Does My Small Business Need a Website?

26 November 2019

Small-Business-Website

Even in this age of boundless connectivity, statistics for 2019 state that over 40% of small businesses worldwide did not have a website for their business. Many think that it isn’t relevant to their industry to have one, or that they can get away with just social media pages. Around a quarter of such businesses say they lack the technical knowledge to setup a website or that it wouldn’t be financially sustainable.

No matter the reason, each and every one of these businesses are losing out on potential customers. Why? Because almost 80% of business engagement is occurring online today.

Let’s take a look at some interesting facts that further emphasise the importance of your small business owning a website.

Consumers & Websites

 

Consumers feel secure about businesses with websites – 80% of customers are likely to engage with your business if it has a website.

People’s instinct in this day and age is to search google for anything they need – whether this be groceries, clothes or a haircut. If your business doesn’t have a website your chances of appearing in that consumer’s search are almost none.

Gone are the days of scouring the yellow pages for hours, you need to be front and centre of online searches to ensure your customers are finding you.

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Consumers want to access you at any time of the day – It’s very possible that there may be a segment of customers that only have spare time at night or very early in the morning to shop at your business, hours when your office or physical store is closed. A website allows you to keep your business open and nurturing potential customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This is further emphasised if your product/service is provided globally, allowing your consumers to access you no matter the difference in time-zone.

Consumers want to know you better – Consumers are becoming more and more savvy about online purchases and for good reason, at the end of the day it is their hard-earned cash that you are asking them to part with, and they want to know they’re getting value for money.

Almost everyone will be looking for reviews and deeper details about not only your products but the story behind your business; this is where your website comes in, whether allowing you to write blogs on your product area or going into detail about your product’s journey to market, you can connect much more deeply with potential customers and start building a healthy reputation online.

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Consumers are going mobile – Not only does your business need to be appearing online, it needs to have a website that is fully optimised for mobile devices.

Over 50% of the world’s population has a mobile device in 2019 and almost 60% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices.

Having a website allows customers to access your products/services on the go, no matter where they are, so long as they have their phone on them (and who doesn’t nowadays!). They won’t have to ring to find out whether they should make a purchase, they’ll have all the information available to them at the touch of a button on your website.

Consumers are buying online – Leading on from the above, 80% of smartphone users browse the internet for shopping research and 58% of online revenue comes from mobile devices, why is this important?

Recent statistics show that over 70% of small business websites did not offer eCommerce, they simply gave customers information about the business and how to call/visit.

Now you may argue that you own a garage in a small town, people bring their cars to you so why or what should you sell online? Motor oil, car shampoo, you can even sell vouchers for a wheel re-alignment; what you be assured is that every sale online will bring more traffic (pun intended!) to your physical store come MOT day.

Marketing & Websites

 

More than 80% of consumers spend at least an hour a day on social media. So, if you’re not using social media to market your business, we’d advise you to get started asap! 93% of businesses use social media content as their primary marketing strategy (meaning you’ve already got a lot of competition!).

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Email marketing does however have the highest return on investment (over 120%) among all internet marketing strategies, making it possibly the best place to spend your efforts and money early on in your business’ life.

Content marketing has become increasingly important among small businesses in 2019. Content in the form of blogs and videos are highly popular among consumers. In fact, over 70% of internet traffic in the last year has been through videos, with YouTube as the leading platform.

Why are we mentioning marketing? Because all the methods mentioned above are almost useless without a website to bring the consumer back to. Without a site for your business you will see much less activity on your efforts, and therefore ultimately less leads generated. With lead generation and conversion such a vital factor for small businesses, an effective website for your products/services simply can’t be missed.

So Should I Build My Website?

 

With an abundance of tools available online, you can create a website and market it yourself nowadays, but at what cost? You’ll need to get up to date with the latest SEO and digital marketing strategies, never mind sales funnel principles for web design. All this alongside devoting time to social media engagement and strategies, the list seems never ending.

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The bottom line is, these are all activities that only take your time and focus away from what means the most to you, your business and its products. Hiring an expert to focus on the digital side of your business will not only save you a huge amount of hassle and money, it will give your business the room to grow.

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