5 Reasons Why You Need a Website for Your Business
- Updated on 28 Dec 2023
- 11 min
Maria Shelaieva
Marketing Expert
Do you really need a website for your business? The short answer – absolutely.
An online presence is essential for reaching customers and building brand visibility in 2024.
Let’s cut to the chase – operating without a website puts your business at a major disadvantage.
You miss out on up to 36% of potential local customers searching online to find stores and service providers like yours.
We know creating an effective web presence takes more than just templates. You may need custom designs, platforms, or professional support if you lack coding skills.
The investment pays dividends across marketing, customer access, and professional credibility.
Still, asking why your business needs a website?
In this post, we’ll explore key website benefits like:
- Expanding your marketing reach
- Optimizing for search engines
- Building omnichannel sales
- Driving conversions
We’ll also touch on emotional factors that attract and retain customers when you have a quality website supporting your brand.
If you currently don’t have a site, it’s not too late. With some guidance, you can build an online home for your business.
Now, let’s walk through the top five reasons to create and invest in your website.
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5 Reasons Your Business Needs a Website
1. The Pandemic’s Impact
The COVID has brought a disruptive change in almost every aspect of our lives.
Today we are living somewhere between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic world.
Until the threat of COVID stays, we will be reading a lot more about the impacts of the virus on our lives.
It is no surprise that there has been an accelerated attempt by small businesses to go online in the pandemic.
Where big businesses were already getting ready to bring their digital transformation into motion, the small businesses were forced into it.
Several small businesses took their services online to conform to the demand and the changing scenario.
As an example;
- Uncle Bobbie’s is a coffee shop and bookstore in Philadelphia. Before the lockdown, the business was good. But the lockdown closed the shop, and Uncle Bobbie’s had to rethink their strategy. Today they are selling audiobooks online by partnering up with Libro.fm.
And such moves are essential because it won’t be easy for a customer to go back to the previous routine and read books while sipping coffee.
It is time that we all adjust to the New Normal, and the businesses have to overcome, adapt, and improvise.
- In a scenario where 1/3rd of the US-based SME businesses start with a less than $5000 investment, going online seems the right way. To follow this momentum of going online, several beer businesses have come together to form a union. This goes by the name of BeerCloud.ie, and it is a one-stop-online-shop for home-crafted beer deliveries.
This was the story of two types of business in the USA.
Businesses in developed nations are somehow jumping on the online sales bandwagon earlier.
But, we are seeing businesses in developing economies like India taking measures to go online.
- One example comes from a small electronics shop owner in India, who is now using videos to show online demos. Besides this, the shop owner is also having video chats with probable clients over WhatsApp.
Moving on with why does my business need a website.
You must build a website and use online channels to increase your business.
In the United States, holiday season online retail sales grew by 6 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Forecasts suggested that this growth would increase in 2023, increasing to 11.3%.
So, if you want to have a share of this pie, make sure that you have set up your online presence.
This was the answer to why do I need a website for my website, due to the pandemic.
Now, let’s look at some other ways to answer why do you need a website for your business.
2. Launch and Skyrocket Your Marketing
Take these stats, for instance:
- 28% of American adults are online constantly.
- 3/4th of the US residents go online once a day.
Now, these people are not going around every shop in their vicinity to search for stuff.
They are not even calling their friends or nearby relatives to ask for recommendations.
What are they doing?
They all are googling the stuff they want to know.
Someone wants a new carpet, a new car, a new gardener, a new plumber, and whatnot.
Plus, the first thing a website does for you is to build trust.
Now, you might want to know why my business a website to build trust.
More importantly, how does a website help achieve it?
Well, there are several ways to answer your question.
Let’s see them one by one.
| What Does it Do? | How does it assist you? |
| Introduction | A website is your exclusive storefront. It is all yours to share, show, tell, explain, express, and attract. Not only can you help your prospective customers understand who you are. But you can also help them identify the properties of an ideal customer. Added to this, you add a professional character to your business when you develop a dedicated email address. |
| Showcase your Experience | Another reason why do you need a website for your business is to show what you can do. The big business already has a set profile in the customer’s mind of what they do. If Apple launches a new phone, the users will know that it is going to be something great. And if Apple suddenly changes track and builds a car, the potential buyers will at least have enough confidence to try it once. Because of the brand name behind the car. But as a smaller brand, you do not have that kind of leverage over the users. You need to show them what you can do. Where TV ads will cost $7 to reach 1000 customers. The same can be achieved with Facebook ads at only $0.25. So, having a website and implementing marketing strategies is cost-effective and better for small businesses. |
| Helps Even Non-Retail Businesses | Businesses who deal with other businesses always ask, why do I need a website for my businesses. Because other businesses are not always searching the web for the right vendors. That is not true. Indeed, 69% of shoppers said that gathering information online on their own is preferable to interacting with a sales representative during the search process. According to Gartner, 87% of senior business leaders say digitalization is a priority. Plus, it is not habitual for B2B buyers to change their vendors on a daily basis. So, the way we see it. You have lesser chances of attracting big businesses even if your industry is not online. Because information can always be looked online. And business buyers do search for probable vendors. Hence, creating a website is always to your benefit. There you have it. Now, you have your answer to why does my B2B business needs a website. |
Plus, irrespective of the fact that you cater to customers or businesses, websites are a great source for Search Engine Optimization.
A strategy that is again related to your website’s presence.
Without good SEO, even a website built with a million-dollar design cannot get leads.
SEO is the major food and fodder for getting a good rank on SERPs.
Continuing with why does my business need a website.
Here’s how SEO helps get you leads especially if you are a small business.
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3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The term is self-explanatory.
There are a lot of ways to use SEO strategies for your business.
Within all these strategies, you will get your answer to why you need a website for your business.
But to avoid diverging from our core, we will stick to three dimensions of SEO;
- Google Maps
- Google Shop
- Content Marketing
| SEO Dimension | How Does It Help? |
| Google Maps | How many times do you use or open up Google Maps in a day? At least once, right? 77% of smartphone users rely on navigation apps to reach their destination. 67% of users utilize Google Maps for navigation. Google Maps can help you with;
With Google Maps, you can position your business with;
The last aspect is making a Google My Business account and using GMB management software to post reviews and other information. Now, Google Maps also allows the users to run ads of their business within the map search results. So, combined with maps and a good digital marketing strategy, you are looking at getting more attention from a navigation application. Isn’t it cool? That is why we need to know why do you need a website for your business. |
| Google Shop | You might be asking. Why do I need a website for my business and get into Google Retail? Well, the answer is simple. Google has 90% of the market share in terms of search engines. Google for Retail is a one-stop-shop for all your new business marketing needs. It helps you set up a merchant center, run shopping campaigns, ads, local inventory ads, and can also work as a manufacturing center. So, for any type of business, Google is here to help you. But all of this is only possible if you have a website. Because if not, you will not have the opportunity to share your stories with your prospective customers. Like if a user clicks on your ad or follows a GMB recommendation, where will he land? What will look better? A Facebook page or a professional website? |
| Content Marketing | Content is King! Building a brand is one of the greatest achievements and exercises that you can strategize for. But without a website, you cannot build a content marketing strategy. Even if you want to start a blog for generating leads, it needs to have a website, to begin with. With content, it becomes easier to market your business and build a brand. A brand here means that you will acquaint, market, and delight your customers as per the buyer’s journey. The second and most important thing about content marketing is that it helps generate leads and convert them too. From cold leads to loyal customers, content marketing is a cost-effective way to convert. |
Conversion is the ultimate goal for every business.
Whatever happens, before that is a means to an end.
In the wake of getting more attention, customers, and users, businesses need to think more than just their circle of approach.
The need of the hour is to adopt an omnichannel approach or multiple strategies at once.
4. Omnichannel Approach
A small business owner is looking for an answer to what does my business need a website may not be interested in this approach.
What is omnichannel?
Omnichannel marketing allows businesses to delight and serves the customer’s interest from all corners and sides.
This means you are giving access to your customers via desktop, mobile, tablet, eCommerce store, or even via a brick-and-mortar store.
But for our discussion on why do I need a website for my business, we need to go deeper.
Consequently, there are three ways to implement omnichannel marketing;
- SEO
- Remarketing and Retargeting
- Email Marketing
The motive is to deliver the services to the customers from every side.
With SEO, you target them organically.
Remarketing and retargeting involve testing the audiences and using your creativity to make customers.
Lastly, we have email marketing as another great answer to why do you need a website for your business.
| Approach | How does it Help? |
| SEO | Taking our discussion on SEO forward from the previous points. There we talked about using Google Maps, Shops, and Content Marketing. Herein, we want to bring to your attention the concepts associated with technical SEO. Surely, you will need some professional help with this. But, getting a hold of the SEO of your website will turn out to be a game-changer. As a part of omnichannel marketing, we need to combine good content marketing with SEO. To rank the content, it is essential to use both On-Page and Off-Page strategies. So, this time we are not only focussing on content but also on ranking it to get more leads. |
| Retargeting and Remarketing | There is a thin line difference between both these aspects. Retargeting involves reaching out to a user who has previously visited your website or engaged with the ad. But, that customer did not see through with the purchase. So, you use the data gathered from the existing strategies and then retarget the lead. Remarketing is a tad bit different than retargeting. Remarketing is about re-engagement. And this is mostly done with emails. |
| Email Marketing | For every $1 spent on email marketing, the ROI is between $36 to $40. Isn’t this great? Sending emails to all the prospects at once is a great way to showcase your product. Here the importance of a website comes forth in terms of engagement. Without a website, where will you send the leads? In your emails, you need to add a link. This can be either a product link. A link to sign up for the newsletter. Or a link to your website’s services page. That is why you need a website for your business. Because you need some specific action to be executed. |
Having a website for your business is instrumental to success, period.
There are many statements and nay-sayers that you will come across.
Some might say that it will cost you.
The maintenance is too high.
You will risk losing your data and customers.
So on and so forth….
But, did you notice the data? Your customers are going frenzy over Googling everything they need to know.
From how to tie shoelaces to how to build a space rocket, everything under the cloud is searched on the web.
What makes you think that your next customer won’t be searching for the services you offer with the same behavior?
5. Drive Conversions and Share Pricing
The last reason for why does my or any business needs a website is a conversion.
Not just conversion but optimizing that conversion to get better results.
There are two things that we can relate to the conversion context;
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
- Build a Strong Brand Story
| Concept | Meaning and Benefit |
| CRO | Under CRO, you aim to increase the number or percentage of the users doing a specific action. This can be anything from purchasing, signing up, visiting, buying tickets, etc. The formula to calculate the conversion rate is; Number of conversions/total number of visitors multiplied by 100. Popular CRO practices include;
Without a website, you cannot successfully implement these and a myriad of other strategies required in CRO. If you have a website, you can measure, control, strategize, and enhance the conversion measures. If not, then you cannot collate all these strategies and get the desired result. |
| Brand Story | A website is a great way to help the users identify with your brand, You can share your story, information, work culture, products, and so much more with your potential customers. Brands say it all. Remember our Apple example? Already settled and famous brands do not require introductory marketing strategies. Their name is already set in the market. They only want to share the product. But, as a small business, you need to share your story, vision, objectives, and service offering. |
Now that we have covered the major aspects of why do you need a website for your business, it is also essential to understand the costs.
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