Thinking about Updating Your Business Website? Here are 5 Reasons You Should


5 Reasons Why You Need a Website for Your Small Business In 2019

If you’re a small business owner still shaky about investing in building a modern website, this one’s for you.

There are at least a dozen reasons why any business, regardless of industry, needs a website. For starters, your customers are online. According to Internet Live Stats, there are (at least) 3.5 billion Google searches made every day. Check out a few more fun facts, courtesy of BrightLocal:

  • 86% of consumers rely on the internet to find a local business
  • 29% of consumers search for local businesses at least once every 7 days
  • 72% of consumers say search is their first choice to find information on local merchants

So, even if your business is strictly local, rest assured that investing in a website (and local SEO) is well worth it.

Speaking of investments, creating a modern, functioning website doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Instead of hiring designers and developers to build one for you, you can easily do it yourself. There are so many great website builders in the market today that are super affordable (less than $10/month) and easy-to-use.

But you’re still not convinced, are you?

Why You Need a Website

Well, you will be. Here are five indisputable reasons to build one right away.

To establish your business’s credibility

The simple fact of the matter is this: your customers expect a website. Six out of ten consumers hope for businesses to provide online content about their business on some form of digital property, and more than half head straight to the brand’s website for product information.

91% of customers have visited a store because of an online experience. Potential customers are using their smartphones and tablets to decide where to go and what to buy. So if you don’t have a business website, today’s digital-savvy (and impatient) customers will simply go elsewhere without the slightest hesitation.

According to Trustpilot, over 80% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. So, including customer testimonials on your website is an excellent way to amaze potential buyers. In other words, having a website is the key to establish social proof.

To be truly competitive

All your competitors most likely already have an established online stronghold. This includes having a modern-looking website, an active presence on suitable social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube), and a local business listing on Google My Business.

If you think about it, not having a business website raises questions in the eyes of consumers. Are you a technological Luddite? Does your business not care enough to build one? Or are you so cash-strapped that you can’t even afford a website? All the things you don’t want people thinking about your business.

And it is worth mentioning again that with all the countless choices they have nowadays, your average customer is extremely impatient. Simply put, you are losing a huge chunk of revenue to your competitors if you don’t have a decent digital presence.

To leverage a powerful marketing channel

While traditional marketing techniques (TV, print, flyers, billboards, radio, and so on) are still exercised by big brands (the likes of Coca-Cola, Adidas, Samsung), they are not a good fit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The biggest reason, of course, being how expensive it is to run such campaigns. And apart from being monumentally expensive, there are several major drawbacks of traditional marketing:

  • Lower engagement rate: Traditional marketing is a one-way street. You can’t directly engage with your potential customers.
  • Limited customization: You can’t personalize your marketing matter, nor can you segment your audience as per industry or age group.
  • Intrusive: People don’t usually buy the newspaper or listen to the radio for advertisements. Ads here are considered disruptive and almost always ignored.
  • Poor measurement: Measuring the results of your marketing efforts is crucial for long-term success. You don’t want to waste your efforts and invest in the wrong direction. Sadly, measuring the results of traditional marketing campaigns is quite difficult and often done inaccurately.

Whereas, digital marketing flips all these downsides into rewarding plus points:

  • Extremely cost-effective
  • Higher engagement
  • Non-intrusive
  • Potential for huge ROI
  • Ability to effectively segment audiences and personalize
  • Analytics for tracking accurate and real-time results

Now, at the heart of any digital marketing strategy is a well-maintained, fast, and functioning website. Your website is the digital “home” of your business and it’s the one place online where you are completely in control of your message. No matter how active you are on your social media, nothing can replace the power of your business website.

Besides, you must strive to establish brilliant omnichannel online experiences for your customers. This means going above and beyond with content marketing, email marketing, and social media, treating them as pillars of your website.

To showcase/sell your products and services

As more and more consumers are turning to Google search for researching a product or service before actually going out to shop, your business website is the perfect opportunity to showcase your products or outline your services in full detail with beautiful images.

You can also upload short video tutorials or downloadable PDF guides/ebooks to convert customers on the fence about choosing you over a competitor.

Moreover, e-commerce spending is increasing each year. In the U.S alone, consumers spent $453.46 billion on the web for retail purchases in 2017, a 16.0% increase compared with $390.99 billion in 2016. In 2018, retail e-commerce sales including digital services amounted to nearly $526 billion and are projected to grow to $893.4 billion in 2022.

Clearly, people are becoming increasingly inclined to make purchases online. And so, you should actually consider expanding your operations and start selling online.

To collect data and feedback

Getting customer data such as email addresses for lead generation or collecting feedback for improvement can be quite difficult in an offline scenario.

But getting people to type in their email address or answer a quick survey in exchange for a free, useful resource such as an exclusive e-book, newsletter, or whitepaper is a tried-and-true method to obtain that all-important customer data.

And once you have your customer’s email address, you have unlocked another great digital marketing technique: email marketing.

So, still not convinced? What is holding you back? Let us know in the comments below!

Image: Depositphotos.com


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Pratik Dholakiya Pratik Dholakiya is the founder of Growfusely, a content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO. As a passionate SEO and content marketer, he shares his thoughts and knowledge in publications like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, The Next Web, YourStory, and Inc42, to name a few.

44 Reactions
  1. Hello Pratik,

    Faboulous post. Updating a website is very important in today’s competitive world. You have shared some great tips and reasons on updating a website. Thanks again for this beautiful post.

    • The main reason to keep website updated is for security. Sometimes security vulnerabilities are corrected with new updates. Updating to the newest version will ensure that you have the latest security fix. Not updating your versionmay leave your site open to hackers!!

  2. Great article. Well thought out and great tips. Every business needs a website these days. No question about it. Now they have the solid logic behind this statement. This is something we help small business owners and SoloPreneurs with every day. I appreciate you putting all the information in such a nice package. 🙂

    Thanks, Pratik!

    Gia Cilento
    CilentoMedia.com

  3. Updating your site is a must because you need to know if the conent is still up to date with the times and fulfills the needs of your customers.

  4. Hi Pratik,

    Constantly updating or monitoring your website is important to avoid issues like outdated plug-ins and security issues. Updating your content with current trends will draw traffic to your website. If your site stays static for a long time, your visitors will lose interest in your website.

  5. Hi,

    Its a very interesting article, though will add on additional points.

    1. Its open 247 provided the website is hosted in the good hosting company.
    2. Improves Credibility and Legitimacy of Your Brand.
    3. You can test new ideas
    4. You can develop a knowledge base for your customers, this can help you in reducing support staff.
    5. Achieve business goals.

    Hope this can be helpful.

    Thank you!

  6. You truly motivate us to update our business website. The reasons you provide can result in our own benefits. We want our business to be credible and competitive. Thanks to you, we now know that we can achieve it by updating our website. Having an updated website can make us easily showcase our products and services, and collect data and feedback. Updating our business website is indeed our way to leverage a powerful marketing channel.

  7. Having a website is like having a shop or business where anyone can visit 24*7. You are not bound by time as anyone can visit your website and get details they want or contact you. Your website is your representation and surely, in the long run, it’s gonna benefit you.

    Great Article showing the benefits of the website and Social platforms to small businesses.

  8. Thank you for this blog. It is very helpful for me.

  9. Thank you for sharing such an informative post and I totally agree with the points that you have raised about the website design.

  10. I really appreciate your post on the topic “Need a Website for small business” it really helped me getting a clear vision on multiple things please keep posting such posts.
    Thank You
    Regards
    KeepingItAlive

  11. Great Article showing the benefits of the website and Social platforms to small businesses.

  12. very helpful article

  13. Yes… Each and Every Business should create a website for their business. It gives them a good branding and positive perspective in buyers mind. Wherever someone new hears about your business first search you on google. so you should be there.
    Thank you for the article…

  14. Hi, Pratik, Loved your article, the way you have projects all these data in details along with viable reasons is just awesome.

  15. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post. I think to attract the customers, we should have to keep an eye on what’s latest is going on in the market. Based on our marketing analysis, customer requirements and competitor strategy, we should have to update not only our website but also our marketing approach from time to time.

  16. Great content.
    For a business, the idea should be unique so that it provides more benefits to the needy.

  17. Hey, thanks for the information! I found it really helpful.

  18. ohh lord your post is so accurate! God bless you with more awesome post like this.

  19. If you want to make your own website. we provide the best website development services in Lucknow.

  20. Nice Information. Thank you for sharing!

  21. Hi,

    Its a very interesting article, though will add on additional points.

    1. Its open 247 provided the website is hosted in the good hosting company.
    2. Improves Credibility and Legitimacy of Your Brand.
    3. You can test new ideas
    4. You can develop a knowledge base for your customers, this can help you in reducing support staff.
    5. Achieve business goals.

    Hope this can be helpful.

    Thank you!

  22. Thank’s for sharing a nice info

  23. Hey Pratik Dholakiya!
    What an awesome post! This is so chock full of useful information I can’t wait to dig deep and start utilizing the resources u have given me. Your exuberance is refreshing.
    Thank you so much.

  24. Thank you for sharing such an informative post and I totally agree with the points that you have raised about the website designing & development.

  25. Thank You For Sharing such an informative Article.

  26. Hey!
    What an awesome post! This is so chock full of useful information I can’t wait to dig deep and start utilizing the resources u have given me. Your exuberance is refreshing.

  27. Awesome post

  28. This is an Awesome post

  29. Very true. Updating your website is important. As you grow your business grows, you achieve more results. And it is important that you add them also to your site in a professional way. You should upgrade your site if you think it is not looking professional.
    And if you want then our company Coteriesoft can help you in this.

  30. great article. very informative . Thanks for sharing.

  31. Thanks for this wonderful information.
    We are the Coterisoft – Best IT Company in Lucknow.
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  32. Thanks for share such type of precious information.

  33. many thanks a good deal this amazing site can be conventional in addition to relaxed.

  34. great article. very informative . Thanks for sharing.
    We are the Orbish Infotech – Best IT Company in Lucknow.
    We provide various software and website development services.

  35. This is very informative post for each of us. Thanks for sharing this with us.

  36. very informative content and knowledgeable blog, thanks for sharing with us.

  37. Thank you for This Useful and Informational Article

  38. great article. very informative . Thanks for sharing. tnx

  39. Having a website before was optional is now mandatory

  40. When your website or blog goes live for the first time, it is exciting. That is until you realize no one but you and your

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