Why Do I Need A Website For My Small Business?

Posted on by Finance Infopedia

Whether you are a kid or an old person, whatever your age is, whenever you want to know something or want to buy something, first thing that you will do is to Google. Right? Right now for each and everything we rely on Google.

Now apply the same thought process for a business, whether you are want to buy a product or avail a service, first thing that you do is…. Google. Just for example, if you want to know a Cafeteria near your location, the first thing that you do is search in Google. Right?

Now, if you are a businessman who runs a cafeteria and in the same location there are 10 more cafeterias who are providing the same services that you provide, then definitely they become your competitors. Assuming that you have your website about your cafeteria and your competitors don’t have, can you imagine the advantages you will get over your competitors? If you want to understand the benefits of having a website for your small business, then continue reading.

People believe in blogs and vlogs more than expensive advertisements

When you search on Google about nearby restaurants and you find an article about a restaurant that is in your locality, will you read that article? What if you find the website of that restaurant itself where they have given complete details of the restaurant including the services they provide, will you feel confident to go to that restaurant. Or, will you go to any other restaurant about which you don’t have any idea at all? You will prefer to go to the restaurant having a website. Right? Studies prove that bloggers recommendations can have a high influence in buyers decision making.

The findings suggest bloggers’ electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) to be a promising marketing strategy for increasing sales – Source

A website is more affordable than traditional advertising

Do you know that putting an advertisement in a newspaper, Television, FM Channels or any other source is super expensive? For a small scale business, especially during the starting stage, spending huge amount of money on an advertisement will be a difficult thing to do. So what if I say that you can do the advertisement of your business without spending even 1% of the actual advertisement. Yes. When comparing with other advertisement methods, running a website is super cheap and it help you to reach out to your target market more easily.

You can run and maintain a website simply by spending around 15 dollars every month. Yes, that much cheap it is. This is the most cheapest and most effective way of advertising your business in long run. Instead of relying on yellow page ads and other sources for advertisement, you can simply take the help of a profession website developer and create a website without much hustle and whats more, maintaining a website now a days is super easy. You only need to have the basic understandings of using a laptop and Microsoft word. 8-10 hours training on maintaining a website makes you completely independent from all super expensive ad agencies and ad sources.

Number of people who rely on Google and other search engines are gonna rise in future

This data taken from Google Trends says it all. Look at the search result of the keyword “Restaurants Near Me” for USA in the last 12 years. Number of searches on this keyword has increased continuously in the last 12 years. Now what if someone staying near you cafeteria searches “Cafeteria Near Me” and you have a website of your own coming up in the google search engine? Think about it.

Information given in the website can be easily customised

Once you finish an Advertisement shooting or recording, then it is done, you cannot edit the content or change the them or cannot even change the information. If you really want to do it, you may end up paying extra for the extra work.

Where as for a website the content and information you give is always within your control. Any time, anyplace, you can change it without spending an extra penny.

Also for all the comments and reviews on your website will be completely controlled by you. You can decide which comments to be approved and which one not. You will have the final say about how your business is presented in front of the public.

Customers expect any business to have a website

Now more than ever, customers want to be able to find information about you from your company website. Most consumers do research online before they make a purchase, even if it’s to buy something from their local shop. If you don’t have a website, it sends a message that your business is stuck in the Dark Ages, that you’re not open anymore, or that you’re not interested in finding new customers—and those are certainly not messages you want to send!

Having a website makes your business more trustworthy and reputable

Consumers are learning to be pretty savvy when they research online. In fact, 75% will judge your credibility based on your website design. That’s why it’s so important to have a modern, up-to-date website with a custom domain and other markers of trustworthiness. A website also shows that you are open for business during a time when there is a lot of uncertainty.

Buyer needs some time to go through the product details before coming to a conclusion

Other reasons are

It gives an opportunity to sell your products online

Online sales were on the rise even before COVID-19 kept everyone stuck at home. And these trends are expected to continue after businesses reopen to customers. So even if you don’t think of yourself as an “ecommerce” business, you can still use an online store to benefit your offline business. It can help supplement your income when you’re closed in-person, and also attract new customers who will now be able to find your services and products via Google and other search engines.

And, if you don’t want to deal with the headache of shipping, you can use Jimdo’s local pickup option so that customers can buy your products online and pick them up curbside or in-person.

Do you need a website if you have an active social media account/page?

Now another question that comes to your mind is, if you have a social media account or page for your business, do you need a separate website?

Maybe you already have a Facebook page and some pretty good reviews on social media. Lots of business owners assume that a social media profile for their business is enough.

But there are some problems with this strategy. First, you’ll always be dependent on the social media platform you choose. Algorithms change, rules change, and what’s working one day might not work a few weeks from now (as many businesses who depended on Facebook have recently learned).

If you have a website, it belongs to you, and you control the content and the message. Part of the reason you started your own business is so that you don’t have to follow other people’s rules—so why would you just do what a social media platform tells you to?

Trends change, too. If your customers are on Instagram today, they might be on a new platform tomorrow. As people switch from one tool to the next, your website acts as an anchor. No matter what social media service customers prefer, they can always find your website in the same place, available to everyone.

A website is easier to keep up to date

If you tried starting a website years ago, you might have some bad memories from the experience. It probably took weeks for a developer to build, and then you couldn’t make any changes yourself. Simple things like updating store hours could take forever, so your information was outdated.

Today, it couldn’t be more different. With Jimdo, all you need to do is log in to your website and click on the part you’d like to change. You’ll be able to edit text, add photos, or change parts of your design. When you use Jimdo Business Listings, you can update the info on your website once, and it will automatically update it across multiple listing platforms like Facebook, Google, and more.

A website can attract local customers near you

A website isn’t just for finding customers across the globe—it’s an essential tool for attracting local customers too. Almost half (46%) of all Google searches are people looking for something right near them. That’s especially true of mobile phone users who might be looking for a store, restaurant, or other service while they’re on-the-go. If you don’t have a website, you’re missing out on an opportunity to catch those visitors when they’re right in your neighbourhood.

Your business advertisement becomes completely passive

Most of the people look up for the location of the business before going to the office/shop

Most of the customers would like to contact the service provide/shop/office before buying a product/service

Your competitors all have a website

Conclusion

The case for having a website in today’s world is very strong. Almost all the businesses surveyed said they planned to have a website by the end of the year. Are you part of this group? Make it a reality by signing up for a free Jimdo website today, and see how easy it is!

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