What Your Business Misses By Not Having a Website

Having a business without a website can be impacting your company negatively in many ways.  Maybe you are like many other small business owners, you believe your business cannot benefit from having a website or that a website is just not within your budget. But it should be.

WHAT YOUR BUSINESS MISSES WITHOUT A WEBSITE

1.  Customers

Your business without a website misses out on customers.

For example, recently, I found myself in need of a renovations company when I wanted to remodel my outdated bathroom. Without a thought, I navigated to Google and searched the terms ‘renovations company near me’.

The first business to appear was within a mile from my home.  Great, right?  Unfortunately, after searching the company name, I found the company had no website and only one bad review on Google Maps.   Needless to say, I returned to my search results page and ventured to the next site that did have a website available with quality images of their previous home projects.

2. First Impression

Snap judgements are a fact of life and they have huge implications in the digital world.

With 85% of B2B customers (business-to-business) researching a company before making a purchase or investment decision, your business without a website is missing out on your opportunity to make a lasting first impression.

3. Valued Credibility

A website is a statement of legitimacy and is a way of instilling confidence in your business.

Without one, your business will lack credibility. It will be seen as too small or too new to trust. You’ll limit your ability to reach new clients and persuade them to do business with you.

Stanford has performed a thorough study over three years that included over 4,500 people.  They offer ten guidelines that even a one page website could offer any potential customer.

• Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
• Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.
• Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
• Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
• Make it easy to contact you.
• Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
• Make your site easy to use — and useful.
• Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).
• Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
• Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

4. Control of your Reputation

This day and age more than ever, what a customer or client feels about you and what they are prepared to tell others can affect your revenues, profits, and reputation.

As I mentioned above, my previous search for a renovation company close to me led me searching for customer reviews when I could not find a website.  And I am not the only one to do so.

Vendasta reports that 92% of consumers now read online reviews and 72% trust issues the reviews they have read.

With facts like that, it’s hard to ignore the importance of your ability not only to respond to a negative review in efforts to resolve the issue but to offer the potential client researching your business quality content and images that counter the unsatisfied customer’s review.

5. Your 24/7/365 Employee

Your business hours may be Monday-Friday between the hours of 9-5 but your customers are researching your products and services when it’s convenient for them, not you.

Your website is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  It also speaks to hundreds of people a day explaining your products and services, saving you time.

Whether you decide to hire a professional web designer to build your business website or do it yourself, you can’t afford to put it off any longer. Your competitors surely aren’t waiting.