01 Jun 3 Ways a Website Can Grow Your Small Business
As a small business, you have a ton on your plate to think about. Whether it’s running your daily business, interacting with your customers, or managing your product or service, building a website is often the least of your concerns. However, it’s something you should think about if you want to get ahead.
If you’re on the fence about needing a website, you’re not alone. According to a 2015 survey by GoDaddy, 59% of small Canadian businesses don’t have a website and 41% believed their business was too small to justify building one.
What does this mean for you? It means you’re definitely among company, meaning even more the reason to build a website now. Why? Let me tell you how a website can grow your small business.
Get Ahead of the Competition
Many small businesses don’t have a website, which is even more reason for you to start building one now. Getting ahead of the game by ensuring your website is up to snuff will differentiate you from your competitor. A whopping 89% of shoppers do online research before they make a purchase, with 61% beginning their search by using a search engine to find the products they want, according to an infographic compiled by MineWhat.com. That’s massive!
People want to know what they’re buying before they buy, whether it’s going into a store, hiring a service, or ordering something. If you’re the one that pops up when they search for what they’re looking for and you have a nice, professional website, you are more likely to win their business than if you’re just a line in the phonebook or a storefront hoping for someone to walk past.
Credibility by Visibility
With everyone being so tuned in to what’s online, it almost seems fishy if a business doesn’t have a website. People want to know what you’re all about before interacting with you and they want to be able to get the information about your business.
Having a website ups your credibility by making you look like you’ve got your stuff together. If you take the time to have a nicely designed, easy to use website for people to get all the information they need about your business, not to mention allowing them to contact you with ease, you’ll be set for success.
Also, think of it as your business card. It’s way easier to get word of mouth customers if they can pass along your domain to their friends, look you up quickly, and share your site with others. Plus, it’s easy for you to spread around as well!
Communication and Marketing
Being a small business, you may not be ready to pay an arm and a leg for marketing campaigns and a dedicated public relations team – and that’s okay! Having a good website can do all of that for you. You can have a blog where you can create and post your own content, which is shareable via your social media channels. Ta-da! Now you’ve got free content marketing and social media marketing.
Your website is also a great place for you to feature sales, promotions, free trials, or anything else your business has got going on. You can offer exclusive website deals, have a strong call to action, or simply be able to generate leads via your site. Also, you’ll definitely need a website if you want to do any sort of relevant pay per click campaigns or invest in Google AdWords.
At the end of the day, there’s really no harm that having a website can do. Once you create something, it will last you forever (aside from updates as frequently as you wish). You’ll have a spot where you can grow your online presence and in return, your business.