Does your small business even need a website?
If you're a business owner with a social media presence, you may wonder if you need a professional website. It’s a reasonable question.
Websites can feel old-school, but are they…redundant? Can you get away without one? Well, 1.13 billion website owners will argue the case in favour of them. Are they all wrong?
You may think, "C'mon, Mel. You have skin in the website designing game, so you're bound to have a bias". Well, un-narrow your eyes and let's break it down with 5 compelling reasons why a fabulous website brings significant benefits to your business.
5 GOLD REASONS YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED A WEBSITE.
I design websites because they are essential for any business that is online. Believe me, I'd be doing something else if they weren't relevant!
Let's kick off the 5 reasons you need a website by looking at how it gives more power to you:
Total Control Freakery.
What is the point of a website? Good question! One of the most crucial points is that it is only one place where you have so much control and ownership.
You own the whole caboodle. In contrast, despite the hours you've poured into your social media pages, you don't own your Instagram or TikTok followers or your LinkedIn or Pinterest content.
Nothing in your social media accounts is yours. You don't own it, nor do you have ultimate control over how it looks.
Remember when Elon Musk bought Twitter and changed some fundamental rules? We had zero say. But, sleep soundly, dear one. If you have a website, no one can mess with it.
That's because you own your website. You don't have to yield to another platform's guidelines or restrictions. You need a website because it’s your little slice of the internet, and you reign supreme. You decide on 100% of the styling, branding and content.
There is no place on the internet where you have so much dominion. (Easy tiger. You could get drunk on all that power).
2. Credibility & Legitimacy.
A carefully designed website adds vast amounts of pre-purchase comfort. You’ll notice that we’ve developed a reflex behaviour that goes like this:
Something catches your eye in one of your social media feeds.
You're curious.
You press "Learn more".
Just before buying, you hesitate.
Hmm, you think. I'll check their website out first.
Get you, Sherlock—you're checking them out because you're looking for legitimacy. If you're lucky, they have an up-to-date, easily navigable website that resonates with you, and you will feel reassured that they are credible.
Drive more sales with "Know, Like, Trust."
The same applies to you. When people check you out, a professional website adds juice to your "Know, Like, Trust" sales funnel. You can make it super-easy for visitors to poke around in your testimonials, scrutinise your About Me page, follow you on other social platforms and contact you.
3. SEO (so people know you exist).
Websites are designed for search, and without Search Engine Optimisation, how will Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Yandex or DuckDuckGo put your website in front of people waiting to discover you?
Think of SEO as giving the internet a clever back-story about your website.
This is where websites really shine, because social media doesn’t give you the same glorious leverage over your story.
It works like this: Type something like "Learn the mathematics of street fighting" into Google. In a millisecond, you can sign up for a nerdy-yet-badass MIT course. Only the internet delivers results so cleanly… and it’s not chance or accident! It’s SEO.
SEO is a glorious art form where your keywords, copywriting, clean code and a beautifully optimised website all come together to please the (mainly) Google gods.
We all search, and we do it conventionally–on the internet and we land on websites. We look for products, services and websites. We check out reviews. In a nutshell, we're seekers.
If you own a website, you can optimise it for search.
If your site is optimised, people can find you.
And when they find you, they can turn into customers.
Tah dah!
4. Your website is your digital HQ.
Think of your website as the centre of your digital world. Your Mothership. Your Bat Cave. Your Mission Control.
It's where your branding is evident in all its glory. Your blog posts and content are all in one place. Your links to all your social media accounts are clickable. Your triumphs, products, beliefs, awards, and fabulous testimonials are all in one place.
And it's where you'll turn warm leads into clients.
It's where you gather critical metrics, data and analytics.
Without a website, you deny potential customers a valuable pit-stop where they can discover everything they need from you.
5. You will be judged – in just 0.05 seconds
Absolutely no question; you must look professional and trustworthy because your visitors will ruthlessly judge you.
You've gone to the trouble of driving people to your website. Now you need to keep them there! This final point is about QUALITY because a shabby website does more harm than good.
If you need more proof about how much appearances matter, Google's research showed that in 0.05 seconds of landing on a website, a first impression will inform a decision to remain or the website or bail.
Given this, it's a no-brainer to have a beautiful website which attracts and retains visitors.
To recap, the 5 reasons you absolutely need a website are:
Total Control Freakery (you own it).
It gives you credibility and legitimacy.
The SEO opportunities are gold!
It’s your HQ where everything can be found in one place.
You control positive first impressions.
Are you ready to get started on your beautiful, glossy, mothership website?
I’m here to help you. Press the email button to arrange a no-strings call.