Why your business needs a website
How many times have you looked for a company website, only to find they don’t have one? I bet you thought them not very in touch with the world and were pretty frustrated by the experience!
It’s more vital now than ever to have an online presence and keep up with your competitors. A website will provide you with a platform to promote your brand online to potential consumers. Whilst we could write a list pages long about all of the reasons why you should have a website, we will limit ourselves to what we at Cleverfrog Website Design Reading think are the 5 most important reasons:
1. A website gives your business credibility
Today more and more clients use the internet to find products or services that they need. A website gives your business credibility, it shows that you exist, you are a “real business”. Without a website, these potential customers will simply go on to look at competitor websites and you will lose their business.
2. It displays the information or products that customers need – before making their buying decision
Make the information on your website valuable and compelling to a potential customer. If visitors cannot find what they want then more likely than not, they will “bounce” off the website and move onto a competitor’s site that maybe displays the information better.
Taking this a step further, not only do you need to have the content that is easy to find and read, but this content needs to be compelling to the reader. To that end, you need to write your content based on what you know the visitor will respond to – not an easy task.
3. A website allows you to be found on search engines
You need a website in order to get listed on search engines such as google. By building a web design that incorporates search engine optimisation (SEO), your products and services can be identified by google as being the most relevant for possible customers searching on the internet using key words.
By securing a first page ranking on Google, your business will have more opportunities to drive potential new business wins. The issue is, however, that many of your competitors will be doing the same, so it’s not an easy task. But the rewards can be huge – 92% of online search traffic goes directly to search results on the first page of Google.
4. You can employ marketing techniques on your website
Having a website and social media presence online allows your business to perform marketing tactics. Online marketing tactics are proved efficient, low cost compared to traditional advertising channels, and can be very quick to roll out.
Your marketing tactics, which link back to your website, could include the likes of social media posts on Facebook and Twitter, building relationships with new and existing clients and telling them about forthcoming new products or services, competitions and special offers. Without a website, you also can’t use online marketing such as Google Ads.
5. You need a website to communicate your brand
A website gives you control over your brand’s tone of voice and identity online. Being consistent with your brand messaging creates credibility and builds trust in your expertise. However, if the content on your website aren’t working for your business, you may need to get them rewritten professionally.
Old out of date content, blogs etc can make your site appear un-cared for and this transfer through to a visitor’s perception of your business. You need therefore to make your content up-to-date, fresh, appealing and relevant at all times.