Small Business & the Need for a Professional Website
Why settle for less when a website can make your business bigger or more successful than it already is?
You may already be succeeding in business without a website and may think it is no longer necessary to have one. But wait, this is the digital age, and more and more business is moving from bricks-and-mortar stores to e-shops opening themselves up to billions more potential customers.
Why settle for less when a website can make your business bigger or more successful than it already is? There are so many benefits with an exponential value increase that a website for small businesses brings.
Keep in mind SunCoast Media have 3 different web design packages to suit your business needs. Explore our packages and contact us for a free quote and a chat with the professional.
Table of contents
1. Small Businesses and the Need for a Professional Website
2. Ten big-time perks of running your small business on a website
3. How often should you update or redesign your website?
4. How often should you update or redesign your website?
Reading Time: 9 minutes
Web design trends for 2023
Here are ten big-time perks of running your small business on a website:
Small Business & Professional Web Design
1. That professional look.
It is important to know what customers think about your business. Did you know that 84% of modern-day customers attach credibility to a website hosted businesses over companies running solely on social media? Some people still use their personal email address to run their business. But with a website, you can change your email to a more branded address which splashes some professionalism into what you do. Are you aware that certain email marketing tools disallow users from sending messages via personal emails?
You need to set up your own business email account to stay on top of your digital marketing.
2. New clients via Google.
A website displays your business to a wider audience by increasing your visibility on Google. Search engine optimisation is highly effective with a website. Social media handles and posts run on Google and are limited in a way, but a website allows you access to more tools that enhance your business presence on Google hence motivating new customers to take a look at your business.
3. A bright display of your products and services.
Business has never been this easy online, thanks to the Sunshine Coast Web Design Services. Your potential customers can see your products and services with fantastic photos of your offerings posted on your website. Integrating your featured images on your website design (more on this later in this article) aids in giving people an idea of what it’s like to visit your physical establishment. Plus, you have the added advantage of displaying relevant product and service information for the right clients to see. For instance, if you run a digital marketing agency, you can highlight your ability to offer sustainable marketing services so customers know you’re an ethical and eco-friendly company.
4. Clear showcase of your best reviews and testimonials.
A business website is a better way to proudly display the best things said about your business (reviews and/or testimonials). It works on building your social proof. You can also showcase your business appearance on newspaper articles or famous local blogs (if you’ve got a mention). Putting your best testimonials on your website helps you build a long-standing archive such that even if third-party review sites shut down for any reason, you can still access great reviews about your business.
5. Motivate clients to contact your business.
Having a website allows you to publish your business address (phone number, location, email, social media channels) easily for all customers to see. You can have it on all your pages in a footer or header. Today’s website design has made it simpler to Create A Contact Form that keeps spam away from your business email.
6. Makes your business an easy-find via integration with Google Maps.
By including maps directly on your website content, customers that are not familiar with your local area will have no hassle finding your business. This value is useful, especially for event hosting, as it can bring a lot of clients that wouldn’t have physically come to your business area.
8. It’s simple to build and manage a website.
You don’t need to be a coding expert to design a website! Wix and Squarespace – some of the modern website builders have simplified web building. This means you can now have a user-friendly, professional and appealing website easily.
9. Long-term success.
59.5% of the world’s population are online as at January 2021. There are countries that have many more internet users than ever before. These great numbers of potential clients will never see your business if it’s not online! As digital marketing continues to take over, your business may likely go extinct if you don’t own a website. You don’t want your competitors to force you out of business? Create and manage your business website today.
10. Benefits 1 to 9 are yours at an affordable price.
Yes! Considering that all the above benefits come with owning a website, you don’t have to spend much to have one. There are easy-to-use, DIY techniques for website creation you can employ to own yours. For instance, WordPress is a free and popular software for designing websites. Should you include a free WordPress theme like Hestia and affordable website hosting, you can have your website functioning for a small amount of money.
Small Business & Professional Website
How often should you update or redesign your website?
There is a lot of competition out there, and to stay ahead of the game, you can’t just stop at having a website but you need to ensure it offers a functional user-friendly experience to potential clients. How? We recommend you update or completely change the design of your website every 2 to 5 years or so. There are periodic advancements in online technology. Design trends are not static either. Always be on the lookout for your competitions web design. Should they have a modern or up-to-date design, it’s only natural for customers to turn towards them believing it is the complete reflection of the business.
If your website is older than 5 years, it is time to work up a fresh design.
With website updates or redesigns there are some key things to bear in mind:
- In-house updating. So you don’t waste time announcing relevant information or effect changes, it is good to be able to do an in-house web update. There are more savings on your time and money if your business can update its website without external support.
- Check that your website is mobile-friendly. If your website on mobile devices is not responding quickly and easily to page clicks or your contact info is hard to get, then you must work on this during your web redesign. Make your website mobile interactive and responsive with easy-to-read text, simple navigation, and easy-to-click buttons.
- It should reflect your business services. Your website is not different from your services. If you change products or services, refflect it on your website. Make sure you publish every service you are offering both old and new on your website. Don’t lose potential customers by incorrectly representing your business on your website.
- Update employees pages. Please review your employees’ pages annually and change headshots every year. These days, customers like to know your team – it’s part of their decision making process. Keep friendly headshots and brief bios of your staff regularly updated to motivate more customer interaction.
- Update photos. You may likely not do a complete website redesign if you are used to adding new photos. Update your photos every year or so.
- How is your ranking on Google? Updating your website is a strong approach to keeping your search engine optimisation solid. Check your Google ranking and that of your competition, and do your update to stand strong. Just so you know, Google ranks websites that are more often updated higher than those that are not.
- Update your content. Web visitors feed on the content you offer on your website. If you are not providing fresh, relevant and engaging feeds, web visitors conversion will be slow. To keep your content updated, add a blog section to your website, have pages specific to each service you provide, and build a customer review section and update reviews often. Though extensive in the application, these simple ideas will form a strong basis for potential customers to keep coming to your website.
Why redesign to a mobile-friendly website?
- Google ranks websites that work effectively on mobile devices better
- More interest, interaction and leads come with mobile-friendly websites
- Top your competition by providing a steady positive experience on every device
- It is easier to keep SEO campaigns up and maintain websites when your website is mobile-friendly
Should you get a business website?
You should understand by now what you are losing by not having a website for your small business in these days of digital marketing. Both your clients and competitors are online. So if you are still offline, you’re doing your business a disservice, and you won’t get the result you need to boom. Get started now.
You still have time.
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