WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS A WEBSITE

A great approach to getting the name of your business out there and to inform people about what it provides is to have a website. A website is a brilliant way to advertise, improve your brand, and perhaps create a new revenue stream, or make your current selling process more efficient. Here are seven good reasons for having a website.

1. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When someone sees your business advertised and takes an interest, or hears about it from a friend or relative, as soon as they choose to look it up they are going to search for it on the web. Having a well-designed, modern website gives the first impression of a business that is professional and has a solid foundation. It gives you credibility. When people search for a company online, they usually expect to see a website, and might be surprised if there isn’t one.

2. A 24-HOUR PRESENCE

You can also use a website to ensure that information about your products and services is available to people twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If your business functions in a typical working week, Monday to Friday, 9-5, having a website means that a potential customer can find you and the information they need outside your normal working hours. This increases the chances of them coming to you, rather than going to a competitor.

3. COMPETITION

There’s a good chance that many of your competitors will have a website, and if you don’t have one, this will give them an edge online. Without a website, it is quite possible you will miss out on the opportunity to gain new customers, and to retain existing ones.

4. THE LOCAL TOUCH

Yes, the web is global, but ironically having a website can also emphasise your local presence. People often like to do business locally, and mentioning the area your business operates within on a website will help search engines associate you with internet searches made in a particular region. If you’re viewing this blog on a desktop or laptop computer, hover your cursor over the tab at the top of this page, look at the text that appears next to your cursor, and you’ll see that it mentions Chesterfield in the page title. And now I have just mentioned it again! These are a couple of examples of ways you can get your website, and therefore your business, associated with the place in which you operate. A word of caution though – don’t overdo it. If search engines think you’re trying just that bit too hard to get noticed by stuffing your site with keywords, they might count it against you and rank you lower in their listings.

5. GLOBAL REACH

Although I just illustrated the power of using the web to achieve local reach, we can’t talk about the internet without mentioning global reach. Buying and selling local is great, and for some it is the only practical way of selling their skills and services. But if you sell a product that is not restricted by distance, for example a digital service or a product that can be shipped at an economical cost, having a website could open up your business to a far wider national or even international market.

6. ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION

Advertising is a vital way for a business to get its name out there and explain how it can benefit people. A website can be another portal through which you can promote your business. When people search online for your product or services, a website is a brilliant way to put a catchy, colourful and impressive advertisement for your business out there. That in itself is well worth considering carefully when deciding whether to go down the route of launching a website. But going beyond this, a website can become a fantastic tool in its own right for conducting business on a day to day basis.

7. SAVING TIME

Many businesses actively rely on their website – sometimes entirely – to keep their business alive. Scripting languages such as JavaScript and PHP, as well as integration with database technology, has enabled the web browser to move far beyond a simple publishing page, and to perform a huge variety of tasks, from blogs and forums to hotel booking and online stores. People like to find the information they need quickly and efficiently, and a well presented website with the capability to bring the right details on screen at the click of a button will keep customers engaged and not looking elsewhere. The ability for customers to order products and services at the click of the button is also an attractive possibility of having a website. Having this function will increase the start up costs when initially creating a website of this type, and it may mean additional work maintaining and updating the site, however, in the long run a resulting fall in cost of sales might increase the bottom line, as well as helping to keep up with or gain an edge on competitors. A static, unchanging web page which displays contact details and a few pictures is all some businesses will need, but an ever-changing organic website with multiple functions and the ability to search for and buy products is a must for others. Even so, if having a simple and relatively inexpensive website means that a customer can find the answers they need about your business online, without emailing or calling you, it could save both you and your customer the time of discussing matters before they decide to make a purchase. This is time that could be dedicated to more cost-effective tasks.

CREATING A WEBSITE

Often people would like to have a website but are put off by the thought that it is technically too difficult for them to create one, and that paying someone else to do it will be prohibitively expensive. While it is true that very large, complex sites can be costly to build and maintain, you might be surprised at how little it could cost to get a slick, modern website up and running in a very reasonable amount of time. Talk to Spire Designs about your needs, and we can give our opinion on the best course of action for you to take. In the meantime, take a look at our blog about the various ways you can create a website for your business.