There is no question that the internet has changed our lives dramatically over the last 30 years and life without the internet is almost impossible to imagine. If you do not have a website in 2023 you are being left behind in a digital arms race. This is my top 10 reasons why you need a website.
Global uptake by users has steadily grown and shows no sign of slowing. As of July 2022, there are now 5.03 billion internet users worldwide (63% of the world’s global population). Of this group, 92.6% of users access the internet via a mobile device.
Our lives have become fully integrated with the internet from mobile devices, smart wearables, streaming services, voice-controlled home appliances to traffic flow data for your morning commute. Recent research shows that the average person spends over 6 and a half hours online a day. This means that if you or your business doesn’t have a website you are being left stranded in a digital world. In order to stay competitive and relevant you need an online presence.
1. The modern consumer expects your business to have a website.
The modern consumer expects businesses to have a website. Google’s data shows consumers will conduct research from at least ten sources before making any online or in-store purchase. During this research period, you want to be ‘discoverable’ and have the consumer find your website. Without a website, you aren’t in a position to be competitive. If your business model relies on local knowledge and word of mouth you are missing out on customers and losing business. Consumers are not going to purchase from businesses that aren’t online moving forward.
2. Having a website makes you credible.
Having a website legitimises your business. In fact, a recent study showed that 84% of customers considered businesses with websites to be more credible. People nowadays expect businesses to have functional well-designed websites. They don’t shop anymore, they internet shop. The modern consumer isn’t going to find a deal online and then go out and see if their local shop (without a website) can match the deal or even if they have that item in stock. A professional well-designed website makes your business stand out and grows trust with the consumer. This converts to more sales and more profit.
“If your work isn’t on the internet it doesn’t exist”
-Austin Kleon
3. A website is a modern business card.
Your website is a modern business card. Business cards contain your company name, a logo and contact information. A website does all this and more without the need to reprint if anything changes. Websites display goods and services and allows people to bookmark your website to return to it over and over again. It supplies all your up-to-date information in a simple format. It can be used by customers seeking information about your goods and services as well as being a point of contact. A simple FAQ section on your website can allow people to get answers to questions they may have. Further, you could choose to create blog posts enabling you to promote yourself or your business, attracting an audience and converting customers.
4. Online advertising never rests.
How much money did you spend on advertising last financial year? What is the cost of a website in comparison?
Once a website is launched it can be ‘set and forget’. Consider a website advertising your business 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to a global audience. Almost 60% of the globe is online and those potential customers are spending on average 6.5 hours a day on the internet. Your website legitimises your business and presents credibility to potential customers. A website is an advertising workhorse allowing customers to access your store, browse your shopfront, have their questions answered and make purchases without ever leaving home.
Thinking about advertising in newspapers or magazines? The internet has crushed print media. Radio? Television? How long can they last against companies such as Spotify and all the various streaming services available now? It’s time to start advertising online and the best place to start is with your own website.
5. Organic growth for your business.
Organic growth is growing your business through your own strategic efforts, resources, marketing and content – like having a website. Internet search engines index the written content of a website. If your website contains quality written content that matches search queries it ranks highly in the search algorithms and your websites content is displayed to the searcher. Not only will people seeking your products find you on the internet but people will also indirectly stumble across your website thus growing your business.
6. Google algorithms work for your business.
Google’s algorithms support local businesses. Almost 93% of internet users search the internet using mobile devices. Google’s algorithms use the location data provided by the mobile device to provide the best results ranked on location to the user and relevance to the search criteria. Google is trying to make our lives easier by showing us what we want and the closest and fastest way to get it.
7. Your social media sites are owned by social media companies.
You don’t need a website because you have a Facebook page? Well, your Facebook page isn’t owned by you. It’s owned by a large corporation. You are bound by their rules, design formatting and legalities. Having your own website allows you to have your own piece of the internet that is uniquely yours. Studies have shown that 86% of consumers prefer a business that has a website over a Facebook page. Social media companies can make changes at any time and even minor changes to their algorithms can affect your business and its visibility.
Social media users are fluid and people move from one platform to the next. Remember My Space? Even a tech giant like Facebook is reporting significant financial losses and users abandoning its platform in 2022.
8. Internet is the new real estate.
The internet is the new real estate. Like in real estate your domain name is the equivalent of your address. Anyone who has ever bought property knows the age-old saying ‘location, location, location’. As the internet grows and more websites are launched these new websites are given domain names – the address where to find that site. Over time the good addresses ‘locations’ are getting taken up and this means that when you eventually get online you will be scrambling to come up with a variant or use poor extensions that are hard to remember.
So what makes a good domain? A good domain name is easy to remember, short and doesn’t contain special characters or numerals and uses a quality extension such as .com. Good domain names are even a factor in search engine algorithms so choose wisely. Your business needs a website and you need a web address. Don’t wait until your business’s domain name has been bought by someone else as purchasing popular domain names can become a costly exercise.
9. Website builders have made making websites cheap and easy.
Can you make a website yourself? Of course, you can. But time is money and time spent creating websites is time you aren’t focusing on your business. If you do have time and the inclination there are numerous website builders available online so that you can create your own website.
Website builders such as Wix, Shopify and Squarespace etc have all progressed to be very simple drag-and-drop user interfaces. There are numerous supplied templates and colour themes allowing anyone to produce websites that look great.
So if anyone can make a website using a website builder aren’t web developers out of a job? No, not really. You can produce a high-quality product using a website builder however there is a learning curve that a lot of people can’t be bothered with. Some website builders such as Squarespace can provide an easy way to create a website using a template, however, there are other website builders that can become quite complex quite quickly.
You want your website to be customised and match your business’s branding and style. Once you start to customise and move away from stock standard templates (especially if you require custom coding) then you should be engaging a web developer to do the heavy lifting for you.
10. Your competition.
It’s only a matter of time before your competition goes digital if they haven’t already. Don’t get left behind. Surveys conducted found that 90% of small business owners with websites recommend other small businesses get a website.
Overall websites have been shown to be an extremely effective marketing strategy for small businesses, they drive sales, add credibility to your business and most importantly they are relatively cheap. It’s 2022 and it’s time to get online. You won’t regret it.
If you are interested in working together and creating a website check out my portfolio or contact me today to discuss your project.