SEO & Website: 9 Reasons Why Your Business Needs A Website - Insight From Semalt
Do you remember how a few years ago, at the turn of the first and the second decades of the 21st century; the marketers foretold the end of the era of the websites and persuaded to "transfer" it to Facebook and Instagram boards? The social media was to take over the inheritance of the websites.
The larger and smaller companies stopped paying for the domains and resigned from there in favor of the investments in the development of the profiles on Facebook. Have they bet on the right horse?
Websites - Statistics
Research clearly shows that 90% of us are looking for the opinions about the companies, services or products on the Internet. You have that, right? Where do you most often look for the information? Have you typed the words you have in the small box "Search" on Facebook or "Search" on Instagram? No! You look for them on Google - 98% of the Poles use this browser.
67% of a customer's B2B journeys take place on the Internet. So it is the average that a B2B decision-maker needs from a few to a dozen or the points of contact with a brand and its online competitors to make a choice. For most of us, a company without a website is no longer credible. There are also those for whom the lack of a corporate website disqualifies the possibility of cooperation. Is it worth the risk of losing the potential leads?
How much does a website cost?
Do you hesitate whether it is worth having your own website on the web, because you are afraid of the high costs of creating, running and then positioning the website? Let's check it!
The website, depending on the degree of complexity and the service provider, can cost (when we are ordering a project from a freelancer who will take care of the entire concept, front-end, back-end and UX/UI) several thousand dollars (if it is e.g. a large e-commerce store that is being developed by a team of programmers).
Positioning valuation is a wider topic, about which we write in a separate article on the Delante blog. In the first moment, however, the key of creating a website will be for you, if your company does not yet have its place on the web.
In total, it gives us a one-off investment from several to several thousand dollars, and several hundred dollars per year in the cost of running a website. In the case of a B2B cooperation, such an amount is returned after a few good leads and successful transactions, which perhaps would never appear in your wallet without a website. An online store with cheaper products and/or lower margins has to fight for "going to zero" longer, but then it is only "downhill".
If it's not the costs that are holding you back from deciding whether it's worth running a corporate website, see what goals and tasks your website can fulfill!
Why do I need a website?
Here are 9 reasons why it is a must to have a website in your company's marketing plan and operating budget. If you are at the stage of a business plan and are just starting your own business, be sure to include the cost of creating such a website in your calculations.
Higher passive income of the company
You are asleep and your website earns you money. This is not a joke. After all, today we do online shopping around the clock. We fill out contact forms at any time. Both in B2B and B2C. E-commerce, IT, HR, logistics... in every industry, a well-optimized and positioned website increases the company's passive income.
More customers from free the organic traffic
The organic traffic from Google works similarly to the traffic, the so-called traffic, in the case of a stationary store. If you have a good location, passers-by often come to your store "by the way", and many times come out with their purchases. The good content on your website organically that is free of charge attracts such online passers-by, who then turn into the conversions or a database of the potential customers for remarketing.
The customer acquisition is always the most expensive process in the entire sales system. Thanks to the website, the potential buyers can accidentally, organically, be free of charge "come to you" in search of the interesting content, eg from your corporate blog. Ultimately, during such a visit, there is a chance that they will turn into a heated lead or buy something in your store. A website is a great, 24/7 advertising of your brand, over which you have full control. It is also an effective lead magnet.
More credibility
A website or at least a Google business card means more credibility for your brand on the web. As a customer, when you have a choice of a company with or without a website, which one do you choose?
Additional advertising options - remarketing
The advertising systems of Facebook, Google and LinkedIn allow you to "plug" pixels, short fragments of the source code of the page into your website. Thanks to these, you can do a remarketing with targeted ads after a user visited your website and clicked on a specific tab. In practice, Google Remarketing is always a hit, effective and profitable form of advertising.
Better understanding of the customer thanks to the website traffic analysis
There is never too much analysis. Google Analytics implemented on your website will give you a huge amount of knowledge about your customers and products. Without a website, you will not know who, why, what they were looking for and how they came to your store.
Without a website, you will not find out who your customers are, where they come from, which products are most likely "clicked", on which days traffic is the highest (i.e. when to "burn up" sales with promotions), etc., etc. - in one sentence: without a website WWW you deprive yourself of valuable knowledge and data analysis.
A useful complement to offline trading materials
Do you have a team of traders who give out your catalogs "from door to door" and you prefer the paper's offers? Great. Perhaps, however, your potential customer will want to expand their knowledge not only with the paper materials, but also with the guides, tutorials or product reviews on the web. Where should Google direct first? Of course, for your corporate website. What if it does not find it, and after this specific phrase, it finds your competitor? Then the paper may not be enough.
Contact and sales automation
A website is the best tool for the customer service and the sales automation. This is where you can post a FAQ or Q&A with the most popular customer questions and answers. There you can install a chatbot with which a potential customer can talk online at any time. This is where you can place a simple contact form to get direct contact with the buyers. Your corporate website is your world, so you can… anything.
Your own space for content marketing and building the image of an expert
As customers, we want to buy the products and order the services from those who really know their stuff. The study case and the testimonials on your website will show the visitors that they found a specialist in a given field.
Access to the customers from all over the world
The Internet means access to a global village and the customers from all over the world. Several language versions on your website (English is a must have today) can work wonderfully. In combination with the appropriate international positioning of the website, you will be sending your products to various corners of the globe in a moment. Without a website and one stationary store, even in the center of Krakow, it can be difficult to conquer the foreign markets, right?
Website - we debunk myths and objections
How many times have we heard that "I don't need a website"? Soon we'll end up on the net anyway. Is it worth defending against it? What are the most common objections of having a corporate website?
Customers will find me without a page
Competition is fierce. In any industry. You can be sure that your competitors have already had or will soon have their own websites and online stores. The whole world, especially in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, has moved from offline reality to online reality. Do you want to be forgotten and abandoned in the back of this peloton?
Everyone is on social media now
It is true and... not true. We consume the internet on the various devices, using many mobile applications, for very different purposes. We don't always want to buy in the social media. As the internet users, we most often start the shopping path in Google. That is why the website should be the starting point, and your brand's social media channels should only lead the user "by the hand" to landing pages, the so-called landing page on your website.
A website is a lot of money spent without any sense
You already know that's not true. For just a few thousand dollars you can have your own "plot" in the net for cultivating and weeding the flowers' beds. The company's website is an investment for many years. You will harvest your crops forever.
I don't need any more customers
The economic situation can always turn for the worse. But what if the times are worse or you want to scale your business and broaden your horizons? Then the website will become a great source of acquiring the new contacts.
Company website - is it worth it?
The matter is clear to us. After all, if we didn't have a Delante corporate website, you wouldn't be reading this post and spending a few minutes of your life with us here. So, when you are the proud owner of a company website, write to us and let's talk about its positioning. Semalt experts will help you to avoid most of the mistakes.
1. Are the websites more important in the B2B or B2C sector?
The websites are important for both the B2B and B2C sectors. Today, the trading model has changed to H2H, or human to human. After all, there's a living person behind every brand and every business e-mail. The website is one of the first points of contact with your brand and the users. Do not deny them this pleasure.
2. Can I make a website myself?
Yes. However, avoid the web page generators where you can put it together graphically "from blocks". The positioning of such a page is very limited and in fact you have no chance of being at the top positions in Google. Look for free online coding courses on the web or take part in professional training, such as "WP for green" by Ewelina Muc. However, if you have never created your own website and you are not an IT lover, we recommend contacting the developer - a freelancer or an agency that can create the websites first.
3. Does the website sell?
Yes, the website obtains contact forms for you and sells products through the online store. It builds awareness of your brand and is another point of contact between the customer and your brand. It supports corporate personal brands and its expert image. It converts everything into sales.