Every business needs a website! Here’s why…
It’s usually the first interaction that a potential customer has with a business, so if a business doesn’t have a website in the 21st Century, it is unlikely to attract new customers. So that’s one fundamental, but there are many more reasons why every business needs a website with a good website design, and here they are:
Acceptance By The Wider World
This reason is all about trust. If a potential customer looks for a website for a business online, and their search doesn’t return anything, they will probably think that the business they have searched for doesn’t have credibility. Worse still, their search could lead them straight to a competitor who does have a website – so business could be lost to a competitor without the customer even paying a visit to the business with no website. Not having a website can mean no trust, and lost sales to other players in the market. If you are looking for a good web design agency, then you can check out Blue Whale Media which offers web design services in many locations like Manchester and Warrington.
A Source Of Information
Another reason why a business needs a website is so that basic information can be imparted easily to customers. From opening hours to contact details, and FAQ’s through to a link to Google maps (so potential customers, suppliers and other contacts can find the business), all this basic information is likely to be amongst that required by first time visitors. Having a website with this available comes with other advantages too. If visitors to the website can find this information readily, then they won’t have to phone the business to find out. That means fewer low value phone calls into the business, freeing up staff to do something more creative. The information supplied can be custom made and changed as necessary – and the home page gives a great opportunity for any business to define what it actually does. Finally in this area, amongst the contact details is the opportunity to provide an e mail address. Not only that, if the business has a website then it is possible to align email addresses to the business itself. So the business, and individuals within it are not operating with addresses from providers like GMail. It all looks so much more professional – and also comes back to trust too.
To Sell And Promote Products And Services
If the website has an online ordering facility built in, this can make a massive difference to ongoing sales volumes for all sorts of reasons. A local business that has been relying on physical footfall through the doors of its premises can suddenly have global reach. So rather than just having customers coming from within a few miles, it is feasible to attract customers from anywhere at all, easily, using a mail order option. This has become even more important since the arrival of Covid 19. The pandemic drove online ordering through the roof for just about everything. Even with the decline of the pandemic, the general public now have a greater thirst for online ordering. In any given sector, a business with a website hooked up to a facility to deliver is going to outscore all competitor businesses that don’t do this. Customers can browse pages on the internet under no perceived pressure, from the comfort of their own homes. Not only that, but this facility is open to them 24 hours a day and 7 days per week, rather than just when the business has its doors open for customers to visit.
Engagement
An up to date website, kept current, is a valuable source of information and gives opportunities to develop and engage customers. Offers can be turned on and off for specific occasions. Black Friday… Mother’s Day etc. It also gives an opportunity to analyse which content customers spend longest looking at – and which they do not, so that this content can be constantly revised for maximum effect.
To Communicate The Organisation’s Image & Culture
Inclusion of pages that highlight the core values of the organisation work neatly in a website, and can be difficult to communicate often in other ways. For example, a business with a website has an opportunity to include mission and/or vision statements within the website’s mix. It is also a great place to show off any awards that have been won, quite possibly with photos included. This type of information is also critical as a communicator for any job candidates who are applying for roles within the organisation. As part of their research into the organisation, such individuals, visiting the website, can see immediately from this type of information what the business is like, and how the culture might be. Whether or not they will fit. There are also opportunities within these pages to communicate about the organisation’s stance on environmental issues, any charities supported, and to offer links to any social media pages that the business may have. Those pages are not enough on their own by way of online presence. Customers will normally see social media as just that. It’s something they do to relax – rather than to make purchasing decisions. Social media pages can be targeted to bring people to the website, but those people will normally be more comfortable making a purchase decision within the website itself. And that? Is because of the initial points made at the start. A website gives a business gravitas, and builds trust, so that customers realise they are dealing with a professional organisation, which goes a long way when purchase decisions are being made. No good business can afford to be without a website anymore.