Small businesses need to constantly adapt to changing markets to survive and be profitable. An online presence is essential for any modern business. Choosing to create a website is one of the best decisions that a small business can make for a variety of reasons.
Small businesses need a website to find new customers, be professional, showcase their values and products, and maintain contact with customers. Websites allow for small businesses to operate on a larger scale and have full control over the brand’s outreach and perception.
There are a plethora of reasons why a small business needs a website. Seven of the most important ones are explored here, as well as a quick guide on setting up a website.
7 Reasons Why A Small Business Needs A Website
Websites are absolutely a requirement for most modern small businesses. Regardless of what sector your business exists in, customers or those interested in what you do are almost certainly online looking for information or products.
Creating a website not only allows those customers to find you, but it also comes with a host of other benefits like maintaining control over your brand, providing a central hub, and giving professionalism to the business.
A Website Lends Credibility
Websites simply make a business seem more official or professional. When a potential customer or partner searches for a business online, they naturally gravitate toward authoritative sources. While a company Twitter or Facebook page still holds value, customers may often wonder what capacity those social media accounts are operating in.
By providing a central, credible website, consumers will naturally trust the source more. You can further prove the effectiveness of your business on the website by displaying awards, employees, and certifications, when relevant.
Having a website makes potential customers feel more secure that you are running an official business. In fact, a survey from 2015 found that 86% of consumers prefer a business to have a website instead of a social media page. That is an incredible amount of people that immediately trust your small business more for a simple website.
Websites Make Finding New Customers Easier
Customers discuss businesses often, referring good ones to friends or colleagues, or talking about them on social media. Having an easy URL that can be linked to talk about your website is a great way to find new customers and make existing referrals easier.
A website also allows for customers to find you from Google searches or general search terms, a huge boon to small businesses looking to expand their customer base. Many website building tools include tips and basic search engine optimization to further increase the amount of hits your small business will receive.
Clearly Showcase What The Business Does
Websites are easier to control than social media pages, allowing for you to directly display what you consider most important about your business. This applies to every level, from the design to the pictures and words used. Use this extra control as a way to showcase what your business is about and what you offer.
People who have their questions about a business answered directly by a website are more likely to trust a brand than others. Rather than leaving customers to piece together an image of what your small business does, state it directly using the power of the website.
Customers Can Contact The Business Directly
Providing a contact form on your website is a great way to build trust with customers and make fielding complaints and questions easier.
Messaging across various social media accounts or handling everything through phone calls can get confusing; by directing the majority of customer contact through the businesses website, you can easily handle customer contact and deliver a better, more universal experience.
This also applies to making it easier for customers to contact or find you. Presenting a support email, phone number, or physical address where your business is as a footer or specific page of the website makes information easier for customers to access, making it easier for them to give you their business.
Get More Eyes On The Small Business
Finding customers or people interested in your small business can be difficult, especially in the early days. However, a well-optimized website is almost certain to begin showing up on search results, dramatically increasing the amount of people paying attention to your business.
Consider how often you use Google or another search engine to look up businesses near you, or products before buying them. The average, modern consumer uses the internet as a tool to find what they are looking for. If your website is showing up early in search results, customers will naturally trust you as an authority and are more likely to choose you.
Control The Way The Business Is Seen
Choosing a website over sticking to a social media page is a choice toward controlling your business more. By having access to change every little thing about a website and produce a product that truly represents your business, you ensure that the business is entirely in the hands of people who care.
Here’s a theoretical example: Facebook releases an update to their platform that makes it so that businesses can no longer upload photos. This would be a death blow to a small photography business, and likely decrease customer engagement and discoverability for any business. Now, the chances of Facebook releasing an update that drastic are unlikely, but the truth is they have the power to do it whenever they wish.
That scenario is simply non-existent when your small business has its own website. You control the design, content, and discoverability.
Websites Increase Longevity And Success
The internet is already used by a tremendous number of people on a daily basis. As time goes on, the number of people connected to the world wide web is only likely to increase. If you do not have an online presence, you are losing out on potentially billions of customers. They simply will not know your business exists without a heavy online presence.
Websites also allow for a business to be discovered at all times. In the off chance that someone finds your business through a local phonebook or word of mouth, they can only contact you during hours you are operating.
With a website, people have a clear area they can go to for information at all times, any day of the year. Discoverability increases dramatically with a website for your small business.
How Does A Small Business Get Started Building A Website?
There are plenty of ways to get started building a website for a small business. The amount of time and money it takes to build a website is lower than ever, and a simple site can be built in as little as a day.
For small businesses, the two main choices for a website are either an online website builder or hiring a freelancer to create the site. Both methods come with some specific pros and cons that may make one choice obvious for your business, but it is hard to go wrong.
Template Website Builders Are A Great, Easy Resource
Template website builders are the easiest option for small businesses who do not want to deal with hiring another business or person to create the website. These are websites such as Squarespace, WordPress, or Wix where a business can simply create a website entirely through their service.
These choices handle everything on the backend and truly simplify the process; for a monthly or yearly fee, they host the website, provide a custom URL, offer template designs, and make it stress free.
To create a website on these services, you just need to provide the images, videos, words, and other content for the website or hire someone to do so. It is a process that can easily be done in a day or over a weekend to establish a fantastic online presence.
The main con of choosing this option is the lack of customization. Often, websites built with these tools have a tendency to look the same, as the layouts are not altogether varied. If you care about providing a unique experience, look elsewhere. However, for most businesses, this is the quickest and often best option.
Hiring Freelancers To Build A Custom Website
The other option for a small business to get started building a website is to hire a freelancer or other small business to create one for you. This is more expensive, but often just as easy. Good options will cover absolutely everything for your small business after discussing with you how you would like the website to function.
This is the obvious choice for small businesses who want to stand out or provide a custom online experience, or who have the capital to pay someone else to make a great website. While the amount of work needed to establish an online presence is severely reduced, there is still incredible value in hiring another professional to cover it and make it great.
Should I Outsource To A Media Company Or Get A Web Hosting Account Myself?
There are a plethora of media companies that provide the full website building experience, some even consulting with photographers and writers to grab exactly the content your business needs to succeed. This option is more expensive than getting a web hosting account yourself, as you are paying for a professional.
Hiring a media company is often worth it if your business:
- Relies on its online presence
- Has additional capital
- Desires a unique website
- Has no technological expertise
Media companies are great at understanding the market and making your website stand out and succeed. However, for many small businesses, especially those just starting their online presence, getting a web hosting account yourself is a great option.
Hosting your own account is almost certainly cheaper, it just requires more work on your end. Taking a weekend or additional time to gather media for your website and setting it up through an online builder is worth it for businesses who plan on having a simple website with limited functionality, or who just do not need a custom experience.
If money is a concern for hosting your website, choose this option.
Outro
Establishing a website is an essential for small businesses in the modern era. There are a plethora of reasons to do so, and all of them translate directly to increased success for your business.
Setting up a website is an easy task now, too. There are plenty of options available to ensure that your small business gets a website it deserves and needs, with all the bells and whistles you want to pay for. Ultimately, having control over your businesses presence on the web is a great boon for continued growth and success.