small businesses have a website
When you decide not to have a website for your business you are remaining part of a small percentage. Forbes states,
71% of businesses have a website in the year 2023
After a couple of decades into the 21st century and the evolution of the internet this should not come as a surprise. Businesses know that they have a market they need to reach and that without a website their business model will become outdated and stranded in the Industrial Revolution period. Not only do these businesses feature a website, a good amount of them are investing their finances in ways that they can get their site updated and performing up to speed. It does not have to cost your business a fortune to feature and run a website. You do not even need to hire a full time web developer in order for your website to be profitable. There are a number of reliable webhosting platforms that your business can choose from. I will speak more on this later on.
Competition is significant
Continuing from the previous point on why your business needs a website, you want to avoid falling behind your competition. By now you should be aware that business is a competitive field. If there is a demand for a product there will be suppliers ready to meet that demand. Even large conglomerates like Apple, Walmart, McDonald’s and Amazon have competition that they have to deal with. Businesses who do not have a website risk losing customers to their competitors. After all we live in an age that customers search the internet in order to find a particular business. Chances are that potential customers will choose your competitors if you aren’t visible online. The last thing that you want is for competitors to have an edge over you.
You can reach people beyond your geographical location
Whether you are aware of it or not, the world is becoming more globalized each year. It is much easier than ever before for a small business owner to have customers outside of their local community. In the era before the internet the majority of small businesses could only reach customers within their town, city or state. But in this day and age a website allows small businesses to have customers globally. If you believe that online customers only shop at local businesses then you have to think again. According to Forbes,
57% of online shoppers report shopping internationally
Think about that for a second, in a world of nearly 8 billion people you have a greater opportunity to grow the percentage of people that your business reaches with a website. You no longer have to worry about businesses in your area having a monopoly on the market that you’re in because there is always a customer base thousands of miles away from you.
Saves you money
In the days before the internet business owners needed to spend a large amount of their finances on business cards, flyers, the yellow pages, newspaper and magazine ads in order to attract customers. Instead of having to spend thousands of dollars on getting your business out there through these limited and antedated methods with only a few hundreds of dollars you can invest on all the resources that you need to run a functioning website. Any business that can gain more customers by spending less money is doing smart business.
Conclusion to Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website
Now that you have read the reasons why having a website is vital to your business the next step that you should take is to create your website. The first thing that you should do is to make sure that your business has a domain name established for its website. A domain name is the address to your website. For example, the domain name of this blog is estrellazservices.com. Your domain name can either be the name of your company or any name of your choosing. There are many domain name registers to select from, but I would recommend GoDaddy, Bluehost or Hostinger. You can also get a domain name from whichever webhosting service that you choose to host your website on.
After you choose your domain name then you have to make sure that your website is hosted live on the internet. A webhosting service is an online platform that allows the public to access your website. Some of the best webhosting platforms for small businesses include Wix, Ecwid, GoDaddy, and WordPress. Platforms like Wix and WordPress provide you with the necessary software and resources to easily build and design your website without requiring you to have any prior knowledge or experience in creating a website.
If you have any questions regarding the Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website article feel free to drop a message below.
