23/06/2021
If youâre a business owner on the fence about creating a website, Iâll save you some timeâyou need one. A good one. A professionally designed, lead-catching, sales-increasing, brand-differentiating website.
Hereâs why:
Consumer behavior changes over time to adapt to modern technology, and consumer behavior has changed to adapt to the digital age. Iâll give you an exampleâthe Yellow Pages. The telephone was a disruptive new technology in the late 1800s and changed the way consumers did business. As more and more households began to use the telephone directory to find local products and services, business owners realized advertising in it was a smart bet. By the 1930s, advertising in the Yellow Pages was standard operating procedure for most businesses. It made perfect senseâthe majority of U.S. households used the directory on a daily basis.
Then came the world wide web and a new disruption to the commercial status quo: the digital transformation. As more and more consumers realized they could find what they needed online faster and more effectively than a phone book, behavior shifted away from using the printed directory. By 2011, 70 percent of all Americans rarely or never used printed phone directories. Also in 2011, more than 59 percent of consumers were already going online to find local businesses.
Fast-forward to 2019, and the number of consumers that go online to find a local business has jumped to 97 percent. If you want them to choose your company, you need to be found onlineâmeaning you need a website.
WHY YOU NEED A WEBSITE IN 2021âNO MATTER WHAT INDUSTRY YOUâRE IN
Look, in 2021, you need a website. You needed one the day you started your business, but better late than never.
At Imagine 'X' Development, small business success is our middle name. We WANT you to succeed. So, in this article, Iâll cover:
Eight non-negotiable reasons why you need a website
Common objections debunked
How much a website costs
How to make a website for your business
If youâre ready to unlock your companyâs success and get started with a lead-driving website, you can contact us here.
REASON #1: 30 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS WONâT CONSIDER A BUSINESS WITHOUT A WEBSITE
Your website is your number one marketing asset because we live in a digital age. Americans spend on average 23.6 hours online per week and are on their mobile devices for up to five hours per day. By now, consumers expect companies to have an online presence (including a website) and will consider a company that DOESNâT have one as less professional.
REASON #2: PEOPLE ARE SEARCHING FOR YOU ONLINE
93% of consumers go online to find a local businessâyou need an online marketing company and you need a website
One of the benefits of having a website for small businesses is to be where your consumers are. Thereâs a reason so many companies invest in a website with search engine optimization (SEO): 97 percent of people go online to find a local business, and 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. Believe it or not, there are 3.5 billion searches on Google per day, and at this very moment, there is someone in your area online and searching for your exact service. Guess whoâs getting their business? Not you.
REASON #3: THE MAJORITY OF OF CONSUMERS USE WEBSITES TO FIND AND ENGAGE WITH BUSINESSES
Yup. According to LSAâs (Local Search Association) April 2017 report, âThe Digital Consumer Study,â 63 percent of consumers primarily use a companyâs website to find and engage with businesses. Thatâs a pretty big chunk of consumers. Combine that with the fact that 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engineâyou do the math. Another compelling reason your business needs a website? Research by YellowPages and LSA found that, on average, consumers use approximately three sources before making an individual purchase decision, and 30 percent automatically strike a business from consideration if they donât have a website.
REASON #4: COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS IN EVERY INDUSTRYâINCLUDING B2B, INDUSTRIAL, AND MANUFACTURINGâARE INFLUENCED BY DIGITAL WEBSITE CONTENT
The majority of companies that donât have a website say itâs because their industry isnât online. I hear this mostly from business owners in the B2B, industrial, and manufacturing industries.
If thatâs you, Iâm gonna have to call you out on that.
you need a b2b website for industrial and manufacturing because B2B buyers use digital content
A full 75 percent of B2B buyers say digital website content significantly impacts their buying decision, and 62 percent say they can finalize their purchase selection criteria based on a websiteâs digital content alone.
The average B2B buyer now makes an average of 12 online searches before interacting with a vendorâs website, and they are already 57 percent of the way through the buying process before they want to speak with a sales representative. Even for industrial and manufacturing companiesâ67 percent of purchases are influenced by digital. Not only that, but half of all B2B customers today also expect a supplierâs website to be a helpful channel and more than a third expect the site to be their most helpful channel.
REASON #5: 75 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS ADMIT TO MAKING JUDGMENTS ON A COMPANYâS CREDIBILITY BASED ON THE COMPANYâS WEBSITE DESIGN
you need a website for your business because 75% of people have judged a company's credibility based on its website design
Not having a website makes consumers trust you less. In fact, in 2018, 75 percent of people admit to making judgments on a companyâs credibility based on website design. People are more likely to do business with a company they trust, and a website is the first place they go to check for credentials, reviews, and awards.
Beware, thoughâif you have a bad website design, it wonât help you at all. You have 10 seconds to leave an impression on website visitors and tell them what theyâll get out of your website and company. After this time (and oftentimes before), theyâll leave.
REASON #6: YOU NEED TO ANSWER BASIC QUESTIONS QUICKLY
the best b2b marketing strategy includes a good website design
This is especially true for B2B companies. People visit your website when they want to know something or do something. They also expect immediate gratification, which means visitors should be able to answer three questions within three seconds of landing on your website:
Who are you?
What do you do/offer?
How do I contact you?
We live in an age of NOW, where consumers want the information they seek immediatelyâmeaning your companyâs website should answer each of the questions above without the user needing to scroll down the page at all.
REASON #7: IT WILL HELP YOU BEAT THE GOLIATHS IN YOUR INDUSTRY
Did you know that having a website can help you beat the Goliaths in your industry? It can if itâs optimized for search. Take Villa Lagoon Tile. They compete heavily with big-box tile stores but have no trouble holding their own thanks to their website and their prominent position in the search results page.
REASON #8: SOCIAL MEDIA REACH IS DIMINISHING
So, you think you donât need a website because youâre on Facebook.
Great, so is every other business in America. You need a website even if you have a page.
And guess what? Itâs getting harder for businesses to connect with users on the platform. Within a week of the last Facebook algorithm update, organic reach plummeted lower than it was already. Another bummer? In 2018, people spent 50 million fewer hours on the platform than they did in 2017.
While social media can help your business grow, donât bank on using it as your sole marketing channel, especially in the future.
our website redesign company makes it more likely for people to revisit your website
Common Objections Business Owners Make Against Having a Website
We work with small businesses every day, and when it comes to not having a website, weâve heard just about every excuse on the planetâand theyâre all incredibly misguided. Iâve listed the most common objections below, and our typical responses.
OBJECTION #1: âMY BUSINESS IS TOO SMALL, AND I DONâT HAVE THE BUDGET FOR A WEBSITE.â
This is the most common objection we hear from small business owners.
Lookâyour website is your number one marketing asset. Saying you donât have the budget for it is like saying you donât have the budget for an LLC licenseâyouâre going to get in big trouble later if you donât fork over that initial investment.
Get a websiteâit doesnât have to be fancy and expensive, but it needs to exist, and it needs to be able to be found by search engines.
OBJECTION #2: âI ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH BUSINESS. I DONâT NEED A WEBSITE.â
Even if you have more business than you can handle, you need a website, no ifs ands or buts. I recently read an article on website ownership that argued against this. Hereâs an excerpt:
âRecently I went to a popular restaurant in a tiny Virginia town to try and sell the owners a website. The restaurant was located right on the waterfront overlooking Chincoteague Bay. I went just before lunchtime in the dead of winter on a weekday. I figured business would be slow and I could chat briefly with the owner.
The owner was gracious and allowed me to run through the basic benefits giving me her full attention â even taking a few notes. I figured I had a good chance of closing this deal. I finally said, âDo you think a website is something youâd be interested in hearing more about?â
This was her reply: âWe opened this place as a bait and tackle shop. Then people wanted coffee so we provided that. Then some asked for sandwiches, so we provided that. Later they wanted a few tables where they could sit and chat while they ate their sandwiches, so we got tables and chairs and began doing lunches. That led to dinners. Then we didnât have enough room so we added the screened in porch for the summer. People loved the porch so much that we winterized for the colder months. Now that itâs January, we thought we might be able to close one day a week and get some time off. But we canât. Weâre too busy. Weâve never advertised and weâre tired. If a website is going to bring more people in here â no thanks!'â
Oh, how wrong that business owner is. If that were my client, hereâs what I would have said:
âA website doesnât need to be built for the purpose of adding new customers. According to the National Restaurant Association, 83 percent of Americans look up dining locations, directions and hours of operation on their smartphones or tablets. Did you ever think that your customersânow and futureâmay like to see specials and menu items while theyâre on the go? What if theyâre in a hurry and want to order quickly and leave? What if they want to know your hours and canât make a phone call? A good website will answer basic questions right awayâwhich could free up time if youâre spending a lot of it answering questions on the phone.
You can add a reservation widget, which again can save your hosts time and make operations more efficient. You can build an online community with recipes, blogs, and places to get local produce. You can become not only a local favorite, you can gain popularity nationwide and turn your brand into a product all its own. There is SO MUCH a website can do to boost your bottom line without adding more customers, and while you may have enough customers now, you never know what the next decade will bring. Itâs best to get your foot in the door with digital now in the event that itâs necessary in the future.â
OBJECTION #2: âI HAVE A GUY THAT SAID HE COULD MAKE ME A WEBSITE FOR FREE.â
why you need a website for your business- the importance of having a website- y tho meme
This is a bad idea unless that guyâs career is in web design for your industry. Having a friend or family member make your website is like trusting a handyman to lay the foundation of a skyscraper. A LOT goes into having an optimized websiteâSEO optimization, file compression, responsive design, schema markup, etc.âand if it isnât built on the right foundation, it will likely topple over.
Even if you DO have a professional web designer as a friend, be carefulâdifferent industries have different website design standards. For example, a website for health services will have completely different components and markup than a website for the HVAC industry.
OBJECTION #3: âOUR CUSTOMERS ARENâT BIG COMPUTER USERS.â
Your customers arenât âcomputer usersâ? Thatâs baloney. What this business owner is forgetting is that âcomputer usersâ arenât just people using desktop computers. It also includes people browsing websites, social media, and apps on mobile devices.
Not only do 89 percent of US adults use the internet, but 77 percent of them own a smartphone, and in 2016, mobile web traffic outpaced desktop web traffic for the first time.
Smartphone = computer user.
OBJECTION #4: I DONâT NEED A WEBSITE BECAUSE MY INDUSTRY DOESNâT NEED ONE/IâM NOT AN ECOMMERCE OR AN ONLINE BUSINESS.
This is a HUGE misconception a lot of people have. Just because youâre not ecommerce does not mean you donât need a website. Consumersâeven B2B buyersâstill need to find you, learn about you, and trust you because they buy from you. The large majority of our clients arenât ecommerce, and each one of them has seen considerable revenue growth from having a website.
How Much Does a Website Cost?
A website can cost anywhere from free to upwards of 100 grand.
For example, if you choose to DIY with a platform like SquareSpace, youâll pay a low monthly fee to lease a spot on their platform. On the other end of the spectrum is a completely custom website from a professional website design company tailored for your business needs. With these, youâre looking at an investment of a few thousand dollars.
Do not let a price tag deter you from creating a website. If youâre a one-man operation with zero budget, at least get a basic website that you can jazz up later when you have a better cash flow.
Hereâs what goes into the cost of a website:
Hosting â This is the service or company providing space on the internet for your website. Hosting providers include GoDaddy, InMotion, and others. We recommend you use GoDaddy. Hosting is charged monthly and typically costs $7 and up.
Domain name â This is shown as www.yourcompany.com, and is usually a yearly payment. WordPress, as an example, charges $14.99 per year for your domain name.
Design â Some designs are free, other cost money.
Plugins and extensions â Typically, the more plugins you want, the more expensive a website gets.
Complexity of design â The more customized your website is, the more expensive it is
Final Takeaway: The Price of Having a Website Is Much Lower than the Price of Getting Left Behind
A recent Capital One study found that only 56 percent of small businesses say they have a company website.
That should tell you two things:
56 percent of businesses are doing better than yours
You still have a chance to beat 44 percent of them if you get a website now
Look, anyone who tells you your business doesnât need a website is just plain wrong. Those experts who say you donât need a website unless youâre an online business or an ecommerce business (like this lady)?
Yea, theyâre also wrong.
Tell you whatâif youâve recently read an article saying you donât need a website, send it to me, and Iâll tell you why THATâS wrong. It costs just pennies to get started with a web presence, and quite frankly, youâd have to be insane not to get one. If you need help, give us a shoutâwe have a wide range of website design packages for every budget, and weâd be happy to walk you through your needs.
