Regardless of what industry you are in, a strong online presence can greatly impact your business’s success. Unfortunately, several businesses still do not realize that customers will definitely check their websites first before buying anything.
With a strong online presence, specifically with a website, a business increases its chance to generate more revenue. Since people spend a lot more time on the internet than ever, whether for entertainment, education, work, or any other reasons, we should grab this opportunity to market our business.
Not to mention, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed internet usage to 70 percent, while streaming services use increased to over 12 percent just within the first month of the global lockdown.
While it is true that having social media profiles or having your business registered with Google My Business IS an online presence, it is still different if you have a website.
This said, here are some compelling reasons why your business should invest in a website.
1. Boost Online Presence
Accessibility is the number one benefit of having a website. Anyone can access your website anywhere and anytime. Customers can easily check out your website to get information or avail of your products or services, even during non-business hours. Value your customers’ time by making your business available 24/7 through your website.
2. Improve Customer Support
Admittedly, most businesses think it is a difficult job to provide customer support. However, business owners should realize that having online customer support is less expensive than hiring store personnel to do such tasks.
Through your business website, though, you can easily provide customer support and in two different ways:
The first is through your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page. In fact, this is the commonly used strategy of businesses. Having readily available answers to typical customer queries saves your company a lot of time and resources. Not to mention, you can effortlessly provide precise and relevant information to customers.
The second means is through chatbots. With the help of chatbots, businesses can easily address frequent customer questions through template answers. Chatbots give users the experience of talking to another human being as interactive compared with a FAQs page. Chatbots also provide other crucial information such as products/ services, the signing-up process, and other relevant information.
3. Build Credibility & Trust
While back in the old days, customers expected you to have your contact number and address printed on your brochures. Today, modern customers expect your business to have an online presence, specifically a website.
Having your information readily available just within a click is crucial for establishing trust. However, it is not enough to have a website. Making your website’s features and navigation sophisticated is important.
A website with a good interface, easily navigable and user-friendly encourages users to frequent the site. So, consider investing in hiring the help of an SEO company that can help you with what you need.
4. Information Exchange
As mentioned, having an online presence makes your business easily accessible for customers who need information about your products or services. You can provide this accessibility through a website. Essentially, a website is a means of communicating with your customers and providing them with various information and resources.
These are some of the few ways to illustrate how websites foster information exchange:
Through advertisements, you can update customers about your latest products or services. You can also update customers on any news or upcoming events through newsletters. Provide contact forms so that you can streamline communication with customers who have requests or queries.
5. Increase Sales & Revenue
Having a business website also means making your business available to any corner of the world. As you break geographical barriers, you help increase the sales of your business.
It follows too that the revenue generated by your company will increase as your business crosses borders. You can do this by some website optimization and targeting the right audience. You may also utilize some of your website’s digital space to generate income by displaying ads.
6. Cost-efficient
Renting or owning a commercial space requires a huge investment for a business. Aside from that, you need to think about office furniture pieces, interior designs, employee salaries, and the likes.
However, if you opt to put your business online, you can easily forgo any of these overhead expenses. These days, plenty of content management system software such as Wix, Shopify, and WordPress makes website creation easier with little to no help. Nonetheless, experts are readily available if you are building a complex website like an E-commerce one.
Though creating and maintaining a website means shelling out cash, it still is a lot cheaper than keeping a physical business location.
Never overlook the value of a business website. These days, websites are not just an avenue to display your products or services. It also acts as a company portfolio or resumes to attract potential business partners and investors. So, if you do not have any website yet, it is time to create one.
