Whether you’re the marketing manager or the owner, understanding the importance of a website to your business can give you a distinct edge in this increasingly competitive digital landscape taking you from stagnation to success.
When correctly set up, your business website will work around the clock to connect you with the world, presenting your products, services, people and values to prospective customers looking for you or others like you.
Why is a website important for my business?
In this dynamic digital era, the importance of having a website cannot be understated, with a recent domestic study showing that 87% of New Zealand consumers search for businesses, products and services online before making a purchasing decision. Simply put, a website allows potential customers to find and learn about your business, providing a platform for showcasing your products or services while highlighting your strengths, values and people.
Regardless of your industry, the size of your business, or the nature of your product or service, a website is a must-have if you want to compete and stay profitable over the long run – without a website, you’re invisible to a significant portion of your potential market. Recent studies have shown that businesses with a functional website experience a 200% higher customer engagement rate on average, with even greater customer engagement rates achieved by those websites that are well optimised and aligned with customer search behaviour.
These are just two data points of many which emphasise why most (if not all) commercial ventures should have a website – small businesses and large enterprises alike.
What are the benefits of having a business website?
The benefits of having a business website are far-reaching, beyond just improving your marketing visibility. Yes, your website allows your business to be found online – but that’s not all.
Here are some of the benefits of having a website for your business:
Visibility and accessibility
A website allows your business to be seen and accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world, considerably widening your reach, while giving you a reference point for all online and offline marketing and sales activities.
Improved credibility
Nowadays, businesses without websites are often viewed with suspicion, caution, or even outright aversion. A professionally built and designed, well planned, strategic website with the right content (aligned to relevant search queries) lends credibility to your business. To further boost your credibility, your website can feature customer testimonials, showcase household (or ‘known’) brands you’ve worked with, display reviews and highlight recent project case studies to help prove your trustworthiness and give you the edge over your competitors.
A marketing platform you own
Websites are essential marketing tools, allowing modern marketers to reach their desired audience effectively and capturing people at all stages of the buyer journey; Awareness, Consideration and Transaction. As your business owns its website, unlike many other digital marketing and social media platforms, your website serves as a permanent (albeit likely evolving) representation of your business – and one that you can directly control. You can use your website as a marketing platform through the creation of blogs, articles, eBooks, membership and newsletter sign-ups, giving you an efficient, cost-effective way to engage with your target market and keep them informed about new products and services, promotions and relevant news stories.
Sales and revenue generation
If applicable, your website may benefit from the addition of eCommerce functionality, giving it the ability to generate sales and revenue directly – often outperforming your top salespeople when supported by strategic marketing campaigns. Alternatively, if your products and services are not geared towards eCommerce owing, your website may instead feature lead generation mechanisms, such as compelling call to action elements (otherwise known as CTA’s), quote requests and contact forms and click-to-call phone functionality to make it as easy as possible for prospective customers to get in touch with your business.
Enhance customer service
With features like live chat, frequently asked question (FAQ) sections, customer support portals and process explanations, your website can serve as an extension of your customer service team and take much of the load off your staff. Not only does this provide greater service levels to existing customers, it also actively works to win over prospective customers by emphasising your quality, demonstrating your support structures and showing you care.
Collect valuable customer data
By integrating an analytics platform into your website (such as Google Analytics), you can start to obtain useful data on how your customers behave, their preferences, approximate locations, most visited pages, conversion rates and more, allowing you to tailor your marketing efforts and website accordingly.
What role does a website play on the credibility of my business and the creation of future demand?
Your website should serve as a cornerstone asset for your business, playing a significant role in how people view your quality, professionalism and brand. Not only will this foster the development of new business opportunities, it will also promote your credibility and help to generate future demand.
Visitors to your website will be a mix of your existing customer base, your suppliers, distributors and partner network and, perhaps most importantly, your potential customer base – those who are not current customers but are likely to be in the market for your product or service in the future.
The creation of this future demand is highly dependent on how your business presents itself to the world online, which is largely driven by your website. By utilising digital channels such as online advertising, social media and user generated search, you can reach your target audience quickly, accurately and measurably, increasing your relevance, proving your credibility and driving this all-important future demand for your business. But your ability to achieve these feats online sit, by and large, with the effectiveness of your website; your website’s content, your website’s technical capabilities and your website’s aesthetics – how it looks and feels.
And yet in this day and age, it is not enough to have a good looking website. Your website must be strategically designed – not just “look the part” – intentionally planned to meet the needs of your prospective customers at every step of the buyer journey. Your website must also be meticulously crafted with precision to ensure all functionality works as it should, providing a smooth, untainted website user experience. And finally, your website must be consistently generating high quality leads, sales, or showing you in a positive, trustworthy light, if not, it is simply not fit for purpose and should be re-evaluated to ensure you capitalise on the opportunities at hand, as the opportunity cost for not doing so is significant.
It should be noted that, as with any opportunity, your competitors will make inroads within your market should you elect to take a backseat, so it is crucial to take the initiative and win the online race to maintain and grow your market share.
Practical tips and strategies for building a high performing website
The production of a high performing website can be game changing for your business. In our view, a high performing website is one that generates significant leads or direct sales, whilst also invoking a degree of professionalism and credibility, supporting your sales and marketing strategy – not hindering it.
Here are our 6 practical tips and strategies for building a high performing website:
1. Invest in professional web development
First impressions matter. To make the most of the opportunities you are given, ensure your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, fully functional and reflective of your brand – there should be no disconnect between how your business is offline and how you present it online. A poorly built, badly designed, or “broken” website will only turn potential customers away.
2. Prioritise user experience
Users should find it easy to navigate your website and find the information they need. A positive user experience increases engagement and conversion rates.
3. Embrace SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ensures your website is discoverable by search engines. This drives organic traffic, improves your online visibility and enhances the overall effectiveness of your website.
4. Consistently publish high-quality content
Fresh, relevant content keeps users coming back and improves your SEO. Consider a blog section for sharing industry news, tips and insights.
5. Leverage analytics
Use analytics to understand how users interact with your website. This data can inform decisions about content, design and marketing strategies.
6. Opt for mobile responsiveness
With more people browsing on their mobile devices, it’s vital to ensure your website is mobile-friendly. A responsive website enhances user experience and boosts SEO.
In conclusion, a well-crafted, optimised website is not just an accessory but a necessity for every business in the digital age. It is instrumental in driving business success by enhancing visibility, building credibility, facilitating customer engagement and generating revenue. With the right approach, every business can harness the power of a website for sustained, continuous growth.
Purpose-built websites deliver continuous, sustainable growth
It’s all well and good to say “build a new (or better) website”, but without guidance and a strong foundation, the production of a website can be an exercise in futility.
To provide this stable purpose-built platform for growth, we have developed the DigitalArchitect System® to remove the confusion that surrounds digital marketing and web design, replacing it with data, clarity, purpose and an actionable growth plan.
DigitalArchitect uses the data gleaned from in-depth audience insights and customer behaviour analysis as the basis for an intentional website structure and a digital transformation roadmap. From there, we work with a select group of world class strategic partners to produce your website, while collaborating with you to craft engaging, targeted content, designed to capture prospective customers at all stages of the buyer journey and drive continuous, sustainable growth.
Kickstart your growth journey with an obligation-free chat on how we can help your business discover its online market potential.
- Posted by Jack Papworth
- January 23, 2024