They say the world is now in our hands, and the information is at our fingertips. There are no second thoughts about that. The internet is fantastic and continues to transform the way we connect with people, share information, and live a quality life.
A lot of people spend most of their time on the internet. This could be for buying a product, using a service, reading a blog, entertaining themselves, or for various other reasons.
Considering the amount of time people spend on the internet, businesses too have moved online. Having a website with a presence on social media has become the need of the hour. If you are a business owner and do not own a website, you might be losing a lot of potential customers online. Therefore, knowing the importance of a website is key to growing your business exponentially
Listed Below are 12 Reasons Proving the Importance of a Website for your Business :
- 24/7 Online Presence
One of the major advantages of having a website is that it is accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Even during non-business hours, customers can access your website and avail your services or get the information they need, which is one of the key elements of having a business website. The website is always at work to ensure that customers are always served with the information they need from the comfort of their homes.
- 24/7 Customer Support
Providing customer support is a tough job for any business. However, providing customer support online is much easier and more cost-efficient than hiring personnel to provide support. This is where the importance of having a website becomes clear, as customer support through a website can be provided in various ways:
1. FAQs :-
This is the most commonly used medium. All the frequent customer queries are answered on the website, saving your time and resources while providing precise and relevant information to customers.
2. Chatbots :-
Chatbots on websites also do the job of addressing frequent customer queries through template answers. Chatbots can also provide users with many other important pieces of information like signing-up procedures, information about services/products, and so on.
Information Exchange
Over 50% of the customers expect any brand or business to have an online presence where they can access their services. One of the most captivating aspects of a website is how easy it makes information accessible to customers. At its core, a website is nothing but a medium to communicate with customers and provide them with information and resources. Here are a few ways in which websites help to exchange information:
- Advertisements that update customers about the latest offers on products and services
- Newsletters that update customers about any upcoming events and news
- Contact forms that invite inquiries or requests from customers
- Establish Credibility and Build Trust
Just like in the old days, when customers expected businesses to have contact numbers and addresses mentioned in their information brochure, customers nowadays expect businesses to have a website or online presence. This is the most crucial and primary step in establishing trust. From this perspective, for a business, a website is highly important. To take it a bit further, if a business’s website is superlative in its features and navigation, customers are more inclined to trust the brand and avail of its services. Therefore, websites are essential for businesses to establish their credibility and gain the trust of their customers. This can then be further boosted by local SEO services to attract a local demographic for businesses that are new in the market.
- Professional Web Design
Website visitors have no reason to stay on any web page unless they’re tempted to. Visitors can get bored very easily and expect something unique to capture their interest whenever they’re visiting any website. Hence, it is crucial that businesses build their websites with immaculate design so that customers are offered exceptional features and convenient navigation. This will encourage more visitors to take a peek at your website, and potentially buy from your business.
- Sales
The accessibility of your business grows exponentially with a website, as it can be accessed from any corner of the world. Hence, websites help businesses break geographical barriers and significantly increase their sales.
- Revenue
There is no limit to the revenue that could be generated by your website. If the reach of your website can cross the borders, the revenue can reach sky high. All you need to do is optimize your site and make sure that your audience finds you when they are looking for you. Besides that, you can also give some of your digital space on your website to display ads. Let’s say your site is about reviewing or selling mobile phones. You can give some of your digital space on your website to display ads relevant to these phones. This is just an additional way with which you can generate additional revenue.
- Cost-Effective
A physical store requires a massive investment for owning or renting a commercial space. Besides that, furniture, interiors, and employees are also some additional expenses that cannot be ignored. On the other hand, creating a website is very easy and cost-effective. With CMS like WordPress, Shopify, or Wix, one can easily create a website with little or no help. Only if you are setting up a complex website like E-commerce or one with thousands of pages, or complex filters and facets, then you might need the help of experts. However, the cost incurred will still be minimal in comparison to setting up a physical store.
- Visibility
Websites can become your online store, office, or showroom at a very minimal cost. A physical store will have visibility within a particular radius of its location, depending on its type. However, when it comes to a business with an online presence, the visibility or the reach has no bound. Users from any part of the world can access the website.
- Marketing
Marketing plays a crucial role in the expansion of any business. Having a website makes it pretty easy to spread the word about your business when people are searching for them. Let us say your offline business is doing well, and now you want to expand it online. If you have a website, you can make it appear on a Search Engine whenever people search using a keyword. There are two types of marketing methods that make this possible. One is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and the second is Search Engine Marketing (SEM). The SEM is sometimes also referred to as Pay Click (PPC). Besides SEO and PPC, you can also market your website using social media, display Ads, and other techniques. You can set up a target audience of your choice and use demographics like age, gender, location, and so on, for the same. You can go as broad as you want or as specific as you wish.
A digital marketing agency with proven success records can help you create and execute a marketing plan for your business that would drive relevant users to your website.
- Portfolio
Do not limit your website to just selling products or providing services. Create a portfolio that shows how well you are doing in the business. Let us say your business is into travel and tourism. You can create a video portfolio of a family that shows their overall travel experience, from booking tickets to reaching the destination and the arrangements made for them by your business. You can ask them to share their feedback in a video format and add it to the portfolio. Such portfolios help build the trust of people in your business.
Having a website has become crucial in this digital age. A business with no website loses multiple opportunities that could come online. Apart from these benefits, a website has many other advantages to offer your business in numerous other ways. For example, a website can provide a map or directions to their business locations or offices. If someone wants to know about a business at their convenient hour, a website can help them with the same since it is accessible at any time. A well-designed and engaging website can strengthen the brand image. Therefore, to make your business successful, it is crucial to have a professional website.
- Growth Opportunity
A website can act as a company’s portfolio or resume. This can prove to be beneficial for businesses as the website can act as a reference for potential investors who can get acquainted with your services, know what you have achieved so far and what your future plans are as a business, and invest accordingly.
- Brand Awareness
A website can help your business build brand awareness. A website showcases your services or products, and generates awareness about them. It helps in establishing your image as a brand by letting your website visitors know what your business represents and how it can help them.
- Generate More Leads
When anyone searches online about a particular service or a product, they should be able to find your website in the results. When they come on your website, they should be informed about how your business can help them. This is the best and the most effective way to generate leads with a high chance of a conversion. Your website is the best way any customer can get in touch with you, and possibly convert into a lead.
- Increase Organic Traffic
If you follow the best SEO practices, your website can show up high on SERPs and attract a whole new segment of your target audience. Ranking high means that when people search for relevant terms, they are going to see your website on the top results, which will entice them to check your service out. This helps in significantly increasing the organic traffic on your website, and thus growing your customer base.
- Improve Customer Experience
Your website is meant to be a catalyst in boosting the customer journey and experience of the visitors. A reliable website that provides relevant information to the visitors, as well as guides them into conversion will help improve customer experience. This further improves the chances of conversion of the visitors into paying customers.
