If you are a business owner and have wondered whether to create a website, we will save you time to search for an answer - yes, you need it. A good, professionally designed, attracting attention, increasing sales, differentiating brand site.
That's why:
Consumer behavior changes over time to adapt to modern technologies. Let's give you an example - the Yellow Pages. The phone was a breakthrough new technology in the late 1800s and changed the way we do business. As more and more people began to use the telephone directory to search for local products and services, business owners realized that advertising in the Yellow Pages was a reasonable rate. By the 1930s, this advertisement was a standard procedure for most businesses in the United States.
Then came the world wide web and a new violation of the commercial status quo: digital transformation. As more and more consumers realized that they could find what they needed, the behavior of customers changed on the Internet faster and more efficiently than in the phone book. By 2011, 70 percent of all Americans rarely or never used printed telephone directories.
Fast forward to 2019 - the number of consumers who go online to find local business jumped to 97 percent. If you want them to choose your company, they need to find it on the Internet, that is, you need a website.
Why do you need a website. 5 reasons
Digital promotion begins with a website. If this is not enough to convince you, here are eight non-negotiable reasons why you need not just a website, but an optimized, accessible website.
REASON # 1: 30 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED BUSINESS WITHOUT A WEBSITE
Your website is your number one marketing asset because we live in the digital age. Most of the time people spend on the Internet. Mobile phones are always at hand, and therefore the World Wide Web, to which a person addresses for any reason. To date, consumers expect companies to be present on the Internet (including the website), and will consider a company that does not have a website as less professional.
REASON # 2: PEOPLE LOOKING FOR YOU ONLINE
One of the advantages of having a website for a small business is to be where your customers are. There is a reason that many companies are investing in a search engine optimization (SEO) website: 97 percent of people go online to find local businesses, and 93 percent of online services start with a search engine. Believe it or not, Google has a daily search of 3.5 billion searches, and there’s someone in your area currently looking for your particular service. Guess who makes a profit? Not you.
63 percent of consumers mainly use the company's website to search and interact with the business. This is quite a large part of consumers. Combine this with the fact that 93% of online experience begins with a search engine. Another good reason why your business needs a website? YellowPages and LSA studies have shown that, on average, consumers use approximately three sources before making an individual purchasing decision, and 30 percent automatically exclude a business from consideration if it does not have a website.
REASON # 3: COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS IN EACH INDUSTRY, INCLUDING B2B, INDUSTRY AND MANUFACTURE, INFLUENCES THE CONTENT OF THE DIGITAL WEBSITE
Most companies that do not have a website say that this is because their industry is not online. We hear this mainly from business owners in the B2B, manufacturing industry.
75 percent of B2B buyers believe that the content of a digital website significantly influences their buying decision, and 62 percent say they can refine their criteria for choosing a purchase based on only digital content of the website.
A B2B buyer currently averages 12 online searches before interacting with a website, such as an energy provider. Even for industrial and manufacturing companies, 67 percent of purchases depend on digital technology. Not only that, but half of all B2B customers today also expect the supplier’s website to be a useful channel, and more than a third expect the website to be their most useful channel.
REASON # 4: Site Design and Usability - Half Success
The lack of a website makes consumers less trust you. In fact, in 2018, 75 percent of people admit that they make judgments about a company's reputation based on a website's design. People are more likely to do business with a company they trust, and the website is the first place where they check their credentials, feedback and awards.
However, be careful - if you have a bad site design, it will not help you at all. You have 10 seconds to leave an impression on site visitors and tell them what they will get from your site and company. After this time (and often earlier) they leave.
People expect immediate satisfaction, which means that visitors should be able to answer three questions within three seconds after entering your site:
• Who are you?
• What are you doing / offering?
• How to contact you?
We live in the era of NOW, when consumers want to immediately get information, that is, your company's website should answer each of the above questions, while the user does not need to scroll down the page.
REASON # 5: SOCIAL NETWORK COVERAGE REDUCES
So, you think that you don't need a website, because you have a Facebook page.
Great, but you need a website, even if you have a Facebook page.
Guess why? It is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to communicate with users on the platform. During the week after the last update of the Facebook algorithm, organic coverage fell lower than it was before. Another bummer? In 2018, people spent 50 million fewer hours on the platform than in 2017.
While social networks can help your business grow, do not expect to use it as the only marketing channel, especially in the future.
Futureinapps company is engaged in professional development of sites for any business. Do you need a website if you only have a small business? We will answer this question in the next article!
