Why Do Small Businesses Need a Website?

Many small businesses believe they don’t need a website, but this isn’t the case. Any business operating in 2020 that wants to provide its customers with better service and wants to grow needs to have a website. Websites can be built for very little money, so even if you’re on a budget that’s no excuse not to invest. Keep reading below to find out a bit more about why you need a website and how to get started:

Why Do I Need a Website?

Here are five reasons why businesses need a website:

  1. It’s your marketing foundation – the majority of people looking for a product or service start off by searching online. If you don’t have a website, your customers won’t know that you exist. Nowadays, the internet is more popular than ever. People no longer look in the Yellow Pages to find the products and services they need.
  2. Customer service – a good website should provide customers with all the information they need. Why not think about having a comments section on your site where you can answer customer queries? Many people prefer talking to others over the internet instead of over the phone or face to face. 
  3. Customer acquisition cost is low – websites are a much cheaper way of acquiring new customers than traditional marketing methods. 
  4. Integrated marketing works the best – it’s a good idea to integrate your marketing across digital and traditional methods as this is much more effective than just doing one or the other. Most consumers need a number of points of influence before deciding to purchase something.
  5. Competition – If your competitors have a website and you don’t, then you’ll be at a disadvantage. 

Do I Need Technical Skills to Build a Website?

This will depend on the type of website you want to build. Learning how to code is the trickiest way of building a website, but it will enable you to build any type of website you choose. There are other ways of building websites that are much easier and don’t require a lot of skill, such as WYSIWYG builders like WordPress.

Once your website is complete you will also need to make sure that it’s secure. A good hosting provider is obviously a must, so think about the features that you need.  Small blogs may do well on a shared host, but for business websites, it’s almost always better to opt for a virtual private server or VPS hosting provider. Check out this list from digitizd which gives good advice on which provider tfo choose and to see what features their software includes. 

Most Popular Ways to Build a Website

Here are the three most popular ways to build a website:

  1. Hire a website builder – this is one of the simplest options and involves employing a company to design, host, edit, and support your website. They take care of all the tricky parts of the build but can hold your site to ransom if you’re not careful.
  2. Use a content management system (CMS) – these are slightly more complicated, although they have become a lot simpler to use than they used to be. WordPress is the most popular option here.
  3. Build it yourself – to do this you will need to learn how to code. This is a much cheaper option, but it requires a lot of skill. 

Creating Good Content for Your Website

Your website only has a number of seconds to capture a potential customer’s interest. Initial impressions play a huge part in whether a customer stays on your site or leaves. You should focus on your customers’ interests and answer any questions about what your company can do to improve their lives, etc. You need content that is constantly evolving to suit your customers’ needs. 

All businesses should have a website no matter how big or small they are. It will not only help your business grow, but it will also provide your customers with better customer service. Why not look into some of the options above for building your website?

Blake Cohen
 

Blake is a business journalist with a wealth of experience covering the world of finance, economics and technology. With over a decade of experience reporting on the latest trends in the corporate world, Blake has a reputation for being a knowledgeable, analytical and forward-thinking journalist. He has a keen eye for spotting emerging technologies and trends in the business world, and is able to explain their impact on the economy and society in a clear and compelling way.