Should I get a website? That's a question that every new business owner can't wrap their head about. It is quite understandable: there are too many choices you have to make offline, and suddenly there is a new frontline that is taking you by a surprise. Don't worry, I will help you to answer all the question and get you on a right track! So let's dive right into it.
Pandemic
It is not a secret that the ongoing pandemic brought some chaos into the world. Suddenly, all the offline businesses were left with nothing: all of their stores had to be closed. Indefinitely. Business owners were simply cornered, they had no choice but to adapt and go online. This sudden shift brought an unimaginable spike of newly baked websites. **** Generally, COVID made many business owners undergo the so much needed change, as many of them either didn't know or didn't care to create a website for their company. If you ask me, they should have done it long ago. The thing is, we live in a such digitalized world, that it is hard to imagine that basically any business is running without a dedicated website.
Credibility
Having a website is not just a perk. Let's look at this from our angle when we are the consumers. Say, you want to buy a new laptop, because your old one is about to die, you go and search for a place to buy it. You see and ad for what it looks like a good deal, but it only leads you to some Instagram page or whatever. Yeah, we will be passing that one for sure. And why did we do that? Because you wouldn't buy something from a retailer that didn't even bother getting a website. Moreover, that is so low effort, that it becomes suspicious: who knows what you'll get at the end of the deal. That is why having a website greatly increases your credibility: it shows that you are serious, and that you were willing to put some extra effort in.
Accessibility
It was this way for a long time, but as I have recently said, the pandemic brought some changes on the online scene. People will prefer shopping online more and more, and there is no way getting around that. Giving them access to your products by showcasing them online will profit both of you: they can easily buy it, and you still get your money. There is also a psychological factor to this: we, as humans, always seek an easier way to do everything. When there is simpler choice, we go for it. Almost nobody will go to the actual store when they can order the same thing online and get it delivered to their door.
Visibility
Now that is a thing that directly benefits you. Having your website indexed by search engines drastically increases your conversion rate, and simply gives you more recognition among other brands. It is very important to do good SEO in order for the searches to actually lead to you, so you better include getting a good optimization engineer to your bucket list.
Time
Remember all the Q&A sections on basically every website that you have visited? Yeah, those are the for a reason. They are designed to save your and your customers time by answering the most basic questions, and some of the more company-specific ones. Having a website provides you with a set of tools which will greatly improve your efficiency in customer interactions. Simply adding a chat bot that will appear somewhere on the bottom of the screen can boost your sales because some people need pretty simple answers, but they won't bother call you — they either don't want to or don't have the time.
Judgment
Just like in life, you are being judged by the looks. It is both good and bad at the same time, but let's look on the brighter side: getting a good looking website is not so hard. Choose the right people to do the design, give a lot of feedback, and you will get yourself a candy of a website. From our clients' experience, it really shows that a good looking landing page is sometimes more effective than a dozen of real client reviews. Again, it is psychological: we believe that these particular company is trustworthy, because surely that wouldn't put so much effort into their website if they were bad? And it is usually the case.
Competition
As a proper business, you always want to be on your competitor's track and do better. That is the other reason for having a website, actually, even though it can be a little bit on a childish side, but it is true. You want to be competitive, and if your rivals have their products showcased online, you might want to do the same thing. A good practice would be to go through their websites and learn what do they do right and what they do wrong. It will help you understand what you need to do better, as nothing can be more useful than a good look from a buyer's perspective.
24/7
Another great perk of having a website is it simply being online 24/7. It applies to all night owls right there (like me), because you would be actually surprised how many people are not only willing, but will actually buy something at night. Your standard 8 hour working day is good and all, but giving your customers more choice is always great. This way, you will be able to attract more people to your business, no matter at day or night. You will still have to get actually good website, because nothing screams that you mean business like a well-designed and properly thought-out webpage. Write us, and we will make sure to consult you on the best way to achieve the most efficient results.
