5 Reasons Every Small Business Should Have a Website
Website Consultant in Houston
Why Have a Website for Small Business?
The first reason why small businesses need a website, even if your business has five employees or less, is because that's where so many of your potential customers are for so much of the time.
For instance, a study by comScore Canada found that Canadians spend an average of 36.3 hours browsing in one month's time, while Americans spend 35.2 hours online every month. (This study also found that Canadians spend more time online each month than anyone else.)
Meanwhile, a Nielsen Company audience report for the first quarter of 2016 found that about 81% of adults in the United States have smartphones which are used about one hour and 39 minutes daily on average to consume media.
In both the U.S. and Canada, 88.5% of people are internet users.
All of which means that there are a whole lot of eyeballs that could be visiting and interacting with your small business's website - if you had one.
If you operate one of those small businesses that doesn’t have a website and that fact alone doesn’t persuade you to develop an online presence for your business, here are six more reasons:
1) People use the internet like they used to use the phone book.
I used to tell small business owners that it didn't matter if they had a website if most of their business was local. But now almost everyone uses the internet to get information - even local information. Potential customers are using their Smartphones and tablets to decide where to go and what to buy. So your small business has to come up in local search or beware; people who are searching will find other local businesses rather than yours.
2) A business website gives your business legitimacy.
People expect businesses to have their own websites, just as they used to expect businesses to have a real physical business address.
Not having a business website raises questions in customers' eyes. Are you a technological luddite? Just still haven't gotten around to it? Or such a shoestring startup that you can't even afford to do this? All things you don't want people thinking about your business.
3) A business website gives you another marketing channel.
Having a business website gives you an automatic online presence. Think of it as an online billboard. Instantly you have another chance to introduce people to your products and services and another way for people to find you. (Of course, how many eyes your billboard attracts will depend on your conscious marketing efforts to get people's attention, such as Search Engine Optimization, blogging, using social media, and online advertising.)
4) A business website gives you another opportunity for data collection/lead generation.
For instance, getting people to write their email addresses on pieces of paper and handing them in at a physical storefront is hard. But getting people to type their email address into a box on a website is much, much easier - especially if they perceive that they're getting something for it, such as a newsletter, a special report or an ebook. And once you have the email address, you have another way to reach your potential customer.
5) Ecommerce spending is increasing every year.
In the U.S., consumers spent $453.46 billion on the web for retail purchases in 2017, a 16.0% increase compared with $390.99 billion in 2016. Retail ecommerce sales are forecast to grow at a fast pace in the coming years, growing to just over 684 billion US dollars in 2020. In Canada, ecommerce spending was $27 billion in 2015 and sales are expected to total nearly $40 billion by 2018. Canadians shop more abroad than they do domestically, with 67% of purchases going to other countries (PFS). Obviously consumers want online options.
Learn more about ecommerce: 8 Rules for a Successful Ecommerce Website.
Source: TheBalancesmb
About LaraNet: We are a web design firm focused to help you to grow your business and communicate with your customers and prospects using two simple but powerful tools: 1) Interactive Website and 2) Internet Marketing Strategy on social networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc… Whether you want to work with just a web page, or launch or improve your presence on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or communicate with your customers through newsletters, or improve the location of your business in the search engines through Search Engine Optimization, or start marketing your products or services online, in LaraNet we can help you.
