Whether you’re a small or big business, a business website offers plenty of advantages. Here are the most significant benefits of having a business website:
1. A Business Website Makes You Look Professional
Anyone can create a company page on Facebook or Instagram, it’s free and can be done in minutes. This low barrier to entry takes away much of the credibility of a business social media page. Customers don’t know who’s behind a Facebook page, where they are, and whether it’s all a scam.
On the other hand, creating a business website is not free and indicates that you’re relatively serious about your business. Therefore, a business website makes you look more professional and credible.
2. Website is an Essential Step in Your Customer’s Journey
An effective website is where you want your audience from different channels to end up. It’s on the website that you’ll inspire action from your potential clients.
Your website is like a physical shop—people walk by it until they come in to look at what you offer. So even if they don’t buy something the first time they walk in, they might buy something on subsequent visits.
On a similar vein, customers come across your business via different channels like social media feeds. If the social feed ad is interesting, they’ll expect to visit your website to find out more about the business. If there isn’t a website, they might not take the next logical step in the customer journey.
3. A Website Increases Your Visibility
There are over 4.5 billion active internet users worldwide, and over 90% of them accessed the Internet via mobile devices.
Without a website, your business is virtually invisible to these people. With COVID-19 pushing the global market even more digital, your business will become invisible to those that matter unless you invest in a website.
4. Good Website Is Essential For Local Businesses
Many small business owners don’t see the need to invest in an effective business website. However, they’re currently missing out on an incredible source of revenue.
The following statistics show how important a website is for a local business:
97% of users use search to find local businesses
28% of users purchased an item after a local search
70% of users will visit a store because of what they found online
A business website will help you capture all of this potential and make your business even more profitable.
5. A Business Website Gives Lasting Value
One of the best things about investing in a business website is how it continues to generate value for you even years after you’ve created it.
When you pay for ads on social media, your potential clients only see your ads for as long as you run them. If they don’t see it, you’ll have to pay again to run the ad campaign.
On the other hand, a business website will give you ROI over time. Even if it doesn’t give you returns in the first year, you have time to tweak things until you get returns.
6. Creating a Business Website is Easier and Cheaper Than You Think
Many business owners refuse to create a website because they believe it’s difficult and expensive to create an effective website. However, that’s not true.
There has never been an easier and cheaper time to create high-quality websites. There are affordable, easy-to-use website builders available to you. Creating a website and hosting a website is pretty straightforward.
7. A Business Website Lets You Sell Online
E-commerce sales are exploding and are projected to hit over $5.4 trillion in 2022. Surely, none of these sales happen with businesses that don’t own websites.
Even if you aren’t a traditional e-commerce business, having an online storefront can help you attract new customers and help you continue selling even when your physical store is closed.
8. You Have Complete Control Over Your Website
Since your website is your property, you get absolute design freedom — unlike with social media platforms.
You can share user reviews, videos, images, and whatever else you desire.
Also, you don’t have to follow the constantly updated rules of social platforms. And if there’s a social media blackout, like when Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp all disappeared for several hours, your website and its content remain safe.
9. A Business Website is Easy to Manage
Managing websites used to be daunting. However, with a content management system (CMS) like CMS Hub or WordPress, it’s now easier than ever to manage your website after it’s complete.
The decision to either create a website for your business or not is ultimately yours to make. However, if part of your business goals is to improve lead generation, visibility, social proof, and authority, then creating a website is an excellent place to start.
