Google is Your Business Partner
Does your business rely on leads from the internet? If yes, then Google is your business partner. Google has over 80% of the market share of intern...
Not all websites are built the same, so when people say that you need a website for your business, they really should say that you need a functional website!
Sometimes you might be better off not having a website at all if you don’t have one that actually works. Yep, you read that right. Having a website for your local business that’s lacking in certain areas might actually be doing your business more harm than good.
Sure, if you don’t have a website then you could be missing out on leads, however, a dodgy broken website will give visitors the impression that your business is the same.. dodgy and broken!
First impressions matter when it comes to your online presence, and having a functional website plays a huge role in that.
Let’s dive into why you need a website for your local business and how you can ensure it actually works.
We could probably write more than 13 reasons why you need a website, but these are some of the most important reasons. Other things have come up in conversation with clients, like saving on printing costs for example, but these benefits pail in comparison to some of the following major reasons why having a website for your business in 2023 is an absolute must.
With a website, your business can be discovered both locally and globally. While it can take some time and effort, having an SEO optimized website for your business can bring you free search traffic from Google for many years to come.
How many times have you hear the term “they don’t even have a website”? Potential customers will view your website as an indication of how serious you are about your business. People do business with those that they trust and in this day and age, it’s hard to trust a business that doesn’t have a website.
Even if you run a junk removal business and you’re a sole operator, you’re still building a brand. A well-designed website allows you to share your unique story with potential customers and strengthen your brand identity.
Your website can act as an effective marketing tool to generate leads and grow your customer base. If built correctly, you can start capturing customer contact information from your website so you can follow-up and make more sales for your business.
Depending on what your business is, you can even utilize eCommerce capabilities on your website and allow customers to purchase products or services from you online. This saves having to take manual payments over the phone or in-person.
We live in a digital society so having a functional website is essential to stay relevant and competitive with other businesses in your industry. You can guarantee that if you’re the only service out of your competitors that doesn’t have a website, you will be fighting a losing the battle and your hip-pocket will suffer.
You can use a website to educate your potential customers on a certain topic, which will help build trust and like we said previously, people do business with those they trust. You might post videos or blog articles on your website that explain a certain process or procedure. Visitors to your site will appreciate your knowledge and will see you as an authority in the space.
If you’re a skilled trades person and you perform quality work that people rave about, you can use your website to showcase before and after photos of the work you’ve done. Prospective customers will react well to this kind of social-proof and your sales will increase if you can display your previous work on your website for everyone to see.
While we’re on the topic of social-proof, customer testimonials are worth their weight in gold. Displaying reviews from previous customers on your website will position you as the go-to person in your industry, especially if your competitors are too lazy to bother collecting customer testimonials.
Having an email list is like having a digital ATM that you can make withdrawals from any time. Your website can help you capture emails and build a list over time, if it’s been built properly. Just imagine having hundreds or thousands of people you can email every week with special deals and promotions or beautiful images of work you just completed for a customer. It is much cheaper to sell to an existing customer than it is to go and find a new one.
At the risk of sounding a little technical, you can install certain elements on your website that help you track where your site visitors are from and how they found their way to your site. This information is all accessible through Google Analytics which is a free tool. Having this information at your finger-tips is very powerful and allows you to learn more about your customers so you can better serve them.
Your website can serve as a customer service portal where you can write responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs). This will not only help keep your customers informed, but it will save you from spending time answering questions that are asked often.
Having a website is a great way to convert referrals into leads. If you have happy customers, they need to be able to tell their friends and family how great your service is. There’s no easier way than sending your website to people they want to refer.
Now you know exactly how you can benefit from having a functional website for your local business, let’s review the features that you need to ensure that your website actually works!
This one might sound obvious, but make sure you have your contact information readily available on your website. If it’s hard to find, customers are likely to just go to a competitor site and contact them.
Whether it’s photos of your work or generic stock images, you need to ensure that all imagery is of the highest quality possible. Blurry or warped images will reflect poorly on your brand and cheapen the overall look of your website.
Keep your branding consistent across not only your website, but your social media presence too. Use the right colors for your brand and make sure you have the one logo across all of your online locations.
Sometimes people need a little nudge, so make sure you prompt them to “call now” or “book here”. These are called CTAs and they are critical to your website’s conversion rate.
Once you’ve got your CTA’s setup you need to ensure that people can actually enquire with you. Make sure you’ve got lead forms setup correctly so customer information can safely and securely submit their information to you.
Make sure you keep your navigation menu consistent across your website so visitors can easily move to other areas on your site. The less confusing the experience is, the more chance you will have of getting a lead.
This is probably one of the biggest and most important factors contributing to website success. If your site is not functional on a mobile device then you are losing business. We’re so passionate about this topic that we’ve written another article on the importance of having a mobile optimized website.
According to Internet data and trend specialists Exploding Topics, 92.1% of people browse online from their mobile device and the average traffic to websites from mobile devices is now 59.5%.
These stats show us that if your site is not optimized for mobile, you will be losing over half of your visitors. That is literally pouring money down the drain!
Having a functional website for your local business can give you an edge over the competition, as well as help generate more leads and increase sales. As an added bonus, in the event that you ever wanted to sell your business, having a website that generates organic leads from Google can add a large amount to the sale price of the business, too. A well-built website is literally an asset that has the ability to add immeasurable value to your business.
We’ve built a lot of websites for customers here at Blue Crocus and have yet to find a compelling reason why a business shouldn’t have a website!
Thanks for reading this article, hopefully now you’re aware of the benefits of having a functional website for your business. If you ever have questions about generating more leads for you business we would love to hear from you! Feel free to contact us here, any time.
Thanks for reading!
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