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A business with a website gets results
In 2016 Sensis published a report conducted among businesses with a website. Not surprisingly, this report found that 6 out of 10 of these businesses believed that their website had improved the effectiveness of their business. Increased exposure was the most common benefit they attributed to having a website.
Not only does your business need a website, having it optimised for mobiles and other devices is really important. Google and other search engines rate these optimised sites more highly as they do sites that are secure (SSL) and optimised for speed – because of course, that is what consumers want.
You may say to yourself, “sure I have a website”, but, how long ago was it created? Is it optimised for Google ranking? Is it changing and evolving continuously? It is linked to other sites? If you answered “No” to these questions, then chances are your potential customers are not going to be able to find you. It is so important that your website remains up to date and responsive to the competitive environment in which it operates, so have it updated today.
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Consumers want information easily, instantly and in their hand
Australia is up there with the highest usage of smartphones in the world and the 2016 Sensis report found that 8 in 10 Australians now use their phone to search the internet for products or services. If you don’t have an easy to find, relevant and engaging online presence, then your business isn’t going to even be considered by many of these consumers.
Are you up to speed with the digital future that young people expect today? The truth is that younger Australians don’t like making phone calls. Rather they prefer to research a business via a website and on social media before booking an appointment or buying products online.
If you run a small business that primarily communicates with customers over the phone and finds them via word of mouth, then you really do need to think about where your future customers will come from.
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Your competitors are already online
According to the Sensis research close to 7 in 10 businesses have a website, a number that is growing every day. That number jumps to more than 9 in 10 for medium size businesses, so it stands to reason that most of your competitors are already online. The fact so many businesses have invested in their online presence and stuck with it suggests that they are either seeing a return on their online investment, or that they simply recognise the necessity to be there.
Also the global and Australian ecommerce markets are growing rapidly, with many consumers preferring to now buy goods online. While your physical shop front remains important, your digital shop front is crucial too, even when targeting consumers who are living just around the corner. Importantly, more than two thirds of businesses who sell online make the majority of those sales locally. Thankfully consumers are remaining loyal to local businesses but simply prefer to order from their phone, while on the couch or on the move.
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A website provides crucial support to your other marketing
Your website won’t replace important face-to-face relationships with clients, or word-of-mouth marketing, they remain as powerful and important as ever. A website will however, support these by giving you a digital presence where customers can easily find your business, compare your range of goods and services and, ensure you are at the very least there during the consideration stage of the consumer purchasing cycle.
A website will also open your business up to a whole range of other marketing tools that can generate new leads and sales. Your website will support your social media activity and you can also begin utilising products such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to further boost your ranking on Google. Then you can look at running digital display advertising on other websites to direct new customers to your site.
Marketing is all about finding the best mix of products for the unique features of your business – a website is the core product around which to build the arms and legs of your strategy and is now often the first place that consumers will interact with your business. Where your receptionist was once the director of first impressions it is now often your website.
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It’s cheaper and easier than you think
For a small investment, a website can be up and running in a short period of time and the online world makes measuring the return on your investment simple. After all a website provides a permanent online presence (compared to some of your other more short term marketing costs) so it’s hard to justify not having one.
A simple but engaging and authentic website will help build credibility for your business and make it easier for new and existing customers to utilise your services. So now is the time to establish or refresh your business online.
Contact us today to see how we can help with your website.
