6 reasons you need a small business website

Many small businesses, especially new small businesses, run a lean operation. They focus on necessities and urgent problems, only spending money when they need to. So, it’s easy to see why some entrepreneurs might think a small business website is a luxury item they can afford to live without.

They might even believe a Facebook page is enough for an online presence, or that a sign with their phone number will generate calls, or that a traditional mailer will help them sell services and products.

A professional website isn’t an expensive luxury or a frivolous endeavour — it’s an affordable, fundamental tool that every company needs.

6 reasons you need a small business website

If you still aren’t sure that a website is right for your business, consider these seven reasons why you need a small business website:

1. Acts as an anchor for your marketing.
2. Promotes and sells your products/services.
3. Connects with new customers (and keeps existing customers).
4. Helps local businesses compete with large brands.
5. Builds credibility.
6. Websites for local businesses are simple and affordable to set up

Let’s look at why each of these reasons are important for setting up your success and how you can build a small business website and start reaping these benefits.

1. Use your website as an anchor for your marketing

Your marketing efforts begin and end with your website.

It’s the place where you centralize all of your business information and marketing messages. It is where potential customers can go to learn about your business. And, it’s where all of your other marketing efforts should drive interested customers.

Before you print a single business, card or spend a penny on advertising, get a website.

Put all of your important business information in one place

Make your website for local business a helpful resource so customers can visit your site to get all the details they need about your enterprise. Add information such as:

• Your address
• Your phone number
• Contact form or contact email address
• Menu or service list
• Prices
• Special promotions
• Events

You own it, control it, and can use it to support all of your other marketing efforts.

Editor’s note: Want a website, but would rather have a professional create the site for you? IT Syndicates Web Design Services puts a team of website professionals in your pocket. You’ll have a beautiful and effective website in no time.

2. Promotes and sells your products or services

Your website for local business can act as a digital brochure, sharing up-to-date information about your offerings, as well as a direct sales tool.

In addition to adding a simple product list or menu, add more to your site to help you make sales. Use your website for local business as a sales support system by adding the following elements.

Ecommerce store

When your website has an ecommerce component, you can actually do business right from your site. Customers can visit your website and directly make purchases from your brand. It acts as both the marketing and sales tool.

Set up an ecommerce site with the following elements to allow customers to purchase your products right from your site.

• Payment processing
• Inventory management
• Shipping solution
• Site security (SSL certificate)
• Search feature
• Integration with CRM
• Coupon tools
• Upselling and cross-selling features
• Reporting and analytics
• Customer reviews
• Contact page
• FAQs

It’s not expensive or difficult to add these elements to a website and get the benefits of an online ecommerce platform.

Lead-generation functions

A website helps you not just make sales, but also make introductions that lead to sales.

You can use your website to help customers get the information they need by adding a portfolio to your site that includes case studies and photos of your past projects.

For example, a construction company could use a website to include some video walkthroughs of before-and-after shots of one of their large or extensive projects. The videos can be shot on a point-and-shoot digital camera and quickly uploaded to their site, providing a great way to show customers what the business is capable of.

3. Connect with new customers (and keep existing customers)

More often than not, people turn to the internet when they have a problem. When you have a website for your small business, you are there when customers search to find a solution to their problem.

Use your small business website to help new customers find you

When people want to find something, almost unilaterally, they search for it on Google. In contemporary parlance, it’s not enough to say that Google is just a "search engine" — they’ve become more like the gatekeepers of the world’s information. One part encyclopaedia, one part mapping service, one part directory, and 10 parts everything else.

With so much sway over people finding stuff, it’s a good (read: necessary) idea to make sure your business is included in Google’s search results.

Without a website for your business, unfortunately, you have very little control over that happening.

4. Compete with big brands

One misconception about websites is that they’re only for national companies or worldwide corporations with audiences around the globe. Actually, websites are just as, if not more, beneficial for small businesses.

They provide a great opportunity for local businesses to connect with local customers.

Search engines prioritize local search and often rank results according to location, which is a benefit to local businesses.

With local search, if you’re looking for "shoe stores near me," Google won’t offer you a name-brand result in New York (unless of course, you live in New York). It will use local search to show you a list of nearby shoe stores.

5. Get a website and build your business’s credibility

A small business website makes your brand look legitimate, serious and credible. Without it, customers can’t find you, let alone learn to trust you.

Not showing up in the search engines (or on the internet at all for that matter) is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility as a business.

It makes you and your company look dated, out-of-touch, and untrustworthy.

Even if you’re fantastic at word-of-mouth marketing, you could be missing out on a ton of referrals. Happy customers are quick to share what they think about your business, but what about their friends who haven’t experienced your services yet? They’ll take to the internet. And when they come up empty-handed, you’ll have missed your chance for brand new customers.

Websites also make businesses feel more legitimate. Visitors can check you out and get a sense of what kind of business you run and, hopefully, become your customers. Plus, you can add a variety of on-site elements that make your brand look even more credible.

Get a website to build credibility and make sure it includes the following elements.

• Original photos
• Before-and-after photos
• Testimonials
• Logos of clients
• Logos of affiliations
• SSL certificate and security logos
• Links to active social media profiles
• Informative blog
• Terms and conditions page

Website elements that break credibility

• Outdated information
• Incorrect information
• On-site errors
• Spelling and grammar errors
• Old, outdated layout

Work to keep your small business website up-to-date and operating properly to avoid losing trust with customers as they navigate around your website.

6. Websites for local businesses are simple and affordable to set up

Create your brand identity

Your website should accurately match and reflect your branding. So before you start designing and laying out your site, develop your brand identity. These details will drive the design and look of your site.

• Brand colors
• Logo
• Font and typography
• Photos of your business, team, products, etc.

Identify the primary purpose of your website

A small business website can serve many purposes and act in many ways, but it’s helpful to know the top one or two main purposes of your site. That way, the site can be optimized for that purpose. The main purpose of your site may be to:

• Attract traffic and grow an audience
• Show your products
• Share what you know
• Advertise your business
• Entertain your readers

Decide what you want users to do when they get there

It’s great to get people to visit your website. It’s even better to give them something to do when they get there. Decide what you want your audience to do when they get to your site before you start creating it so you can lay out the content and conversion points to drive users to take action. That action could be to:

• Sign up for your list
• Schedule consultation
• Schedule an appointment
• Buy a product
• Visit your physical business.
• Call your business

Create content

You can’t launch a website without at least a little bit of content. When first launching a site, it might be overwhelming to think about all of the content you need. So before you start building your site, take steps to create the initial content you’ll need to launch. You can develop other content later. Start with creating an:

• About page: Create a page that describes who you are, what you do, who you serve, what makes you different and why you do it.
• Product or service list: Create a page that introduces your top products and/or services.
• Launch blog post: Create a blog post that announces the launch of your new website.

Start to build a small business website

Now you know why it’s absolutely essential for a small business to have a website. A website is not a luxury or bonus marketing tool.

It’s something you must have so you can:

• Have anchor for your marketing efforts
• Sell your products/services
• Connect with new customers (and keep existing customers)
• Compete with big brands
• Build your credibility
• Control your online destiny
• Market your business in a simple and affordable way
• To start reaping these benefits, take these steps to build a small business website.

Pick your domain name

Once you decide to get a website, pick a domain name that works best for your brand. To choose the best domain name:

• Make it easy to type.
• Keep it short.
• Use keywords.
• Target your area.
• Avoid numbers and hyphens.
• Be memorable.
• Research it.
• Use an appropriate domain extension.
• Protect and build your brand.
• Act fast.

About IT Syndicates

IT Syndicates is more than just a technical design consulting firm, we believe in end-to-end web solutions for all of our clients. We are a one stop shop solution for all your web design needs.

IT Syndicates are Web Consultants in US, New York focusing on areas of Website design, Web application development, SEO, Web hosting and Web advertisements in India.

Web Solutions Provider in India

IT Syndicates as a web site design company New York, US offers a comprehensive list of services to meet all your web design and web development needs. From domain booking or registration to website hosting, from custom web site designing in web 2.0 design or Flash sites,.net and php application development to maintenance and backend services & from development of ecommerce sites to setting up of Payment Gateway. The Gamut of Services also includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Internet Marketing and Website Maintenance Services. We can provide virtually anything you can possibly imagine as web consultants in US.

Technical Strength Backed by Exceptional Service

IT Syndicates is more than just a technical consulting firm, we believe in end-to-end solutions for all of our clients. Our executive management team possesses a strong background in all aspects of both business and information technology resulting in an unprecedented ability to develop business by increasing visibility, productivity, and growth. Whether architecting a powerful web site and e-commerce store, installing an enterprise-size network, integrating existing technologies with the web or designing a corporate web presence IT Syndicates can help.

We are excited people over to deliver excellence in everything we do.