Social media life, digital marketing, online advertisement, and metaverse are all testaments to the rapid changes in our lives in this digital transformation era. Every business needs a website to create and improve its digital presence online. Customers value their time, and a well-designed website can help them find what they are looking for more efficiently.
Potential first-time buyers and usual patrons of a business can find valuable information from a website in a matter of a few clicks. Online sales became especially more widespread, even among mom-and-pop businesses, after COVID. It is expected that it would remain a great means of shopping for many customers who have tasted the convenience of shopping from the comfort of their living room.
In this article, we emphasize how a business with a website can differentiate itself from those without in this competitive market. Having a website not only helps businesses to convey information to their customers and receive feedback from them but also can feature online sales to boost revenues.
Some business owners may be concerned about the tech skills that developing and running a website requires. Some may be worried about the costs. That is a valid concern, especially for smaller businesses. However, you should not overlook the significant benefits of online presence through a website and beyond their social media account.
Through this article, we hope to convince you that creating and maintaining a website is easy, manageable, and with a high rate of return.
Do you need a website for your business?
If you are still not sure if your business needs a website or whether you can do it by yourself, you can contact us at Lyla. During a free brief consulting session, we will evaluate your needs and offer our solutions. Our experts at Lyla are always ready to create a simple, elegant, functional website tailored to your needs. We will professionally support your technical needs and provide our services at a very competitive price.
Here is why a social media profile is not enough for your business
Before we dive into why your business needs a website, let’s talk about the importance of social media platforms and why they are not sufficient for expanding your business. Like many others, you might have already created a Facebook or Instagram page for your business. You might even have many followers who check your page regularly. But isn’t that enough to establish your online presence as a business?
The answer is no! If you use any of the major social platforms, you notice that there are numerous businesses like yours competing to attract potential buyers. So, what happens if the term and conditions on these platforms change against your business? What happens if they start charging business profiles?
The caveat to relying solely on social media profiles to promote your business is that you don’t own them, and you cannot change the features, appearances, and design of that platform to address your specific needs.
Also, the major platform that potential customers use to search for a particular product or service is Google. Even those who are looking for local businesses use search engines more often than social media. Your online platform has SEO limitations and barely conforms to Google algorithms.
Also, consider that the original purpose of using social media is to have fun and connect to others. Seeing annoying and sometimes irrelevant advertisements can be off-putting.
A website, on the other hand, shows authority and trust to your business and adds to your credibility.
Top 7 reasons to have a website
For the rest of the article, we want to point out the most important benefits of having a website for your business.
1- Establish a professional online presence for your business
More than half of the earth’s population uses the internet regularly through their mobile devices. The post-COVID world has immersed itself in digital commerce. You don’t want to be left out. If your business does not have a website, it is most likely that potential customers would not find you.
Customers expect to find out about businesses online. It is almost a given assumption that essential information about a business is located on its website. Even if the first visit does not result in a purchase, an impressed customer will come back.
A neatly designed website can generate income, convey marketing messages constantly, and create a personal connection between business owners and online visitors.
Even those buyers who end up knowing your brand via social media expect a link to your website to get more information about the different products and services you provide. If your online ads do not direct your potential buyers to a website, you may lose the chance to increase patronage to your business.
Though creating and maintaining a website involves some upfront costs, it is the most efficient way of remaining in contact with your customers. However, if you look at it as an investment, a correctly set website has a considerable positive rate of return on investment (ROI).
The value generated by a website continues for years after its set up. Online advertising on other platforms is only visible if you pay for them. A website, on the other hand, is long-lasting and easily adjustable to the feedback you get from your loyal customers.
2- Add to the authority and credibility of your business
A professional website is an excellent way to show how serious you are in your business. Most active internet users relate the credibility of a business to its website design. You can ensure the visitors that you mean business through a well-designed website.
Customers are more likely to trust and engage with a business that has an appealing website. That sense of trust comes from the fact that, unlike social media profiles, creating and maintaining a website is not free. Anybody, even scammers, can make a profile on social media. Having a professional website establishes legitimacy for your business and brand.
Not only a website adds to your credibility, but also it helps distinguish yourself from competitors without a website. It is a great means of communicating information to and receiving feedback from your patrons.
3- Impress your potential buyers with your professional website
Online shoppers often read reviews before deciding on a purchase. Customers rely on well-guided testimonials to select a service provider. If you want to impress potential customers, having a website is a must to offer social proof.
What is website design? and the differences between web design and web development
By posting the best testimonials on your website you will gain the trust of potential patrons. What is more, you can effectively control what is being said about your business online.
A website also helps you establish your brand. Potential customers like to know about who you are, what is your mission, and what values you care about the most. Conveying this critical information about your business separates you from similar companies.
Once you found your target audience, it is important to keep them engaged with your business. A website has many features that you can utilize to control your business positioning.
Either way, you want visitors to take their time on your site and ultimately contact you for business.
4- Narrate your story, in your way
Online reviews, testimonials, and stories shape customers’ perceptions of your brand.
There are billions of search inquiries on Google every day. A search-optimized website puts you ahead of your competitors when it comes to direct online traffic to your business. This expands your customer reach almost instantly.
An effective website can level the playfield for small businesses to compete with larger companies. The correctly search-optimized sites can increase quality leads from search engines to your web page.
With a website, you have absolute control over the design features that serve the purpose of your business and facilitate your brand storytelling. You set your own terms and conditions, unlike social platforms. And finally, you don’t need to deal with changing policies on other platforms.
5- Excel in your customer service
There is basic information that you can directly convey to your customers via your website. You can create a frequently asked question page for your business and answer inquiries about your business, products or services you provide, your working hours, contact information, location(s), and payment process.
You should keep this information short, simple, and up-to-date as much as possible. This way you save your site visitors time and address most of their basic questions without a need for a phone call. Visitors with a better user experience on your site are more likely to become your business’ patrons in the future, especially if they find what they want quickly.
Innovative technologies if used correctly on your website will improve your online customer service. To have effective customer service you should remember that customers prefer to contact a real human being for their specific needs. However, features like embedded automated chat software can help direct their query to the right source of information or person if needed.
Having a 24/7 responsive website is a cost-effective way to expand your working hours and even reach customers beyond your time zone. You can post updates, important announcements, and changes to your service without a delay on your website.
6- Expand your reach
Consider creating a website and an investment project. You can benefit from free and popular tools such as WordPress to design your website. You can also use competitive services like Lyla to search engines optimize your site. With such minimum spending, you promote your business in front of a significant number of online customers. The return on this investment is greatly favorable.
Regardless of your size, a correctly developed website can put you in competition with giants in your industry. By using the right keywords on your site, you rank higher on the search results page, direct more traffic to your website, and influence more purchasing decisions.
Showing up frequently on top of the search result page will convince customers about the credibility of your business and expands your reach drastically. Having a website also accelerates your digital marketing efforts when trying to expand your business.
If you are a local and small business owner, you can still benefit from having an effective website. Create a business profile on Google for free. Have a specialist help you optimize your website for local SEO. And you can increase your online revenue by tapping into almost half of Google searches that have local intent. Statistics show that most of the online searches for local businesses result in in-store visits.
It is worth reminding traditional social media platforms are losing their reach. Social media networks are saturated and full of competition. It would be wise to invest in an effective website for the years to come to attract more customers.
7- It is easier than you think to run a website
I hope so far this article has convinced you about the necessity of having a website for your business. Now if you are ready, you can take the initial steps to get started. You can also rely on our experts at Lyla to start a collaborative project that ends with a professional website for your business.
As the first step, you need to choose a web hosting service. Most well-known companies provide both domain and hosting services. When selecting a hosting service, it is better to choose a credible and reputable company. Larger companies can implement changes rapidly and economically.
Brainstorm about your domain name. treat your business domain name as an effective marketing tool. You want your domain name to reflect your business or industry line but do not forget to be creative.
Whether you are outsourcing your web design or doing it yourself, managing site content can be overwhelming. Luckily, there are content management systems developed to make life easier for website managers. Platforms like WordPress and CMS Hub are flexible enough to let you publish content, add new users, and update the site with the least technical skills.
When designing your website, remember to distinguish yourself from your competitors. You can use professional consultants on picking the right user interface to create an effective user experience on your site. The goal is to find a simple, unique, and functional template for your site.
Final words
The digital world is transforming at an astronomical speed. Having a website, if done correctly, is the easiest way to mark online presence for your business. Ultimately it is up to you to decide whether your business needs a website. But keep in mind that with a professionally designed and optimized website you can play the big league in digital marketing. At Lyla digital marketing agency we offer multiple services including website design.
More than half of the world’s population actively uses the internet and the majority of them are active social media users. The same statistics show that people use mobile phones more than other devices to connect to the internet. So, having an effective online presence could be very important for your business to stand out worldwide.
Here at Lyla, we provide essential services from website design services and development to search engine optimization (SEO) and site maintenance to mark your online presence.
