Things have never been easier for small-business owners. Be it in past or in present, they were and are continuously struggling to run their small business and survive in this competitive business market. Small businesses have always been an asset to Australian Economy, they not only have a huge contribution in Australian Economy but, they have also provided lots of employment opportunities. Despite these contributions, every year thousands of small businesses are found hitting the ground floor.
With the change and evolution, digital marketing has provided a wonderful opportunity to small businesses to grow their business. Almost all businesses have got a website for their business today. And, in this competitive digital market, if you don’t have a business website then, you are in real danger of running out of your business.
The main goal of every business is to grow their businesses and having a business website helps a lot. Billions of people are online and they visit websites to research products, brands, businesses, and services. Based on their research, they make the decision to do actual purchase.
Table of Contents
- Why Your Small Business Needs A Website?
- Enhance Visibility
- Builds Credibility & Social Proof
- Your potential customers are online
- Your Competitors already have website
- Market Expansion
- Small businesses with website have higher revenue
- Reduce Advertising Cost
- Customer Service & Support
- Control ranking in SERP
- Totally Affordable
- Convenient for your customers
- Does small business really need a website?
- Guidelines for effective small business websites
“Your small business website is not just about your product and services sale, it is more about providing some real value to your potential customers and building trust.”
Are you convinced that you need to get a website for your small business?
Why Your Small Business Needs A Website?
Enhance Visibility
Having a better online presence is the best for all businesses worldwide. Every second million of internet users log in and use the internet for various purpose. The Internet has really made it easier for users as they can stay at home and know about the products and services they are looking for. All they need to do is just log in and click. While people are searching for product and services online, if you want them to find your business then, shouldn’t you bring your business online.
Builds Credibility & Social Proof
A professional business website is not just for selling your products and services. Rather it is an opportunity to tell the world about you and your company. If used properly, a website can be a great tool to convince your potential customer that you are the best service provider. Providing useful information, client testimonials, services, products, etc can not only gain the trust of your customer but, it will also help you persuade your investors. A professional business website helps you build a serious business image.
A website acts as an online representation of your business and brand. People nowadays, they don’t take a business seriously if they don’t have a professional business website. Having a business website makes you legitimate in your customers’ eyes. They think that you are a serious business indeed which makes them trust you.
Another great way to impress your potential customers is by adding customers’ testimonials on your website. More than 90% customers claim that online reviews of businesses influence their purchasing decisions.
Your potential customers are online
According to a recent report, the number of internet users worldwide is 3.17 billion. Digital marketing has evolved a lot in recent years and higher the expectations of consumers. With every business online, people browse the internet to search products and services and then go for actual purchase. More than 90% of those users purchase something or contact a company for queries. By not having a business website, you are losing lots of potential customers and possible business opportunities. So, get a website for your small business today.
Including blog page to your business online presence helps to make your website fresh and updated. Search engine Google also prefers the website that is fresh and updated.
Your Competitors already have website
Businesses these days, they start their business journey by getting a website for their business. They do not even hesitate to invest dollars on their business website. A number of small businesses have already got a website for their business today. In this competitive business world, a professional business website can help you at least to stay in the game. By not being online, you are already giving people reason to go to your competitors.
Market Expansion
You might be a small business serving a local community now. There’s no doubt that people of your community are well aware of your business and services. Are you happy with that? Don’t you want to expand your business in a larger market? I am pretty sure that you do.
A business website provides an amazing opportunity to small businesses like you to come in front of the world and grow your business exponentially. People from all over the world can visit your website. This shows that they have an interest in your business. Make sure to take advantage of this.
Today, internet users are increasing on a daily basis. Many people find the internet as a reliable source to discover the information they are looking for. So, having a business website makes your business popular among your targeted audiences. You can promote your brand together with product and services online.
Small businesses with website have higher revenue
It has even been proved that a website brings lots of businesses. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses that have a business website are making more than $1.07 million more sales than the small businesses with no website and online presence. You are missing almost 39% higher revenue by not having a website for your small business.
Having a crowd of customers towards your site makes your website more popular and productive. This is the way your online presence will help you to improve the revenue of your business. You can engage more visitors towards your website updating and promote informative and fresh articles.
Reduce Advertising Cost
Without a proper advertising of your business, it is hard for any business to survive. For business, especially small businesses like yours advertising on newspaper, televisions, and radios can be quite costly. In such situation, a website can be the only affordable option. Come up with special offer and coupons for your services and share them on all social media platforms. The more your share, the more success you are likely to get.
Customer Service & Support
Your website can help your customers with lots of queries without having them to call you. Besides, information about you, your products and services consider adding pages for FAQ’s, client’s testimonials, pricing, recommendations, and directions to your business location. In addition to that, a form or live chat on your website can make it easier for them to contact you regarding their queries. Better customer service and support not only keeps your customers happy but, it also makes your customers recommend your business to their relatives and closed ones.
You never know when someone will be looking for some more information about your product and services. They might have queries and want to contact you instantly. If you have a website then, they can get the information they are looking for and leave you a message, which you can reply later. A website is accessible 24/7 by customers. So, it can bring you business even at your closing hours and holidays. Make sure to provide all the necessary information, customer testimonials, and direction to your location, hours of operation and all the possible means that can help them reach you.
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Control ranking in SERP
A well-optimised business website can help you rank higher than your competitors. Using optimised content mostly used search queries of your business niche as keywords and building relevant links, you gain authority in front of search engines which increases your chances of appearing at top rank for right search queries. SEO optimised website can help you with your business visibility in search engine.
Totally Affordable
Many small business owners have a misconception that getting a website for their business will cost them dollars. That’s why they don’t even think of getting a website for their business and end up losing tonnes of business opportunities. But, website design and development has become a lot easier and cheaper than before. You can find numbers of web publishing tools online which are totally free of cost. And, it does not require any technical expertise. Now, there are no more excuses for you to put off getting a website.
Convenient for your customers
Developing your business online presence will make your audiences easy to get familiar with the type of business you enclose. They will feel comfortable to visit your site instead of wasting time visiting your company and looking for the products and services.
Online presence makes your site 24/7 available for your customers. You only need to add products and services of your company then customers will visit your site to look for those products and services any time any place they want.
Before planning for a design, you need to decide if you want to build a site on your own or hire an agency. A small business web design isn’t a daunting task and with few weeks training on WordPress, you can make one. But, if you don’t want to take the risk of your branding, you may want to go for an agency. Check this essential guide.
To make your website more useful you need to follow some guidelines, for your convenience here is some guidelines for effective small business websites:
Are your convinced now?
I hope the above reasons are more than enough to point out why small businesses need to have a website for their businesses. Besides above-mentioned reasons, there are plenty of other compelling reasons why small businesses need a website to make an online presence. If you don’t want to miss any more customers then, consider creating a website for your small business today.
Thinking to build a website for your small business?
If you are thinking to get a website for your small business will cost you dollars then, you are wrong. We understand very well that, small businesses have very limited budget and have lots on their plate. At Nirmal Web Studio, we have perfect web design plans for every business size and budget. We are well a reputed small business website design in Sydney. We believe that a website shouldn’t stop a business from growing. By not having a website for your small business, you are hurting your business. Small businesses, let’s get started!
Small business is considered to be the two wheel of a cart that keeps the business industry moving in Australia.
According to the counts done by ABS in 2015, there were 2066,806 small businesses in Australia. And, the number just keeps on piling.
However, the survival rate of small business accounts for 42 percent since 2011.
Now there are different factors that count for the insolvency.
Few being the inability to predict the cost and take a suggestion from business consultants.
Another reason is the ineptitude to generate enough traffic & buzz around the business.
And this is where most small businesses fail miserably.
Small business owners are still relying on the same traditional process of marketing that’s a decade old.
They don’t put the value on having a website.
What worse is they don’t even care about it.
So, I’m here to answer the most circulated question of the small business industry.
Does small business really need a website?
The answer for both is “yes.”
A finding says still 46 percent of small businesses don’t have a website.
So, the numbers tell that small businesses are surviving without it as well.
But, why don’t they opt for website or spending on paid advertisement?
It’s most likely because they don’t need it. They don’t understand it. Or at some point, they had used it but got hang of it due to low return stream.
What I have seen the smallest business do during my consultation is they see many big companies spending millions on it and they try to replicate it.
It doesn’t work that way. Because they don’t have enough budget, proper strategy, and direct response advertising campaign.
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How does small business make customers without a website?
They depend mostly on word of mouth, mailing lists, referrals, and social media. Since small business groove locally, they take the benefits of their friends, and family to get the words out.
Smart small business owners go as far as working on traditional marketing like distributing pamphlets, placing ads in magazines etc. But as all of these things create problems with the plant, equipment, and most importantly capital, they are reluctant to invest on paid advertisement.
During the consultation, I have also found that some business owners are really smart when it comes to business making. They do make odd cold calls to land business from corporate clients. Although I’m not a big fan of outbound marketing, but anything that keeps the engine rolling should be great.
Yes, you surely need a website to drive untapped traffic, leads, and customers to your business.
I’m not saying this because we are a small biz web design agency.
I’m saying this because we have a long list of data that proves it.
81% of shoppers research online before buying anything which sums up the importance of having an online presence. There are many affiliate marketers who earn millions by using targeting buyer focused keywords. And, if they can earn it by just suggesting the product, think how much you can earn by selling it?
Now, let’s boil down to 3 major benefits of having a website for small business:
Establishing Trust & Credibility
Most business owners make mistakes by thinking that they need a website just for search mechanism. But it doesn’t work that way. Even if you rely on the more traditional method of client earning, a website is paramount to building your credibility.
Whenever someone mentions your brand name through word of mouth, the first thing they do is check on the internet. Do you think they would just come directly your store and play “knock knock.”? No, they search for you, check reviews, analyse your website. Then, they move to the decision process. So, if your users can’t find you, you are losing them.
Loyal Relationships
A website has the potential to form personal and loyal customers. When a user goes to your website and checks the about us page, they get to know about you personally. If there is something unique about your product, or a vision that has a striking value, you can share it on your website. This automatically connects with your customers.
A hotel that shows a virtual tour on their website gets more booking than a hotel without any online presence. These small things along with client satisfaction can help to generate a more loyal relationship.
Local market domination
If you have a website, you have the potential to be a whale that dominates the local sea. Your website with proper SEO and paid advertisements can reap a tonne of benefits.
Whether you are a local plumber or a cafe owner, if you have a website you have a chance to get a tonne of customers through it. People nowadays search the internet first before moving to the store. So, if you don’t have a website, you are missing potential prospects. Users coming from the search are qualified leads because they want solutions to your problem. If you can solve their problems, then you will get the customers.
Guidelines for effective small business websites
Today, due to a wide use of the internet, a website has become the most crucial part of every business. If you are a small business proprietor and realise your company requires an attractive and functional website, but do not have a proper idea to make your website more effective then this article is specially dedicated to you. An online presence with good design is essential for every company as it is the best tool to make their business recognisable among the global audiences. The prospect for web design is continuous and you need to determine the trends and tools carefully to take your business forward.
Responsive Web Design
The Internet has become an integral part of personality and mobile internet users are also emerging day to day. Developing a highly responsive website that fits on the screen of all the devices is essential since a customer holds various electronic devices of different screen size to get in your online presence. Along with the responsive design, web design should also be developed employing the principles of colour theory with a good graphic and pixel perfect site design approaches. Thus, the biggest web design trend in the current time is developing a mobile-friendly website which brings up good user experience of your website.
Social Media Feeds
Social media has been an innovative medium of promoting the business online through various social media channels. You can make your brand popular together with the social media site allowing users to view and follow your business page. It also allows business to communicate with their potential customers, demonstrating their products and services online.
Updating the page with various business updates, articles, relevant news will surely help to turn your fans and followers into an ideal customer. Moreover, making use of different social media feeds in an online marketing will help to set up reliability where testimonials can be kept honestly from the profiles of additional social media users together with a lively communication providing your customer with a reliable service.
Quality & informative content
Contents are the key part of any type of small business website you enclose. When you are promoting your products and services, you need to provide relevant and adequate information regarding the products and services to make your ideal customer understand clearly about it. Additionally, they should also get attracted to purchase it, based on the properties you explain. The content you place within the site should be related to your company as well as products and services.
optimising your site for Search Engines
Optimising your website for search engines will benefit your business with the numbers of traffic towards your site. However, it is the most time-consuming, complex procedure; keeping patience will surely keep your business forward with great achievement.
Google’s Keyword planner is the most useful tool for keyword research and is available free as you only have to sign up. This tool helps you to find what your potential customers are inserting in the search box of Google in order to get the thing they are looking for. You can filter the results by location, traffic and another metric as a way to discover those keywords you can logically rank for.
To Wrap Up,
I hope you are now familiar with the guidelines required for small business websites. These guidelines will surely help your business online presence to run effectively with the requirement of your company delivering relevant and informative content to your audiences making your website rich of audiences. See our list of Top 10 Internet Marketing Forums to learn marketing.
Nirmal 
