7 Reasons Why Your Website Is Worth Its Weight In GOLD!
Randy Johnson • December 15, 2019
1. Legitimize your business
You can run a business from a Facebook page or a LinkedIn account, but your website is yours, and it won’t change when the platform changes.
There is a perception that a business needs a website to be a legitimate business. A website has a permanence that social media platforms just don’t.
2. Extend your brand
Your website should be one more place that your brand is consistent. Yes, this means the logo, colors, and fonts consistent with your social media and print. But this also means your customer’s experience.
If you have a service, the vibe, and values that you present as a service professional should be reflected on your website.
This might be as simple as “I’m not a stuffy CPA, and my website should reflect that.”
You have the power to make your users’ experience with your website a sample of the great experience they will have with your business.
Even something as simple as a slow website makes people wonder – if the website quality isn’t good, what’s the product like?
It’s worth taking the time to make your website reflect you. You’ll get more people who want what you offer, and the people who aren’t your people will move on.
3. Market for you 24/7
This really is part of extending your brand. Your website can tell your story to anyone who finds your site. With social media, it’s a bit more that people see the latest news.
The story of your business may be harder to see in that environment.
On your website, you can guide people through your story in the way it makes sense. Your site can collect email addresses, allow you to chat with your customers, let your customers download information, and many other tasks.
How much are these leads worth to your business?
4. Keep leads warm
Your blog posts and other content can help you provide information to your leads. Since it usually takes multiple times of reaching out to someone before they become a customer, the content you post on a website can help keep that process going.
Your content can be the basis of an email newsletter or another way of engaging with your community that keeps you relevant and connected.
5. Serve as an online secretary
Business hours, location, reminders that your business has moved locations, and other updates are all easier to see on a website. You can keep them front and center easily so that people can find them.
Social media has some constant information, but most of it is not immediately displayed. The nature of social media posts is current news, and that usually means the newest post first.
Important information can get buried on social media, while your site helps make sure your customers can get in touch and find you when they need to.
6. Serve as a hub
Links to your store, your community, your social media – your website can be a stable place that links all of the pieces of your online presence together.
Social media platforms can change their rules at any time. Even website builder platforms are somewhat harder to migrate from if you should choose to do that.
7. Give you authority
Your website posts can give people enough information for free that they see you as a valuable resource. And you don’t have to have a book on a library shelf to do it!
When you become a resource for your industry or niche, that’s a powerful relationship.
BONUS #1 - Create a community
Part of the draw of a website is the interaction, comments, community. Whether it is a membership site for information, a course, a forum, or a blog with comments, your website can bring people together.
Since your business is only as good as your relationships, this part of your site is critical.
BONUS #2 - Sell your products
Your website, of course, can be your store. Or an extension of your store.
You can sell products, services, and any combination you can think of. Your website, of course, can bring indirect revenue.
In closing, it supports your relationships
The point of all of these items is to point out that the value of a website. Not just any ol’ website, but a well-designed, optimized, easy to use website offers so much more than just a selling platform or a business card.
When you put the effort in, your website can be a valuable assistant and resource for your customers, clients, or audience.
It takes effort to maintain (here’s why that’s critical) but it’s worth it a
nd good relationships mean good business.
Maybe your site just allows people to find you on a map. Maybe it contains the whole archive of ten thousand blog posts for people to binge-read while they are waiting at the doctor’s office.
Your site could be a membership site, a forum, a matchmaking site for your industry, or simply an extension of your brand. There are many different configurations of websites, and most are unique to the business itself.
What is it worth to you to have a perpetual business card, online secretary, online library, marketing tool, brand extension, and store? The answer will be as unique as your business, but it is worth investing some time to think about it.
If you’d like to talk about your website, get some help with maintenance, or just have a question, head to the contact page and let me know!
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Organic Search Is Most Often the Primary Source of Website Traffic
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As marketers know, Google owns a significantly larger portion of the search market than competitors like Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and the many, many others.
With the new year upon us, now is the time when everyone starts planning their goals for the foreseeable future. The year 2020 sounds like a milestone already, which means that many will want to start the year off the right way. Aside from personal ventures to pursue, people have business to attend to – but unlike those extra pounds you plan on losing (but probably won’t commit to), business owners can’t afford to lose anything. How can a business prepare for the new year with a prominent online presence?
What is Digital Marketing?
You’ve probably heard of digital/online/internet marketing before. But since you’re reading this, you’re not exactly an expert. And that’s alright, we all start somewhere.
The bad news is, digital marketing is extremely complex – the good news is, digital marketing doesn’t have to be complicated.
People send their entire lives mastering just one aspect of digital marketing, and its always changing – but you can learn it without your head spinning if you know where to start and stay focused (hint: you’re in the right place).
Let’s start with a simple definition: Digital marketing, aka online marketing or internet marketing, is any activity carried out with the intention of bringing more of your ideal customer to your business using the internet.
Essentially, whether you’re simply getting someone’s attention or asking them to buy from you it’s digital marketing (if done over the internet).
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The 2 Options (With Pricing) For Designing And Developing A Small Business Website
OPTION 1: Hire A Professional
If you’re super busy running your business and/or you’re just not a techie person, then you need to hire someone to build your site for you. It’s that simple.
However, if you’ve searched online and visited sites of website designers/developers, you’ve probably encountered:
• No prices listed at all.
• Prices all over the map, from ridiculously cheap to super expensive.
The good news is we rolled up our sleeves and did the research for you regarding what it costs to build (or redesign) a small business website in 2020.
For web designers that did list their prices, we found the going rate in 2020 to build a modern, professional small business website was typically $3,000-$6,000 but could be as much as $20,000 (or more) depending on the number of pages on the site and the amount of customization required.
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It’s never been cheaper to build your brand and create new demand for your products and services.
If you aren’t already advertising on Facebook, you’d be crazy not to. Especially if you want to grow like crazy.
Here are nine reasons Facebook ads will help make your business super successful, starting right now.
