WHY SHOULD YOU CREATE A WEBSITE FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS?
Digital.com is an independent review website founded in 2015. They review the best tools and products for starting or growing a small business. That means services like hosting, site builders, ecommerce software and more. The information here is from their website which is very relevant in todays conditions.
“My name is Carrie Smith, and I’m a Research Manager here at Digital.com. I wanted to reach out and let you know of our recently published resource that could be helpful for small business owners who are fighting to keep their businesses afloat during this pandemic.
Social distancing restrictions and demand shifts from COVID-19 are causing many brick and mortar small businesses to deal with the realities of downsizing, closures, and bankruptcies. Knowing that the survival of these businesses is vital to the community, we’ve created a series of resources to help businesses take advantage of trends that were created by the pandemic – a recent survey reported that 53% of Americans are moving online for a majority of their shopping needs.
Our goal for these resources is to create actionable step by step guides that are both approachable and comprehensive in order to help small businesses develop plans to move their business online. Additionally, we identify short and long-term financing opportunities to help cover the cost of transition and navigate these challenging times”.
You can learn more about it here:
- https://digital.com/how-to-take-your-small-business-online/
- https://digital.com/business-loans/
- https://digital.com/business-credit-cards/
WHY SHOULD YOU CREATE A WEBSITE FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS?
Whether your small business is well-established, just starting out, or somewhere in between, having a dedicated website is a must.
Why is this such a necessity? Consider these statistics:
- Internet users spend an average of 6 hours and 42 minutes online every day.
- As of 2019, nearly two-thirds of small businesses have websites. An additional 29% of small businesses planned on creating websites in 2020.
- 87% of shoppers do online research before patronizing a business and 97% of consumers find local businesses and services through an online search.
- Within 24 hours, 88% of consumers who search for a business online patronize that business.
- As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, overall e-commerce sales in the U.S. increased by 18%, to $710 billion.
- During the 2020 holiday shopping season, online sales for small businesses increased by 110%.
Essentially, consumers spend tons of time online, and much of their activity revolves around researching companies where they can spend their money. If you don’t have a website, your competitors do, which means that they are the ones your potential customers will find and support.
While creating a Facebook business page or Etsy store for your company may seem like a quick, low-cost solution to creating an online presence, these platforms don’t give you much control over your content and design, and are limited in their ability to reach an audience.
A website specifically designed for your small business, with its own domain name and email address, will help establish your credibility and raise your brand profile. While there are costs associated with building and hosting a small business website, the return on investment of a well-designed, informative website can be substantial.
Moving your small business from the brick-and-mortar space to the virtual realm may seem intimidating, but in reality, creating a website has never been easier. Our step-by-step guide will walk you through all the key points of creating the perfect website for your small business.
8 STEPS FOR TAKING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS ONLINE
Taking your small business online mainly requires planning and insight into what you want your website to do for your business; a monetary investment (although you can build a website on just about any budget), and some time and energy.
Even if you don’t have any technical knowledge, there are many tools available to make eye-catching, professional-looking websites from scratch. You also have the option to have a website designer build your site for you.
1. PLAN YOUR WEBSITE
Having some preliminary ideas about your website’s design and functionality before you get started will help you make foundational decisions about your website, and avoid headaches down the road.
During the initial planning stages of your website, here are some things to think about:
- Does your website need ecommerce functionality, or will it mainly be informational?
- What information do you seek when you visit a business’ website?
- What type of customer engagement tools do you need?
- What level of control do you want to have?
- What is your budget for this website, both in time and money?
Look at your competitors’ websites to get a sense of what customers expect when they visit a website for your type of business. Also, think about the websites that you visit frequently, and what you find engaging or useful about them.
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