Small Business Websites:

Statistics show that about half of the world’s population is already online. Many businesses have lost a lot of business as they have yet to acknowledge the need to have a website and operate online. The internet offers enormous commercial opportunities you don’t want to miss out on. If you’re still on the fence about investing the additional money on a website, here are a few reasons why you should do so soon:

1. One-Time Capital Investment

Developing a website for your small business is a one-time investment that will bring you returns for years. Once you have developed your website, you only have to spend a small amount on renewing your storage and domain name, which is only a small percentage of your total earnings.

As soon as your website is online, it will become available for billions of customers worldwide to access, which means you’ll have many potential customers. In contrast, when it comes to conventional sales and marketing channels, you have to rely on word-of-mouth, print media, and electronic media, and where you have to pay significant sums routinely.

While it isn’t cheap to develop a website, you only have to bear the cost once and then only have to pay for routine maintenance.

2. Increased Reach and Visibility

Simply put, no advertising medium can compete with a website’s reach. You can distribute tens of thousands of brochures and booklets, but they only have a short time to have an effect. People who hear about your business and want to do business with you are likely to complete their research on the internet before using your services or purchasing your product.

By providing basic information (business address, instructions, map, product portfolio, etc.) on your website, you can build your trust among current and potential customers and convert leads to buyers.

3. A Website is Your Businesses Hub

A small business’s website is a dedicated space or slot on the internet that is all about you and your business. You get to decide what theme best reflects it, how it should be designed and formatted, its logo, and more. While having a social media presence and adding your business to local listings is also essential, they don’t help you paint the whole picture of your business.

For example, Facebook allows businesses to generate a company or business profile, but it cannot be an alternative for a website. When you have a business website, you can organize and arrange material, photographs, and videos to communicate your message as effectively as possible. It also provides you control over your branding, internet appearance, content, and photos.

4. Better Communication With Existing and Potential Customers

Potential clients who wish to contact you may not have your contact information on hand. Nowadays, individuals frequently rely on Google’s search capabilities to access information about a company. Therefore, if you have a website, both potential and existing customers can reach you via email, WhatsApp, or telephone.

Therefore, an effective internet communication channel offers you the ability to attract clients as opposed to you having to reach out to them at all times. In contrast, if your small business doesn’t have a website or an internet presence, customers are more likely to reach out to your competitors rather than waste time looking for your contact details.

5.  It Allows You to Capture and Track Leads

There are several ways customers can access information about your business these days. They may discover you through your marketing campaigns across several platforms, or they may come across your company’s name through a blog written by an influencer who recommends your business.

You want all roads to go to your small company website, regardless of where they learn about you. Directing visitors to a centralized area increases your chances of acquiring information about your current and potential clients and storing it in a single spot, such as your CRM.

Moreover, your small business website can also assist you in collecting first-party data. Keeping and growing a first-party customer database is becoming important in light of Apple’s iOS 14 upgrade. This upgrade protects its users from data collection by tech companies. The new restrictions, in turn, make serving targeted ads to desired audiences via social and online ad platforms difficult. In addition, Google has also recently announced that from the start of 2023, it wouldn’t monitor third-party cookies.

Another advantage of tracking visits on your small business website is that it allows you to identify and monitor trends which can guide your marketing approach. For example, if a marketing channel is attracting more customers, you can focus your marketing efforts on it to further expand your customer base.

6. Increased Accessibility and Convenience

Even if you don’t have staff available round the clock, having a small business website enables your customers to reach you at all times. For example, a customer can search for your business online at 3 in the morning and fill out an inquiry form on your website from home. In contrast, this may not be possible with conventional marketing methods.

Some small businesses now operate entirely online, with no physical presence. Being a virtual business saves business owners a lot of money on operating costs like utility bills and maintenance costs. Moreover, it allows them to be available to their customers at all times by operating in an ‘always-on’ mode.

7. Helps Your Business Stand Out From the Competition

In today’s rapidly growing digital environment, not having an online presence is almost criminal. However, many small businesses operate without a website due to a lack of initial capital and awareness. Therefore, a small business website that is user-friendly and attractive can help you stand out from competitors who don’t have a website yet.

While developing your business website, you must ensure it presents your distinctive brand narrative, products, and services. Moreover, it should also help you position yourself in the market, gain new clients, and stand out from your competitors.

8.  It Helps You Employ an Online Pull Marketing Strategy

Traditional businesses market their products to potential clients using traditional advertising methods such as print ads, digital media, and word-of-mouth marketing. These are regional strategies that seldom cross geographical boundaries.

In contrast, having a small business website allows you to attract or “pull” customers to buy your products and services rather than pushing the products toward them.

For example, suppose a customer is searching for a window cleaning business in New York, which means he will most likely type “window cleaning business New York” in the search engine. So, if your company does not have an internet presence, you will lose a prospective customer and any business he may have brought you through positive word of mouth in the future.

9. It Helps Your Drive the Customer Journey

In the process of creating a path from product discovery to first purchase, you must inform the customers what you expect them to do. For example, you can increase awareness through a marketing campaign and provide some initial deals to help them navigate the sales funnel. All the marketing efforts aim to ensure that it leads to an ultimate purchase once the customer gets a chance to experience your goods. However, until you make that road obvious, they won’t know where to go!

Therefore, when you lead visitors to your small business website, you can engage them with calls-to-action that trigger conversions and move them along the sales funnel toward making the final purchase. You will lack the ability to lead the consumer journey unless you have a functional website.

Small Business Website Checklist

Here is a checklist of essential items you should have on your small business website:

1. About Us

When making a website for a small business, the section in which you tell others about your own business is extremely important. Users can connect with you better and trust you with their money when they know about you, what you stand for, and your motivations for doing business. You don’t need to go overboard with too many details but always exhibit your willingness to make your business do well.

2. Contact and Address Details

Contact details are important for any website, but they assume even greater relevance regarding a small business’s website. Users feel more confident when visiting your physical outlet rather than just visiting your website. Even if you don’t have a physical outlet, providing a contact number, email address, or a link to your social media network page, which is responsive, is just as good.

3. Business Operation Hours

If you are a small business just starting up, people sometimes assume you will be open for business at all times. It’s always better to specify your operating hours, making it easier for your customers to know when you will be open for business and when you won’t. This additional information can make your website more user-friendly compared to your competitors.

4. Client Testimonials

Customer feedback on your website is a good confidence-building measure that adds to the comfort a new customer will have with you. Once new visitors see that other people are using your products and have positive things to say, they will be in a better position to judge. Showcasing client feedback is also an exhibition of your confidence in your product.

5. Detailed Information about Product or Service

This is perhaps the most important aspect of building your small business website. If you are just starting, chances are your product or service details will not be well-known.

Use your website to showcase these details so that customers can figure out what you are offering them and how they can benefit from it. A detailed overview of your products and services will also help customers understand what they are paying for.

6. Optimization for Mobile Usage

Nowadays, most potential customers discover businesses via mobile phones. So, if you haven’t optimized your website for mobile devices like smartphones, you are missing out on potential leads. Make sure your mobile website is easy to understand and use and doesn’t miss any information present on your desktop website. Also, ensure the website’s overall layout is smart and trendy, so you don’t miss out on customers who get put off by poorly designed websites.

7. Menu

If you offer various products and services or have a food business, including a menu card on your website is a big plus. Customers feel at ease with places that display their menu cards, so it’s essential to give detailed product information. Detailed descriptions increase customers’ confidence.

Seeing a menu card of a place before going there allows customers to see if the place has the right cuisine they are looking for and if it’s in their budget. Thus, this is a great way to let customers know about your business.

8.  Updates

A website that isn’t updated regularly doesn’t look good for a business in today’s day and age. Make sure to include those activities on your website that you typically share on your business social media platform and update them regularly.

Also, include your latest deals, upcoming events, and any recent events that may give insight to a customer visiting your website for the first time. Remember: as a small business owner, you’ve won half the battle when the customer thinks your product or service is worth spending money on.

9. Images

Another essential component of your small business website is images. Colorful pictures and graphics can help you attract customers because pictures speak louder than words. Images reflect your company’s culture and offer potential customers a sense of what to anticipate.

According to a study, around 58% of online buyers claim they leave a website with no pictures and videos. Therefore, you must ensure your website has a vibrant and relevant selection of photos to attract customers.

10.  Blog Section

Publishing blog posts is the easiest way to drive traffic to your website. In today’s day and age, having a blog section on your company’s website is a requirement as they give your business a voice. Your blog can help you communicate information about your products and services while sharing your comments and thoughts on several relevant issues and topics.

Blogging is an excellent method for giving your business a personality and making it more approachable. So, don’t hesitate to express your ideas, comment on current events or industry developments, or enlighten your followers on a particular issue. Always create posts with your target audience in mind.

11.  Integration of Social Media

Whether you like it or not, social media is a vital element of the digital era. When utilized correctly, it can be a very powerful tool for businesses as it allows them to communicate with their customers in a meaningful way that goes beyond a basic business-consumer relationship.

Therefore, be sure to link your website with your social media profiles. Your customers may find it difficult to discover the correct social accounts for small businesses. So, make it easy for people to find you. Furthermore, you may want to incorporate your social media network feeds on your site, allowing viewers to see your updates without leaving the website.

12.  Local Keywords

You will have a significantly lower chance of being discovered if you do not optimize your website for search engines via Search Engine Optimization. Incorporating local keywords into your online content is one approach to improve your website for SEO.

This process involves determining the relevant local keywords and organically incorporating them into your website in the About Us page, products or services pages, homepage, and blog section. Doing so will also help you communicate what your small business is about.

Final Word

If you have a small business and want to increase your reach and generate more leads through a website, Contact SP Marketing Experts today! We have a team of experienced digital marketers who specialize in web design and development and will customize a website for your business. To help create a suitable website for our clients, we invest time in understanding your clients’ goals and objectives.

We remain on top of all the developing marketing technologies to help you reach out to potential customers in the most creative ways.

You can reach out to us by calling directly at 1-877-347-3376 or emailing info@spmarketingexperts.com. We look forward to hearing from you and providing the best marketing solutions.

Our business address is as follows:

9903 E. Bell Rd. Suite 120-B

Scottsdale, AZ 85260