Do you still think your business doesn’t require a website?

Nowadays most of the businesses, instead of investing in physical premises, just focus only on online business all because of the benefits online world offers.
Bill Gates once said “If your business is not on internet then your business is out of business.”

What’s Your Reason for Not Having Your Business Website?

Unless you are living in cave, I don’t think today one has to be told about the utility of internet. I really don’t think today there is any person who doesn’t know about internet. And If you are a businessman and your business is not online it is high time that you get yourself a space in internet.

If you think that you have proved Bill Gates wrong by staying offline and surviving so far, then just wait for it. Sooner or later you will see it happen. If you think you are satisfied with your offline business and existing customer base then I must say that sooner or later you will be out of business. It doesn’t matter you have a local, national or an international business. There are countless reasons to be online.

One of the most basic ways in which businesses can make use of the internet is through websites.

Following are a few (a lot of) reasons why you should have a website for your business:

1. Adds Credibility: A website gives the impression that your company is trustworthy, well-established and professional to your prospective customers. A simple easy to use website is enough to gain trust of your customers at first place.

2. Increases Visibility: Customer find it much easier to know about businesses online. Billions of people are using the internet every day. You can gain local as well as global exposure with your business website.

3. Customers are on the Internet: Be where your customers are. And your customers are on internet. It doesn’t matter whether they make purchase online or offline but it is sure that they are online. Even before making a purchase offline they search for the products online. A website provides you the opportunity to tap into the big online market.

4. Online Brochure: Your website can act an online brochure where you don’t need to spend money on printing them. Your potential customers can view/ download them learn about your business/ products/ services etc. 

5. Communicate Updates: Whether you are introducing new products/ services, expanding to new regions, or updating your existing offerings, a website is a fast and effective way to ensure that the updates get maximum reachability. You can inform by blog posts, banners, or web push notification.

6. Gain New Customers: More than 60% of people search and research online before making any purchase and if you don’t have a website then you are missing a majority of potential customers to your competitors who have business website.

7. Reviews and Testimonials: You can use your website to receive feedback from your customers and showcase your testimonials. 87% of shoppers today use reviews to decide whether to buy and 77% of those shoppers buy online. These reviews/ testimonials not only help you to persuade new customers to trust your business/ products/ services but also help you to improve your services.

8. Beautiful Gallery: You can post images of your past achievements and any business related events. It increases your business’s credibility and help build your business image.

9. Digital Business Card: A business website is now like a digital business card. Almost everyone uses the internet to get information, even local information. Customers are using their Smartphones and tablets to decide where to go and what to buy. So your business has to come up in local search via your business website, providing information about your business.

10. Your business is open 24 hours: The internet is always live. Your business via your website allows you to be always there for your customers, no matter what time zone they are in.

11. Website is your loyal employee: Less staff or no staff is not an excuse for not having a website. Website is just like a loyal employee that works round the clock 24/7 without asking for salary and leave.

12. Building brand: Your website is a primary gateway of online branding and helps you build your brand.

13. Booming E-Commerce: The booming e-commerce market in India is growing like anything and expected to reach $850 billion in 2020. With an e-commerce website you can sell your products 24/7 without any extra resource to a much wider customer base.

14. Website can free up your time: As I already mentioned how website can save you a ton of money and resources. You can free up yourself by eliminating monotonous task by delegating it to your website. You can upload frequently and commonly needed resources such as FAQs, links to social media channels or Apps, product information, contact information etc on your website.

15. Improve Customer Service: Your website can become another channel for your customers and prospects to interact with you. By providing support information like FAQs, product manuals, online brochures and enquiry forms on your website you can offer seamless user experience for your customers.

16. Lead Generation Platform: With the help of your website you can get emails and contact details of your existing/ new customers. You can reach and re-target them occasionally to sell your product/services.

17. Connect via blogs: Blogging is really a necessary part of running a business. It helps small and large businesses alike. Hosting your blog on your business site helps you connect with your customers as well as improves organic search visibility and increases website traffic. By blogging you can talk about your products, educate customers, and promote your latest offerings. This heavily contributes to your online brand visibility.

18. Social Media Integration: Your website and social media channels can be tightly integrated. Customers can be directed to your website from other social media as well as website can allow customers to follow business social media links for latest updates and offers.

19. Link to Apps: If your business has app, you can inform your customers about it and provide links to these apps on your website. Your website can help in increasing downloads of apps.

20. Track Web Traffic: Your website can help you analyse the web traffic and help you follow better business-strategy. Insights on distribution of traffic across various geographical regions, age groups, hours of the day etc., can be gained through your website.

21. Open new market: Having a business website gives you an automatic online presence and your business is available to everyone using the Internet.

22. All in one marketing channel: A website is a virtual version of your complete business. It is a store, advertising billboard, salesman, customer service, a tool to help retain existing customer and attract potential customers, your image builder etc.

23. Gain Local Customers: How will your customers know about your business if you don’t have a website. Most of the people searching for the products or services related to your business are the people in your neighborhood. No website means that even your Local customers don’t know about your business.

24. Gives your business legitimacy: As people expect businesses to have their own websites, not having one creates doubt in the customers mind. In this tech-savvy world customers seek convenience and peace of mind. They will quickly skip to the one that have a business website.

Do you still think your business doesn’t require a website? What’s your reason for not having a business website?