A lot of new businesses may be finding themselves stuck in a place between making a simple website using a service such as Wordpress, Joomla, Shopify, or maybe even getting a website developer to design a website for your business from scratch. If you’re a new start-up company, regardless if you own a physical location or your work is primarily online, working on building a website to expand your brand is important.
Creating a website, especially for a business that is mostly involved in physical products, or even a business that is a start-up, can be an intimidating ordeal. You may consider it a net loss for the company to hire a web designer to design your website, or maybe fear that it will be unsuccessful.
In reality, most customers nowadays use the internet to learn more about a business. Having your business available with its own website can really build up your brand, and show people that you do care about your business. If you put love into your website, you most likely put love into your products as well.
Fear can work both ways, for customers and for business owners. With the availability of the internet, people can easily check to see if a business is successful or falls short on what it delivers. While this may not account for every customer you have, a huge majority of people will base their perception of you and your company just from your website, from reviews, and from advertisements.
So, what do you need to do to get started on the right track? What are the benefits to investing into a website for your business? We’ll be going over that-- Now!
Brand Awareness
One of the most important factors for making a business successful is your branding. The more well known your business is, generally, the more traffic you will get, and the more sales you will be able to bring in. It’s not all about branding, because quality is a huge factor as well. But if no one knows your brand, making your business successful will be a difficult endeavor.
With the introduction of internet and online marketing, it has made it much easier for businesses to brand; and while you may see the growth slow at first, it builds up fast - reaching people all over, and consistently bringing in new customers. The website will end up paying for itself!
Search Engine Optimization
One thing that many new business owners may overlook is SEO. By applying appropriate SEO (search engine optimization) to your website, you can pull in people simply from search engines. Google, and many others. While creating an SEO strategy can be done on your own, it’s worth to invest into web developers who have experience in providing SEO tactics that can work well for your business.
If done correctly, your site could bring in tremendous traffic, and steadily grow your business. Google is one of the most powerful search engines of our generation, and by learning how to optimize it, you could find your business to be growing beyond your own expectations.
If you’re interested in enhancing your website and creating a viable strategy, e-dimensionz offers Search Engine Optimization services.
Your Competition
If you own a business, you must be looking at your competition already - competing businesses offering the same services, but have more experience, or have been able to provide a nice buffer of reviews which gives them a guaranteed positive outlook by customers.
A lot of your competitors already have websites, and to compete at the same level as them, you’d need to join the online market as well. Giving yourself a good platform or custom website to sell your service and to build your brand credibility will help you stand up with your competitors, and give you a good foundation for growth!
Showcasing Your Features
You must also think about the benefits of having a fully customizable website. While Google may offer a way of showing reviews for businesses, it doesn’t always provide the most accurate or well-rounded means to promote your business.
One of the great features you can implement on your website is the addition of reviews, allowing customers to see the positive responses to your products or services. Many people won’t even look at a business unless they have reviews to back up their credibility.
There’s also many other features you can implement on your website besides reviews which will promote your business as positive, such as
- Location information; provide ways for people to reach your business, and maybe even a means to locate the store closest to them. This is especially important for physical store locations.
- Landing pages; giving customers more information about the services and products you provide. The great thing about a website is that you can much more easily add information about products there, than the actual store itself!
- Support/Customer Care; Some business websites offer a way of contacting for support, sometimes through a messaging widget on your page, or through a call-in number. By being able to handle any questions or concerns your customers have, you can give them direction and show that your business is very friendly and open towards your customers!
Providing a FAQ for common questions
Not only can your business website pull you in more business, but it could also save you more time in the long run. By being able to provide a section for frequently asked questions, you can go over the concerns or questions that customers may have, lowering the need for support to more unique cases. This could save you a lot of time, especially if your business is providing a service as opposed to a product.
Something you may see as obvious may not be seen as obvious to the customer who has no experience in the environment or the field - help them out by giving them clear direction, and in doing so, it could greatly increase the credibility and the positive responses to your business in general!
Social Media Management
When you’re able to get situated with your website, you’ll be able to advertise your social media and get people to follow you on many platforms. From Instagram, to Facebook, to Twitter, and so much more! Not only is this good to give your existing customers a way of seeing any updates you provide, but social media allows very easy methods to share - something as simple as clicking on a button.
With a strong social media presence, and campaign, you could grow exponentially, especially if you’re familiar with content and humour that appeals to the masses in this day and age. Don’t be afraid to make some jokes - people love businesses with a sense of humour!
There we have 6 strong reasons why you should create a website for your business. If you’re in control of your website, then you have much more freedom and accessibility to features! No restrictions, and you can really make yourself stand out from your competitors. Don’t be afraid to make the jump, you’d be surprised what a website can do for you!
Make sure if you do start a website, that you’re familiar with the AODA & WCAG Website Accessibility if you’re a Canadian business.
