Top-Ten – Why Does Your Business Need a Website?
Have you ever been asked the question What do you want in life? Just like the answer to that question is not, I want to be happy!, the answer to Why Your Business Needs a website is not , Everyone has one these days!
Top 10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Website
A website is a strategic tool for any business and requires ongoing investment and commitment to keep it working in perfect harmony with the rest of your business. Therefore, the decision to get a website can not rely on an answer like, I want one! You dont make important decisions for your business on a whim and a website is no different. Here are some reasons why your business does need a website.
People are online
People search for businesses online all the time so sooner or later they will look for you. You might not be ready to sell online but you should have a presence on the web to help those customers find you. Your website can be a calling card for your business telling your customers that you provide the service they are looking for with testimonials backing that claim. The website gives your prospective customers an understanding of your business details. You can share your experience and knowledge to help your customers trust you.
Advertising
Your website is your home on the internet, you can do what you please on it and so you can use it for advertising. Have you ever noticed how the leading brands use their home pages to sell you their special offers? That is free advertising on your own website?
Targeted Marketing
You can have different landing pages targeted at different demographics – just like you have different departments in your store. Effective landing pages allow you to segment the market based on any criteria and target that section of the market effectively – not too dissimilar from having departments in a large store, except that you can achieve that on a website relatively easily.
Global Presence
The internet like most other media is not limited by geographies. People can see your website and read what you have to say and see what you have to sell from anywhere in the world. If your product or service can be exported easily, it opens up a world that was hard to reach in the past.
Time Savings
Your website is like a microcosm of your offline world and you can share it easily with anyone you please. You can quickly and effectively share content with people. This allows you to free up time for other more productive activities.
Low Cost
Websites present a low cost solution for your business. The running costs of a website are extremely low as compared to any other assets your business might own. Just take a look at Ryanair and Amazon – they have no physical stores or shops and rely on the web to generate all their business because their websites allow them to lower their costs of operation.
Interaction
The internet is an interactive medium and your website allows you to connect with customers in a way that was not possible without the internet. You can respond to queries about your products, address support issues, customer concerns quickly and efficiently. YOu can also collect testimonials and use customer feedback to improve or further advertise your service.
24X7 Presence
Your physical store shuts at 6pm or 9pm but the internet never does. If you havean online store, people can purchase from you anytime of the day with their credit cards. If your website convinces people that your product is the one worth buying, you can make money all day long without any closing time.
Credibility & Trust
Your website allows you to build up a trust with your customers. If they feel comfortable visiting your website, they will tell other people about it. They will also tell other people about your product or service.
Easy Measurement
Free tools like Google Analytics allow you to effectively measure traffic volumes on your website. This gives you an insight into how people make decisions and that further allows you to tailor your offering. The full-circle of Design -> Deploy -> Measure -> Improve is cheap to implement on a web resource than it would be on a physical store.
In the Top-Ten series of Blogs, Xava will help you understand why you decided to get a website and help you answer the questions os you can make informed choices for your business.
