Having a website for your small business is one of the best investments you can make.
Yes, building a small business website takes time and money.
But, the benefits of a website are far too great to ignore especially since about a 1/3rd of the population uses the Web to find local businesses. That’s a huge opportunity if your small business’s website was the one showing up in Google its products and services.
Here are a few things to consider if you’re on the fence about setting up a website for your small business.
1 – Get Found
Having a site is no longer a question.
You need a site if you want to be any bit competitive.
But it’s not just that…
A website lets your business get found online. It’s the hub that people come to when they seek your products and services. It’s the asset that gets picked up in Google (and other search engines) so you can get online traffic and conversions. It’s the thing that lets share links on social media and on whatever platforms you fancy.
2 – Build a Better Brand
Who are you?
No really…
Do a Google search for your name and see what shows up. If results are nothing but your social profiles then you’ve got a problem. That problem is that your business isn’t showing up when people look for you. When you are your business… that kind of matters to get found, right?
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A website is the place to build your brand because you’re in control.
You do this small business branding through the site’s presentation. You boost your expertise and authority through the content on the business site. You leverage connections, mentions, and other social proofs to be seen as a market leader.
3 – Create a Powerful Marketing Funnel
A small business website is one of the best ways to convince and convert.
Each page is an opportunity to share and show off what you do. With the right positioning and wording – you can get people interested in connecting, buying, or doing whatever you need them to do to keep your business profitable.
Having a site also allows you to build landing pages.
These are highly focused pages on your small business site that further funnel visitors into taking an action. Because you’re in control that means you can constantly test and improve upon it! You can’t expect that level of control and opportunity on social sites.
You can also funnel people into:
- Email newsletters
- Community hubs
- Contact forms
…and so much more.
In short: a website is one of the best tools for online lead generation.
4 – Build a Stronger Local Presence
Being present locally is powerful for building a successful small business.
There’s no better option for doing this than combining the efforts you put into the website for your business and listing it through Google My Business.
Google My Business (GMB) is how you get your business listed in Google local results. While you don’t need a website to get listed – it certainly helps to give people that option if they want to learn more about what you do!
Likewise:
A small business website offers the ability to share the phone number and address. This is helpful for visitors and reinforces good search potential for the site!
5 – Cut Advertising Costs
Advertising is expensive…
…like really expensive.
You may do well on a campaign or two but it may not be sustainable if you’re just starting out or see a lot of ups and downs. Your paid ad campaign becomes a money sink if it’s not converting, too, which happens all the time for those inexperienced.
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A website works for your 24/7/365.
It’s accessible whenever someone needs it. They can find it through organic search results. They can discover it on social platforms. You can also run paid ads that are a fraction of the cost online – and those ads point to your site (and its landing pages).
6 – Scale Up
Data is powerful.
A site that’s properly configured with analytics and tracking tools will likely provide more insights about your prospects and customers than any other form of research. You get real data on how people interact with what you offer and what makes them tick.
Think about what you can do when you know:
- How and why they visited your site
- What ways they interact with it
- What caused them to buy something
- Why they stick around and engage
You can begin making decisions for your business that lets it scale. That can be releasing or expanding on product lines that have a lot of interest. It can be through community support via content and resources discovered through analytics. Or, really, whatever else you find out about people when they’re on the small business site.
Stop Putting Off Building a Small Business Website
You really can’t deny the awesome benefits of a website for small businesses.
These six only scratches the surface of what opportunities presents. But trust us, it keeps paying for itself over and over again every year. And, the more you put in the more you’ll get out of this incredible business asset.
If you don’t have a small biz site then what’s stopping you?
If you’ve got one but aren’t putting it to work then what’s the deal?
Start exploring the small business website benefits. Start it today.
