Why Your Online Business Needs A Website
02/11/2021 | Share:
If you’re retailing products or services online then you absolutely need a website in order to compete with your competitors and to grow your business effectively. Over 84% of consumers believe that a business with a website, over simply using a social media platform, has more credibility.
This post will look at the top reasons why your online business needs a website, and just how costly it could be for your business not to have one.
Customisable Website
When you have an online image, if this can run seamlessly through your branding, it gives an image of professionalism. Maybe your video marketing vlogs feature your designs, your email campaign has the company signature, and your website brings it all together.
Make your image unique so that you stand out and set yourself apart from all other businesses out there; especially those within your sector. This will become your brand identity.
Your business website is one of the most representative aspects of your brand identity; especially if you are running a business solely online or retailing a digital product, your website is where consumers will definitely want to head to check you out.
Track Visitors
If you’re currently using a platform such as eBay for your business, you will never have any real idea of how many people are looking at your products, or service. eBay will never tell you this, and you’re unable to track your click rate, bounce rate, conversation rate, and visitor time on page. However, you can do all of this with your own website.
By running digital ads on your website, you will be able to track your visitors and the behaviour of those visitors, which is all vital information for a business owner today. Google Ads will track a consumer from first click, all the way through to purchase, which will give you a great insight into what led the consumer to take action.
When you can track the behaviour of site visitors, you’re fundamentally tracking your own marketing efforts and will know how to tweak and adapt your website to optimise sales.
Reduce Fees
So a professional-looking website build isn’t the cheapest venture, however, the results are yours to reap. As with any form of marketing, you should always aim to get out more financially than you put in, and to see strategies as investments. This is not the case when you’re paying selling fees on marketplaces; which is very much dead money that isn’t raising your business profile.
Once your website is built, you have no marketplace or selling fees for the sales made on it.
SEO Benefits
Search engine optimisation (SEO) can help your website to reach a higher ranking in search engine results, which has the potential to make a significant impact on your business goals; such as increasing leads and sales.
Once you have created a webpage that Google sees as worthy of directing consumers to, this will continue to attract traffic (even years after you published the content). Google’s organic rankings are based on what its algorithm deems the best results for the search term.
When you have your own website, over retailing on a marketplace, you can fill it with high-quality content and keywords that Google’s web crawlers love to find and direct consumers to. The more consumers land on your page, the higher Google ranks your site; it’s a win-win.
No Onsite Competition
When you place your products on your website, consumers won’t be shown similar items from competitors, which is very much the case when retailing on marketplaces. Your sales also won’t be restricted or governed by any site owner, as this will be you!
You will have the freedom to arrange and broadcast your products how you see fit, and consumers will see only these products and in the way you intended them to be seen.
Customer Engagement
When you have a website, you have a place clients know about to contact you, find out about new promotions, or follow your blogs and vlogs. As well as these things being convenient and mutually beneficial, if effective, they’re a great way to increase your rankings in search engine results.
The longer a visitor stays on your website, and the more they visit, the higher Google rates you as an authoritative website.
Once customers know that your website is regularly updated, and you can be reached there quickly, a lot entices them to look you up over your competitors or an internet search. Websites with live chat functions are highly popular, but a simple enquiry form can be effective.
You’re in Control
If you’re using another website’s platform, then you’re at their mercy in regards to things like web page layout, colour schemes, site closures, and maintenance, even down to the font used. With your own website, it is you who is in control of every single aspect of it.
From page layout design to colour schemes, visuals, and video, it is up to you to be as creative as you want to be to really showcase your products in a bespoke way.
You may want to run a blog for consumers to read, which is a great way to introduce new products and provide a backstory that can be greatly enticing. On eBay, Etsy, Amazon, there is no possible way for you to tell your story, and for some business owners, this can be the difference between make or break amongst competitors.
Rounding up
If you have been retailing online for a while, and have not yet got round to having your own business website, maybe now is the time. The benefits of owning a website are vast, and the drawbacks minimal.
Running a business on Etsy, eBay and Amazon can have its advantages, but in our current digital world, you need to ensure that you’re keeping up with your rivals and increasing your exposure to a much wider audience. How do you do this? With a website!
