Spoiler alert: yes – you do! It’s easy to avoid tackling a website when you’re starting out in business, especially as keeping your costs down is a high priority, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of potential customers.

Here’s 10 reasons why you need a professional website now more than ever:

 

27% of small businesses don’t have a website 

Shocking! But true. You need to be in it to win it, and you want to be one of those 3 in 4 businesses who DO have a website.

 

You can reach new customers

Your website is your digital shopfront, and as more and more businesses embraced working from home, and indeed many businesses were started from home offices (or kitchen tables!), the one thing they do lack is a physical presence. 

Whilst having to maintain an actual office / shop window to advertise your business can be constant work, your website can be built to showcase all your services and cater for the immediate needs questions a potential customer may have.

 

It puts your business on the map locally

If you’ve worked on your Google My Business pages and gained some great reviews, you will quite literally be on the map with Google searches and with Google actively prioritising local results, it can be a goldmine. So it’s important there isn’t a gap where your website link should be!

 

Your website is alive!

It’s not like a brochure that can go out of date – many changes can be done in a matter of minutes to update services, opening hours or pricing.

 

It’s your digital sales tool and resource hub

Your website is your digital sales tool, and can be referred to in your email marketing as well as proposals. We use ours to list articles that explain go-live process, what hosting and domains are and much more – all things that are lengthy to explain on a sales call. Plus, in general prospects will want to consume that kind of information in their time, rather than on a call with several other people.

 

Your website is always on

Seems pretty obvious, but your website is on 24/7. Your office / billable hours may be 9am-5pm, but more and more people browse in the evenings and weekends, particularly busy business owners looking for more services to support them.

As there are more calls to limit social media time for mental health, many are turning to more beneficial ‘screen time’ e.g. business growth.

By utilising contact forms and chat bots, you can field enquiries any day or time, and get in contact with your prospect when you’re back in office hours.

 

Social media posts have a limited lifespan – your website doesn’t!

Social media should form part of your overall marketing strategy, but it’s worth considering how much time you allocate to each, and where possible, direct them to your website. Here is a quick look at life spans on various social networks

  • TikTok – Instant Decay
  • Twitter – 15-18 minutes
  • Facebook – 6 hours
  • LinkedIn – 24 hours
  • Instagram – 48 hours
  • YouTube – About 20 days
  • Website – unlimited

Your website will get indexed by search engines and will remain in search results until your page is taken down, so potentially it can last forever. 

As you can see, life spans of social media posts are limited, but if you are driving prospects to your website, (or to follow / subscribe to your channels) you are further helping your website gain momentum and increase search engine result positions.

 

Your website makes you look professional and builds your business credibility

Think about engaging in a service with someone – would you check out their website? Chances are you will – and they will judge you based on their web experience. 

84% of today’s consumers think a website makes your business more credible than companies who only have social media profiles. 

It’s not unheard of (and can be common in startups or trade services) but generally if someone contacts you from a yahoo / gmail email address you may be a little suspicious of their credentials.

Further this this: 88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours, so you need to be in it to win it.

Your website is also the perfect place to list your credentials (especially for trades, or services that are regulated) and a chance to impress.

Back that up with testimonials, case studies and reviews and you’re starting to win over your prospects.

 

It puts your customer in the driving seat

Your customers can discover your services on their terms – it could be on an evening, or at the weekend when you’ve got your feet up! More than ever, people and businesses want to consume and buy on their terms, so make it easy for them to do just that.

 

People buy emotionally before they buy financially 

It stands to reason that your prospects will have a ‘gut feel’ about working with you, but as Harvard Professor Gerald Zaltman has discovered, it’s a whopping 95% sway.

By investing in a professional website and content to drive them to it, your prospects will be more engaged and emotionally connected to it, than if you were to use an off-the-shelf platform which many other use.

It’s your opportunity to bring your brand to life, and deliver the same passion and attention to detail online as you do in your services.

 

Your website ensures long term success.

As you can see, there are so many reasons why you should invest in your website and make it a major part of your business strategy. Websites are living organisms, and their roots grow and spread over time time to firmly establish your online presence and in your Google rankings.

Are you ready to drive your business to the next level with your website? Speak to us today to get a lead generating website for your business.