It should go without saying that in the digital era, having a website for your business is an indisputable necessity. Besides serving as an online home for your company, a website can be a great tool that you can use for a variety of online marketing campaigns and tactics to help your business grow. That’s why we’ve decided to talk about the importance of having a website, what it should look like, and all the benefits it can bring to your business.
It is good for marketing
As we already mentioned, having a website is good for your business as it allows you to apply different online marketing strategies. More importantly, it lets you do so on your own terms, without the restraints of networks like Facebook or Google. Since your website is the main pillar of your online presence, it’s important that every trace of your online activity leads consumers back to your page in one way or another.
For example, even if you use social media marketing to keep in touch with your consumers, you still have to provide them with ways to become familiar with your business. This is where content marketing can come in handy. If you want to further engage your consumers or simply inform them about your business in more depth, the best way to go about it is to provide them with detailed, product-based content in form of a blog.
The ability to reach more consumers
Having an online presence will give you more opportunities to extend your consumer base and make more sales. Moreover, by having a website you become ultimately accessible to all your visitors. This is because unlike a store that has to close during a certain time period, a website almost never closes. In other words, your customers will be able to learn about your business and purchase your products from any location, whenever they please.
That being said, you won’t get more customers right off the bat. There are some SEO strategies you can apply, however, that can help you out with your mission to make leads.
Credibility
In today’s business world, online visibility means more credibility. In fact, many people search the internet to check the reliability of a company whose products or services they’re interested in. The eCommerce Foundation studies have shown that 88% of consumers do product-related research online before deciding whether they want to make a purchase.
A website is a great opportunity to present your business in the best light by letting people know what you’re about and why you’re so reliable in the first place. Also, if others are satisfied with what you have to offer, it’s more than likely they’ll spread the word about the quality of your products or services.
What your business website should look like
The look of your business website greatly depends on your niche. Still, whether it’s e-commerce, small business, or a big company website, there are some crucial elements every good business website should have:
- A solid web platform – when deciding to start a website, choosing a CMS capable of covering all your needs is mandatory. We suggest going for WordPress, as it’s the most popular platform on the web with plenty of online resources such as themes and plugins that will allow you to build any type of website imaginable. WordPress is also SEO-friendly, requires no coding knowledge, and is completely free.
- A secure hosting platform – in order to prevent hacking, leaks of business information or other security issues, choosing a dependable hosting service provider should be your top priority. Personally, we suggest going for Bluehost or GoDaddy hosting.
- Good SEO – if your website isn’t visible to search engines, no potential customers will be able to find you. That’s why you have to get familiar with the basics of SEO for ranking visibility. That being said, going above and beyond to learn all the secrets of search engine optimization isn’t necessary. Writing informative, quality content, using accurate keywords and URLs and placing enough informative links in your content should be more than enough.
- Easily accessible contact info – this should be a key aspect of every good business website. Quite frankly, some people don’t have the time or patience to search through your entire website to find how to get in touch with you. Needless to say, this can cost you potential customers. Therefore, it is really important that you make your contact information easily noticeable. We recommend placing several methods of getting in touch with you (contact form, phone number, and email) somewhere at the top of your homepage. In fact, it won’t hurt to also add contact info in the footer of every page of your website, just in case.
- Clean and user-friendly design – the look and layout of your site is equally important, especially since a website design has a great potential to either attract or put off your audience. How you will design your site can also depend on your niche. If the nature of your business goes well with a bit of flashiness (for example, if you run a restaurant or a fashion business), then don’t hesitate to add more vibrant color and striking design patterns to your web page. That being said, try not to go too overboard with it either, since your visitors have to be able to find the information they seek quickly and effortlessly without getting too distracted. That’s why, generally speaking, keeping things clean and neatly organized might be your best bet.
Conclusion
Having a website for your business can bring you great benefits. Above all, it can give you credibility and is excellent for increasing sales. And given that nowadays you don’t have to invest huge amounts of money for a professional website, there is literally no reason for any business, be it big or small, not to have one. So, if you have yet to create an online home for your business, we strongly encourage you to get started as soon as possible.
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