As a customer, I can’t tell you how annoyed I get when I Google a business that I want to patronize and they don’t have a website. Sometimes that means that I don’t ever actually buy from that business, because I couldn’t do the research I needed to do prior to purchasing.
Just think about how you shop. When you decide you want to buy something, what’s the first thing you do? When you hear about a product or business that you’re interested in for the first time, what’s the next step in your buying process? It’s very likely that you turn to the internet for more information.
Even if there’s no way you can actually sell anything online, and I’d probably argue that you can, you absolutely need to have an online presence. It doesn’t even really have to be anything extravagant or expensive — it could literally be just one page that you build yourself.
According to SCORE, 36% of small businesses don’t have an online presence. And according to KPMG, 47% of people visit a company’s website prior to making a purchase.
Those statistics, alone, prove why it’s so important to have a website. It’s your 24/7 sales rep. When people search for whatever it is you’re selling, you want your business to be found.
Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that your Facebook page or Instagram page are acceptable substitutes for a website. And I have one question for you to illustrate why. Who owns Facebook and Instagram? Starts with Mark and ends with Zuckerberg! That means that if those platforms died or shut your page down, you’d be up shit creek! You own your website, so no one can ever take that from you.
Having a website also helps you build an email list. I mean, you could walk around with a clipboard and a sign up sheet asking your target audience to write down their email address for you, but who the hell has time for that? Send people to your website, capture their email, nurture your relationship, turn them into customers.
Your website makes you trustworthy and can be the start of your relationship with potential customers. Remember the Know, Like, Trust factor? People need to know you, like you and trust you in order to give you their money. Your website makes that process much easier.
Your website also allows you to tell your story and spread your message to your target market instead of you leaving that up to other people to do. You get to tell your customers who you are, what you do, and all the great things about your product or service. We all know that angry customers are much more likely to leave a bad review about a company than satisfied customers. If someone left a bad review somewhere on the internet about your company and you didn’t have a website, it’s entirely possible that bad review would be the only information any potential customers would see if they searched for your company online.
If you have a business — no matter what it is — you need to create a website TODAY! This is not optional for your business. You don’t need to spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring someone to build a website for your business. There are plenty of easy to build, drag and drop platforms that allow you to build a pretty damn good looking website yourself with no technical skills required.
Since we’re talking about websites, in tomorrow’s article let’s explore how you can make money on your website, even if you’re not selling a physical product.