Why Your Business Needs A website

WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS A WEBSITE.

Gone are the days when thriving in a business involved only the good old’ door to door sales route.
Nowadays, businesses are taking their market online and meeting their consumers where they spend most of their time.

Just in case you’ve been wondering whether you should get a website for your business, we are here to let you know that to have a successful business venture in this time and age, one of your most required digital assets is a website.

A company’s website definitely brings more advantages than disadvantages. Businesses started embracing websites sometimes in the 90s and ever since then the quality of this asset has been evolving. Still not convinced, here are a few compelling reasons why you need a functioning website.

Why Your Business Needs A Website

1. INCREASED CUSTOMER REACH
According to a Nielsen Company Audience Report of 2016, the average human spends about 11 hours daily on the internet. This is almost half of the whole day being spent online. More than 2.4 billion people are using the internet daily and most of these people are potential customers that can be converted to brand loyalists. Owning a website opens your business up to a wider audience from all over the world, thus eliminating location barriers.
With a website, the global market is yours to conquer.

2. INCREASED COMPANY TRUSTWORTHINESS
The first thing most people do when they hear about a new business they are willing to patronize is to search for them online. Here’s where your website should pop up in the search engine and provide required information about your business. Lack of available content about your business on the worldwide web questions your credibility and the integrity of your business. Your website may be the first line of contact with you and your customers, therefore, it should represent you appropriately. Without a responsive and detailed website, people begin to wonder whether you are a ghost business, an unserious business owner or an outright scam. This is one of the many reasons why you need a website.

3. BETTER SEARCH ENGINE RANKING
Did you know that 81 per cent of consumers perform online research, before making a purchase? (Adweek, 2014). This means they search for items relating to their current need first online before considering the word of mouth option or a hardcopy brochure they were given at the mall. The more optimized the content on your website is, the more likely you are to rank higher in searches that are in relation to your business.
A content-rich and well-developed website put you ahead of the competitors by making your content the first customers see while increasing reach and ultimately sales. A website increases your chances of gaining visibility with potential customers.

4. ROUND THE CLOCK ACCESSIBILITY
You may not be running a 24-hour business, but clients may be searching for your product/service at any time of the day, especially because you have a global audience hence, time difference becomes a huge factor that comes into play.
A website helps you keep them informed before you are available. It serves as a virtual information assistant, providing all the information about your business. In the case of an e-commerce website, you could even be making sales while you are asleep…literally.

5. A WEBSITE SAVES TIME AND MONEY
You may be doubting this fact due to the notion that setting up and maintaining websites is expensive, but over the long haul, owning a website reduces a lot of unnecessary overhead cost. The time that may be spent on customer support and answering simple questions about your business can be saved when your website features an FAQ page.
This Frequently Asked Question page is expected to house the most likely questions to be asked by prospective customers. A customer service bot or a ticketing system can also reduce customer service time and/or the cost of hiring customer support.
Inbound marketing via your website also saves you the cost of obsolete traditional advertising which offers no form of measurement or proposed return-on-investment. A website saves a business owner time and you know what they say about time being money.

6. YOUR COMPETITORS HAVE WEBSITES
Any business owner will be holding themselves to an unfair advantage if you don’t own a website and your competitors do. Your definitive aim should be to get ahead of competitors, not to lag behind and stay in the stone age of advertising.
Even if your product offering is more superior or better than your competitors, customers will not know you exist without a website to give you a competitive advantage with your rivals. When a business owner finally decides to create a website, the next step is to optimize the site so it stands a better chance in comparison with your competitor’s site.

7. CONSOLIDATED CUSTOMER INFORMATION
From your website’s back-end, you can get information about the traffic that flows in and out of your site. This means there is some basic information that you can deduce from the people visiting your website i.e. people interested in your product. This knowledge can help in making further business decisions about your company.

This above information and more are enough reasons to get on the website bandwagon. Worried about the cost implication of getting a website up and running? Don’t fret, the internet is a home for all and there are good website design companies that offer quality and affordable website design.