Does my local business really need a website?
Here’s a hard-to-believe statistic: Today, over 1 in 4 American local businesses do not have a website. 27%, to be specific.
You know who does have a website? Almost every chain and national business, some of which might be your competitor across the street - and they’re getting more customers and orders because of it.
When it comes to winning over customers and growing revenue, digital presence is king. Your website can be a powerful asset in your digital presence as the most accessible, centralized point of information and commerce. We’ve narrowed down the six most compelling benefits of having a website for your local business.
Gain visibility and reach. Show up more for those “tacos near me” searches, and be there for every potential customer, no matter what social media they have or email subscriptions they belong to.
Emphasize business credibility. While your loyal base of in-person customers knows and trusts your business, a new customer has to make quick judgments based on first impressions, and whether or not the business they came across has a website can be a pretty important factor in what they think. Of course, the website also has to look and function well to truly deliver a strong impression.
Elevate the customer experience. We all know the convenience of being able to research and order your favorite products right from your phone or computer, so why not bring that to your customers? As a local business owner, we bet you treat your in-person customers almost as if they were family. With a great website, you can extend your high standards of service to customers before they even walk through your doors.
Increase sales and unlock new opportunities to sell. Online ordering and event information not only make for a nice customer experience, but significantly increase the likelihood that more people will order, more often. Plus, a website sets you up to expand your selling opportunities - use e-commerce to sell your merch to local fans or your shippable items to fans further away!
Maximize the impact of your marketing campaigns. Email marketing, influencer partnerships, and other online ads can only engage the customer at that exact moment. If there’s a website to which the marketing directs them while they’re at this high level of interest, they’ll be much more likely to explore further and take actions that benefit you.
Stay competitive, and outshine the competition. You’re in a big pond, but that doesn’t mean you’re a small fish. With the power of a well-crafted business website, you can compete with the big businesses and utilize your unique, local charm to win people over.
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It’s easy to make a list of benefits, but we thought it’d be better to follow up with a real-life situation that may be relatable to you. Let’s look at two scenarios.
Scenario 1, No Website: A local influencer posts a photo of their latte from your coffee shop and tags the handle. A potential customer sees the post and scrolls through your Instagram feed, excited by the photos of the drinks, food, and the shop itself. At this point, she is at her highest level of interest, but since there is no website linked, it’s difficult to find more information. While it’s possible to exit Instagram and look up the address, most people do not want to leave their current experience without a compelling reason.
Ultimately, she keeps scrolling and may or may not remember your business when she does decide to go out for a coffee.
Scenario 2, With a Website: A local influencer posts a photo of their latte from your coffee shop and tags the handle. A potential customer sees the post and scrolls through your Instagram feed, excited by the photos of the drinks, food, and the shop itself. At this point, she is at her highest level of interest, and since you have a beautiful website linked in your bio, she clicks into it. She checks out the menu with prices and descriptions, looks through your upcoming events, and notices a link for online ordering.
Inspired by the Instagram marketing and motivated further by the website, she decides to place an online order for pickup!
The takeaway: While social media lets people connect with the content that tells them who you are, and email can give your engaged audience announcements of what’s coming up, these tactics cannot reach the full potential without somewhere for people to go.
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Even with all of the benefits of a business website, there are plenty of reasons why so many local businesses still do not have one. We’ve listened to local owners and formed our services in a way that addresses the most common obstacles to getting your business’ website online.
The Cost: On average, it can cost businesses between $2,000 - $10,000 to get a website built, not to mention the monthly subscriptions and maintenance costs.
Our Solution: We offer pricing and payment plans tailored to local business owners, so you can expect to get your website needs met at a price that works for you. Part of the service you get from us is the confidence that our recommended site setup and hosting plans have your technical and financial needs in mind.
The Time Commitment: Decide what you need, come up with the pages and the design, finalize your brand colors and fonts, select the best web design tool for your needs, etc. etc. etc.. Just to build the website and get it live can take weeks, months when you also have a business to run. Then, you have to maintain, monitor, and update it.
Our Solution: We’re here to take that time off of your hands. Our team comes with deep experience in web design and marketing strategy, so we’re ready to hit the ground running from the very first consultation. Once we’ve built a website that you love, it’s all yours! We’ll leave you with the basics of how to maintain a website, but you can always inquire about our maintenance plans if you’d rather leave it to us.
Your Team’s Technical Knowledge: You’re a pro at running a business, as well as the craft of your particular line of work. We’d be super impressed if you also knew how to build websites and run digital marketing campaigns on top of all that.
Our Solution: We bring the technical expertise. With over 15 years of digital consulting experience, our small but mighty team has done this before for businesses of all sizes and industries, and we want to bring that caliber of experience to our communities’ local businesses. Not only do we have the ability to make it happen, we’ll ensure you understand our recommendations and the reasoning behind them completely.
To summarize everything up, the business website provides a wealth of opportunity for local business owners by serving as the central connecting point of a strong online presence. It makes it easy for any potential customer to find you, become interested in you, and buy from you. It may not be easy to fit in the time and learn the skills to build an maintain a website on your own, and that’s where we come in. If you’re ready or even slightly interested in taking the next step to getting your business a website that works for you, follow the link below to send us a message. We look forward to doing business together!
