47% of consumers will visit a business’s website before making a purchase, regardless of the size of the business. 30% of these people decide to buy from that business based on the fact that they prefer their website.

Make sure you are in the running as a potential business to buy from by completing small business web development today. By doing so, you will benefit greatly by building your business credibility, along with several other beneficial aspects of having a website. Read on to find out 10 reasons why you need an incredible website as a small business.

Table of Contents

  1. Small Business Web Development Builds Credibility
  2. A Website Helps Establish Brand Identity
  3. Boost Brand Recognition with A Business Website
  4. Use A Website to Build Connections with Customers
  5. Small Business Web Development Drives Sales
  6. You Need a Website for Digital Marketing
  7. Drive Organic Traffic with A Website
  8. Small Business Web Development Updates Clients
  9. Websites Make Customer Service Easier
  10. Compete With Large Brands In Your Local Area

1. Small Business Web Development Builds Credibility

Small Business Web Development

As a small business, you need to establish your credibility before people will trust you enough to buy from you.

When 2020 hit and everyone began to move online for purchasing items, so did scammers. The FTC reported that people lost more than $245 million by being scammed during online shopping. Online shopping wasn’t even a top contender for where people were most likely to get scammed in 2019. Therefore, as we continue into 2021, consumers are starting to become more aware of online scammers, causing them to do more research before hitting that “buy” button.

If a consumer researches your business and does not find a website, they are more than likely going to think you are a scammer looking to steal their money. However, if you have a website, you can assure them of your legitimacy by presenting your business with:

  • A contact page
  • An about us page
  • Past work you have done
  • Reviews
  • Testimonials

By doing so, you can also establish your credibility as not only a legit business but a trustworthy business that delivers on its promises.

Establish Credibility Against Other Businesses

Not only can you establish your credibility as a legit business, but also as a business worth buying from.

Other more established businesses have already confirmed their credibility in providing good products and services. However, as a small business, you need to do a little extra convincing to get people to trust you.

A website can be the necessary extra step needed to establish your credibility of being a top contender in your market and comparable to other businesses. You can showcase your products/services along with reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers. If not all the reviews are positive, that is fine too. You just have to show that you are trying to resolve the problem and people will believe in your credibility even more.

2. A Website Helps Establish Brand Identity

Small Business Web Development

How consumers view your business is a huge aspect of whether or not you are going to make any sales. By establishing your brand identity early on, you are letting consumers know what you are all about, which increases your chances of making sales.

However, establishing your brand identity can be difficult if you don’t have very many channels to do so on. Sure, social media may be able to help give customers an idea of who you are, but a website is the best way to answer all their questions and give them the full picture of what you are all about.

Your brand identity is made up of your:

  • Mission
  • Vision
  • Values
  • Unique positioning
  • Brand personality

Building a website is the best possible way to showcase all of these important elements for consumers to easily find. You can feature these aspects on an “about us” page or even on your homepage so that consumers start to get an idea of who you are as a brand. The more they understand you and what you stand for, the more likely they are going to buy from you.

3. Boost Brand Recognition with A Business Website

Small Business Web Development

Brand identity and brand recognition are two very different things that many small business owners are not aware of. As we mentioned above, brand identity has to do with how consumers view you as a business, but brand recognition has to do with consumers recognizing and recalling your brand.

You can boost your brand recognition through small business web development by linking to that website in guest posts and comments. You can also start a blog that links back to your website. That way when people read your article about industry-specific topics, they will relate those topics to your brand.

Essentially, a website acts as a home for all your branding efforts. As you build brand recognition, you want to link back to your website so that people can then get a better understanding of your brand identity.

The more times people see your website, the more they will begin to recall your brand. The more they recall your brand, the more they begin to trust you and will be willing to buy from you.

4. Use A Website to Build Connections with Customers

Small Business Web Development

It is a no-brainer that you want a strong connection with loyal customers to keep your business growing. Customers that feel a connection with a business are more likely to buy from and continue to buy from that business.

A website helps build strong connections with customers by offering them a chance to get to know who you are. If they can put a face to a business, they feel 100 times more comfortable buying from that business.

Not only is it important to have a website in general to build connections, but also to have a well-performing one. A website that is centered around easy user experience and personalizes the customer’s visits, will help make that customer have a more positive response to your business. The more positively the customer views your business, the stronger the connection you will have with them.

5. Small Business Web Development Drives Sales

Small Business Web Development

Customers can more easily find your business if you have a website. If the website has an easy user experience and is formatted correctly, those visits then turn into sales.

It is estimated that by the year 2040, about 95% of purchases will be through e-commerce. 19 years away may seem like a long time, but it is not. Especially when you think about how in 2018, 63% of purchases began online. That percentage has done nothing but grow as we continue through a global pandemic where people are turning to the internet to buy just about everything. If you do not have a well-performing website, you will be missing out on a huge portion of sales.

A Website Grows Your Small Business

Small business web development helps drive sales, but it also helps grow your business. If you have a website, you are capable of reaching people all over the world to expose them to your products/services. The more exposure your business receives, the more sales it will get, and the more your business will grow.

“But I don’t sell worldwide.” That is okay! Even if you just sell to people in your state, you will be able to reach more of them by having a website. Who knows, maybe one day you will be equipped to ship worldwide! That is why you should never limit your exposure.

6. You Need a Website for Digital Marketing

Small Business Web Development

Speaking of driving sales, if you plan to use digital marketing to drive consumers to your business, you are going to need a website.

Digital marketing makes it easier for you to specifically gear your ads towards your target market so that you don’t waste money advertising to the wrong people. It also helps you reach a lot more people much more quickly than traditional marketing efforts. The best digital marketing efforts drive traffic towards a credible website or landing page.

Without a website, you will have to drive your traffic towards some sort of social media platform. People that click on an ad and land on a social media page are a lot less likely to trust the businesses than those who land on a professional website.

7. Drive Organic Traffic with A Website

Small Business Web Development

If you take the time to create a website that is SEO optimized, you will benefit from free traffic to your business.

Organic traffic occurs when people end up at your website without you paying for them to find you. If they land on a well-optimized page, there is a good chance they will become customers.

Essentially, having a high-performing website that search engines love, results in free traffic to your business. The more free traffic you gain to your website, the more sales you have the chance to make.

SEO Optimizing Your Website

Organic traffic is not just about having a great website, but also promoting that website. In order to benefit from organic traffic, you will need to do things like:

  • Keyword research
  • Blogging
  • Link building
  • Create quality Headlines
  • Create quality meta descriptions

You can also link your website to your social media to bring in organic traffic that way too.

8. Small Business Web Development Updates Clients

Small Business Web Development

Your business is growing and therefore changing as it does. As a result, you may struggle to keep your clients updated on what is new with your business.

Having a website makes it super easy to keep your clients in the know. You can inform them about:

  • Changes in products/services
  • Discounts and deals
  • Hours of operation changes
  • New products/services
  • Upcoming events

You can also update them on changes in management, production, or any behind-the-scenes things. By doing so, you make them feel like you are a transparent company that they can trust. You can also avoid unneeded confusion and therefore keep your customers happy.

9. Websites Make Customer Service Easier

Small Business Web Development

As a business, you are going to get a plethora of calls with questions about your products/services and basic business information. Without a website, you will get calls and emails about things like:

  • Locations
  • Hours of operation
  • Services offered
  • Product details

If you miss a call, your customers will be left unhappy and probably unwilling to buy from you. Also, all those calls prevent your staff from focusing on more important aspects of your business.

However, if you have a website, customers can look up their questions on your site instead of taking the time to call you. Of course, you will have a few customers who will still feel the need to call, but that number will go drastically down. Thus, you will be saving your customer service team time, allowing them to focus on more important issues.

10. Compete with Large Brands in Your Local Area

Small Business Web Development

Large brands already have the brand recognition necessary to beat you in sales. Despite your locality, customers may not even know you exist.

However, by having a website, you can appear in local searches when customers search for products/services in your industry. By appearing in the search results alongside those big brands, you become an option for consumers to consider.

If you use a top web development company to make your website, it will be well coded and designed. As a result, your website will be optimized to increase your chances of appearing high on search results. Also, it will be super easy to navigate once customers click on your site. An easy-to-find and easy-to-navigate site results in high conversion rates for your business.

Essentially what a premium website does for your business is level the playing field against bigger businesses. If you can appear in the search results alongside those big brands, you can compete with them.

Start Your Small Business Web Development Today!

There is no time like the present to start your small business web development. However, as a small business, you need to remember that having a high-performing website is imperative.

A website can help you in many ways, but it will be much more beneficial in helping your business grow if it is created correctly. Think about it. If you came across a poorly designed website that was super hard to navigate, would you trust it enough to buy from? Probably not.

That is why it is so important that your website not only exists but that it looks good and performs well.

Should Small Businesses Use Website Builders?

Many small businesses make the mistake of using a website builder to create their first website. Although this option is rather cheap, it is also time-consuming and results in a very cheap outcome.

Therefore, small businesses should not use website builders to create their websites. Instead, they should work with a website developer who can custom code a unique and high-performing website.

Choosing A Small Business Web Development Company

One of the best web design companies to choose from is Atavion. We build premium, high-performing websites at prices small businesses can afford. Our monthly plans include everything you need to thrive as a business in the digital world when it comes to creating and maintaining a website.

You can trust us to custom code you a perfectly unique website that is designed to best leverage your brand. We take care of every aspect of the website building and maintaining process so that you can benefit from all the advantages we listed above without having to do a thing. You just focus on your business while we focus on your website.

Contact us today to see how we can help your small business thrive!