11 Proven Reasons Why Does Your Small Business Needs a Website in 2021

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In today’s world, everything is shifting online. People are buying and selling more things online, the growth of online shopping is increasing more than ever before, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to slow down in the future. Which is good news for you to take the first step to establish your online presence.

97% of people learn more about a local company via the internet, 70% of consumers will go to a store because of the information they find online” 

As you see, being found online on Google or other search engines will lead you to reach potential customers and keep your business up to date.

4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information” 

Your customers are searching for your business all the time and you should make sure that your products or services are available and presented well on your website.

Moreover, most of your competitors do have a website and you need to keep up and increase your revenue.

“64% of small businesses have a website” 

Well, in this article, we’ll explain why having a website is important for your business, whether you’re a small or local business as well as the advantages that come with it.

1. Fulfill Your Customer Expectations

customer satisfaction

Most of your customers expect you to have a website and they are searching for your online presence before making any purchasing decision.

55% of people will search online for reviews and recommendations before making a buy, with 47% visiting the company website, 26% visited the physical store, and 23% of people talking with friends and family” 

Your business without a website can show your clients a negative impression that you’re out of date and not serious about providing high-quality services or products.

The business is constantly evolving and whether you’re a small or a local business, having a small business website these days is a must to be credible and trustworthy to your customers.

2. Keep Your Doors Always Open 24/7

open all day at any time.

Having a website ensures you to be always there selling and providing your potential clients all the information that they need to make a buy.

Establishing an online presence provides you the ability to update your business information like promotions, discounts, and offers at any time.

3. Break Your Local Borders

Being online means that your products or services are reachable by local and global customers, without affording the cost of opening many branches all over the world, to get more visibility and increase your market share.

international online business

The percentage of online purchasing that consumers made outside their region have rapidly increased in the last few years.

“43% of all online purchases in Eastern Europe and Russia bought from abroad, 58% of online purchases in Africa and the Middle East bought abroad, and 35% of online purchases in New Zealand and Australia bought from abroad” Global Online Consumer Report 2017

In today’s world, you can expand your market and get customers from all over the world, by having a website that gives your audiences the best user experience with a solid marketing strategy that makes your products or services appealing to clients.

4. Increase Your Visibility

Remember the old days when the local business used to promote their services or products by listing in local magazines, billboards, and other publications?

Those traditional methods have changed because of mobile phones.

Today, we spend most of our time on mobile phones and computers. It’s definitely one of the most effective methods to target your audiences by having a website that’s friendly for mobile and desktop users.

icon-of-brand-awareness

50% of people who doing a local search on their smartphone for services or products, visit the physical store within a day, with 34% of those using computers or tablets do the same, and 18% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day”

Having a small business website that’s optimized for mobile users can save you from paying a lot for these traditional methods that don’t work these days.

With the right content marketing strategy for your website, you can increase your visibility and chances to generate qualified leads locally and globally.

5. See How Your Customers Behave

identify-customer-buying-behavior

Having a website linked to Google Analytics will help you to know what your ideal customer really needs to see in your business to be based on real resources and data.

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports your website visitors.

With Google Analytics, you can understand what your clients are looking for and how you can improve your business to fulfill your customer needs based on facts and real stats.

“We believe data is our oil, our gold,” said Rob Roy, the chief digital officer at Sprint

You can’t improve your business if you can’t measure your performance.

Think about it, the best decisions are based on data and reports rather than intuition and expectations.

6. Showcase Your Work and Customers’ Testimonials

The fastest track to be a brand and increase your conversions is having a work portfolio showing to your clients.

rating-on-customer-service

Whether you’re a small business or a medium-sized enterprise, you have to prove your ability to do the work, and showing your work portfolio gives your customers the convenience they need to make a buying decision with you. 

Having a well-designed website can help you to showcase your work on different pages for each specific product or service with more details about benefits, the process, and how it works.

Positive reviews make 91% of consumers more likely to use your business”  

“Online reviews have been shown to impact 67.7% of purchasing decisions             

Moreover, supporting your work portfolio with good reviews will increase your new clients’ interest in your business.

You can easily do this by designing a page on your website to have your customer reviews to make people more willing to buy from you.

7. Keep Up with The Growth of E-commerce

If you’re looking to increase the sales of your products or services online in your particular market, then having an e-commerce website is your best choice. 

E-commerce refers to the operation of buying and selling products and services using the internet.

money-earning-with-ecommerce-websites.

E-commerce websites are designed to have your products or services in front of your customers to allow them to add the products to their “shopping cart“ then securely fill their payment information to checkout and complete the transaction.

Giving your customers an online store with a professional look with the drag and drop website feature means a more appealing purchase process for potential clients. 

Whether you’re a small or local business, e-commerce websites can help you to increase your return on investment as long as you have a clear vision of your market and competitors. 

The percentage of e-commerce retail sales is increasing yearly for all businesses.

Worldwide Retail Ecommerce Sales are expanding and it will continue to grow through 2020″ 

The first step in being part of this growth is owning an e-commerce website designed to help you sell and promote your products and services to reach more audiences, and expand your market share.

8. Develop Your Marketing Strategy

powers-of-digital-marketing

Having a social media presence isn’t enough to drive more sales. Any social media platform is great for awareness but it isn’t for conversions and brand identity.

However, having your own domain name and a custom email address like ([email protected]) will help you to establish a strong brand identity.

Regardless of the social media platform you use for managing your marketing campaigns, it should end up with new visitors on your website.

Every marketing content you promote must first live on your website so that you can convert those leads into new clients.

Considering that your business website is the center of your marketing campaign will help you guide your customers to make the first contact with you.

Furthermore, having a business website can help you develop your marketing strategy by personalizing your message on your website, in order to make customers feel that you’re providing services and products just to meet their needs.

9. Save Your Time

time-management-concept.

Most small business owners struggle to balance between having family time and working on a successful business. However, having a website can help you to get the opportunity to better manage your time and spend some quality time for yourself.

Uploading all necessary information that clients need on your website can help you to shortcut the buyer’s journey because you’ve already answered the most frequent questions in your customers’ minds.

Additionally, you can add an online scheduling tool on your website to allow your customers to arrange a meeting on your calendar of times that you’ve pre-assigned as being available.

The time that you can save will help you to refresh your thoughts and generate unique ideas for your business.

10. Hire Talented Employees

Talented people are always there and ready to add value to the business, but they can’t find the right opportunity.

hire-talented-employees.

Hiring employees is a highly time-consuming process. However, having a career page on your website to showcase your available job opportunities will help you attract the right employees for your business.

It also reduces the time and cost of hiring because you won’t need to make paid ads on local magazines or other publications.

11. Open The Doors of Creativity

You need to inspire your audiences to ensure the best long-term relationship with your customers and to get positive reviews to encourage the new visitors to deal with you.

You can be creative by publishing blogs for your clients, spreading awareness, or educating them. Writing about the latest trends and technology of your services or products will help you inspire your customers and give them a positive impression that you’re up-to-date.

Also, you can create an FAQs page on your website to answer the most frequent questions in your industry.

One of the best advantages of having a website is that you can update, change, and create your brand identity in a short time in easy ways.

3 Common Myths that Small Business Owners have Against Having a Website

From our experience with many of the small businesses we’ve worked with, we’ve heard a lot of excuses for not having a website based on incredibly misinformed myths.

Here are some of the common myths among small business owners, and we have answered them.

Myth #1: Only eCommerce businesses need a website to buy and sell online

Just because you’re a B2B company offering services to your customers doesn’t mean that you don’t need a website.

In fact, most B2B buyers consume an average of 13 content pieces before deciding to close the deal with you or not, and 67% of B2B buyers search online for these pieces of content.

Having a business website will ensure you provide your clients all information they need to close the deal with you. You’re going to be ahead of your competitors, which means more potential opportunities.

Myth #2: It’s a luxury for big brands and not necessary for small businesses

The truth is 64% of small businesses have a website and the percentage will keep growing with 2021.

If you’re a small business owner then having a website business will reduce your expenses and increase your profits.

Because you won’t need to pay a lot for traditional marketing like billboards or magazines to increase your business awareness.

Also, you won’t be limited by the area that your business is located in.

According to change of the customer behavior because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact in the business world.

Around 75% of buyers and sellers now prefer digital options over face-to-face due to both safety and speed & convenience.

So there is no doubt that you need a website for your business to enter 2021 with big goals to be achieved.

Myth #3: It’s too expensive to have a website

Well, the cost of building a website depends on your business requirements and how many features that you need on your website.

But the truth is, building a website for your website is affordable and worthy of investment.

You only need to know what are your requirements that you need on your website, then searching for a professional website design company to tailor exactly what your business needs with an affordable package.

You can also ask for a free consultation meeting to discuss your requirements in detail,  and to make sure that you have chosen the right partner for your business.

Conclusion

Having a website isn’t a luxury, it’s necessary and affordable to your business.

These days if you aren’t online, you don’t exist. Business without website missing potential customers every day. 

Additionally, Being found online will help you to find new opportunities in expanding your business network.

Once you have a website, make sure it’s well-designed and looks professional to drive new customers.

Now you know why your small business needs to have a website and how much it’s essential for your business growth.

Start by checking out the Free Consultation Session we offer, we have a wide range of website design packages to meet every business goal. We’d be happy to hear your story and to make your business stand out.

Ibrahim Elkhayouti is a digital marketing professional who’s dedicated to bringing the growth of clients’ businesses at Qowwa. His passion lies in building brands to provide society with high-quality products and services. He puts his experience and curiosity into using science and data, to meet customer’s digital marketing needs and goals.