- Gets you listed on Search Engines – There are currently more than 2.6billion internet users in the world and search engines are the number one place people go when researching new products, services and places to visit.
- Provides a great first impression – A professional looking website will help establish the tone and essence of your brand, business or organisation.
- Introduces customers to you - It is your online home base where you can describe;
- who you are as a business (your products/services)
- what problems you solve (your value proposition)
- for whom you solve them (your target customer segments)
- and how y ou solve them (your distribution channels)
- Sell products & services – Building an e-commerce store into your website will enable you to sell your products and/or services to a much larger global market.
- It establishes trust - When you create a business website, it tells people that you are serious about your business offering. By having a website you are welcoming visitors to buy your products or use your services, thus creating an "open" sign for new customers and establishing trust.
- Helps you leverage social networking sites - Search engines increasingly look to a website's presence on social networks as an indicator of its authority, relevancy and reputation.
- Generate leads - Having a website is a great effective way to generate new business and leads
- Share the latest news – Keep your website up to date and current by posting updates and news items related to your business. Sharing important news items such as opening a new location, a change in operating hours or the addition of a new product line to the store page is a great way to keep your customers abreast of the happenings of your business.
- Connecting point for your business – A well designed website will allow customers to easily contact you, review products and stay up to date with the latest news and information about your business.
- Keep a blog - Keeping a blog on your site helps to keep your website fresh and relevant, providing new content for your visitors encouraging them to regularly revisit your site.
- Place to show customer testimonials - By making your customer testimonials and reviews of your products and services public you are creating trust and honesty with any new potential customers as well as reaffirming your relationship with existing customers.
- Place to tell your story – Your story can be a powerful tool and your website can be the place to tell the world how you got started, where you're located, what you're passionate about, why you started, etc.
- Announce upcoming events and alert people – Hosting a shared calendar on your website will allow your visitors to see when you have any special events coming up.
- Share pictures and videos – Pictures and videos are a great way to visually represent your business or organization and encourage visitors to want to learn and know more about you. As a tip, if your images are ambiguous use text in and around the image(s) rather than forcing your site visitors to guess the purpose of the image.
In conclusion, more and more, a small business website is an expected connecting point between you and your customers. It's just expected, much like a phone number or physical address.