Do I Need a Website for My Business?

Six reasons why you need a website for your small business

1. A website makes you look professional

84% of today’s consumers think a website makes your business more credible than companies who only have social media profiles. Your website is also the perfect place to show off any professional certifications or awards your business has. Beyond that, having your own website lets you create a branded email address (e.g. dianna@yoursite.com) which adds a level of professionalism to all of your correspondence, especially if you’ve used a personal email address to conduct business up until now. In addition, some email marketing tools no longer allow users to send emails from personal addresses. This means that if you want to take advantage of the power of email marketing, you’ll need a business email account.

2. Your website can attract new customers through Google

You may be happy with the current size of your business, but every company experiences customer turnover. To encourage continued success, you need to attract new customers, and one of the best ways to do it is by making yourself more visible on Google. Social media networks are indexed on Google, and social media posts can be found with the search engine, but a website gives you access to many more tools and strategies for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). And SEO is the key to making your business appear on the front page of Google. The phrase “search engine optimization” might be intimidating, but in practice, it’s fairly simple. You enter words and phrases related to your business into a keyword research tool, figure out which ones are getting the most traffic on Google, then build your content around those phrases. As a rule, each piece of content should be focused on a different keyword, so that as your list of content grows, your site is able to rank for more keywords. There are some excellent SEO plugins for WordPress that make it easy to do this, no previous training required.

3. You can clearly showcase your products and services

You can show potential customers what they’ll get when they work with you by displaying high-quality photography on your website.  You can also use your website design, along with the featured images, to give people a sense of what it feels like to enter your physical location. Another thing you can do is publish important information about your products and services on your website to make sure you’re attracting the right customers. For example, if you run a restaurant, you might want to mark any items on your menu that are gluten-free so people with Celiac or other conditions that make gluten dangerous know they can eat in your establishment.

4. You can display your best reviews and testimonials prominently on your website

Displaying your best reviews and/or testimonials prominently on your website is a great way to establish social proof. This might come in the form of personal customer testimonials.  If your business has appeared in articles from newspapers or popular local blogs, you can also feature those, as Stormcrow Manor. Publishing your best reviews on your website also serves the secondary purpose of creating a permanent archive. This means that even if third-party review sites close at some point in the future, you’ll still have access to your best reviews.

5. A website can encourage customers to contact you

A website is a great place to make your contact information easily available to potential customers. You can even publish your contact information in a header or footer so it appears on every single page.

6. You can integrate your website with Google Maps so people can find you more easily

A website lets you embed maps directly into your content. Some businesses, have a map embedded directly onto their home page. An embedded map makes it easy for people who don’t spend a lot of time in your area to find your business. This is particularly great if you host events, as they might attract people who wouldn’t otherwise spend time in the neighborhood your business is in.