One of the biggest dilemmas small business owners face is whether to launch a website or to use social networks for promotion. The truth is, it always depends on a type of business and specific circumstances. What we know for sure is that starting a website is easy even without anyone’s help.
Small Business Website: Reasons For
You can design, create, and launch a website without hiring a designer or a development team – without any help at all. For example, Weblium website builder allows doing it all in a couple of hours.. If you are looking for more solid arguments, get ready for nine more reasons.
#1. Keeping everything in one place
A small business website is an information center, an online catalog, and a virtual office. It introduces your company to customers and explains why you can be trusted. Users can learn about the full range of products and services anytime.
#2. Accessibility
Many people browse the web in the evening, when most businesses are closed. Websites, however, don’t need to take a rest. Moreover, they tend to pop up among search results and save the day when a person needs something immediately and Googles it on the go. Having a website is like having an employee working around the clock – even on weekends and holidays!
#3. Saving time and money
Providing information to your customers takes time, whether by phone, face to face, in brochures, or via emails. With an online catalog, you can keep the information relevant, and there is no need to hire consultants who will endlessly answer the same questions. Updating a website is always easier and more effective than ambient media.
#4. More new clients
Customer engagement and retention opportunities are taking a new leap. Geographically, your business is located in one city, so it may not reach potential audiences outside this area. The Internet is eroding territorial restrictions. By creating a website, you can easily reach even a global market.
#5. Effective advertising
You can use a website as a standalone advertising site or as a complement to large-scale offline advertising campaigns. SEO and contextual advertising are far superior to leaflets and outdoor billboards and city advertising in terms of how effective they are to reach and generate sales. Also, it provides the possibility to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of advertising with your site.
#6. Advanced marketing tools
A small business needs a website as a unique marketing channel to spread information, publish news, and announce special offers. It is the cheapest and most effective way of promoting your business. You will have more referrals thanks to sharing, Not to mention the fact that people are more likely to click on your link than come to your store to check it out.
#7. Sales increase
An offline outlet has limited opportunities in terms of working hours, product range, a number of applications processed, etc. The Internet allows you to interact with an audience in real-time, quickly respond to requests, and help customers to choose items and services to order. To make a long story short, you can sell more than you do without a website.
#8. Positive brand image
A corporate website positively influences brand perception. It is a proof of stability, success, ambition, and confidence in the future. Trendy design and impeccable usability show respect towards your customers. They are easy to achieve with a huge selection of templates available on website builders (at https://weblium.com/templates, in particular).
#9. Flexibility and reporting
You can constantly experiment on the web. All the promotions, banners, CATs can be evaluated in terms of effectiveness and outcome. The website has an incredibly dynamic structure. You can constantly change and update the content.
Small Business Website: Reasons Against
Sometimes target audience does not use the Internet to search for goods or services. It is typical for small local grocery shops, gas stations, snack bars, etc. Those businesses don’t need websites. Also, there is no need to create one before you define its goals – not a general slogan like “the site should increase the sales,” but specific tasks expressed in numbers.
Bottom Line
A website for a small business is an effective multi-purpose tool that is sure to generate revenue with minimal investment and enough attention. It helps to attract new customers and expand a customer base, boost sales and financial turnovers, but only if you know what purpose you pursue.