Several times, we have met people, entrepreneurs and business owners who argue that their businesses do not need a website, many others understand how important a website is for enhanced profitability of their business but simply do not know how to get it done or cannot afford to pay the high costs some design firms charge. Here are 6 serious reasons why you should consider developing a website immediately.

1.Credibility/Legitimacy:


You may not be aware but having an online presence especially a website boosts your business credibility. Many organizations, investors, international customers, grant making bodies and other premium clients will most likely look up your website on the search engines to gain confidence with who they are about to have dealings with. Not having a website for your brand may make them skeptical about you or your business as your business website is your number 1 marketing tool online no matter how small the business is. A large company about to give you a big contract will most likely check out your business website, you may not be aware of this background check but you certainly will be sad to know that one of your major competitors who brand themselves better online with a clean and responsive website that displays their portfolio and market their services got the offer. Having a website shows that the business is mostly likely credible and legitimate.




2.Make More Money:

Many times, customers just go on the search engines like Google and type “best fashion designer in Lagos” “best wedding planner in Nigeria”. Customers who do this are truly in need of these services and are more likely to patronize you than those who just come to your Instagram page to make “boring” enquiries. The best way to capture this type of customers many of who have deep pockets is by having a business website that pops in Google when words relating your services are searched. This is free daily traffic and imagine if just 100 of 5000 customers that search for your type of services on google per month patronize you. Put in mind that if your competitors’ websites show up and you do not have one, no matter how much you are making offline, you are losing extra significant revenue. Imagine someone in Canada who loves African Fabrics and would like to order 50 wears from a local African tailor, the world is a global village now. You could sew fabrics in your village, have a website that displays your products and get them shipped off to Canada with help of shipping agents. There are even many third party companies can always help you with the shipping

3.Customer Support/Reduce Stress:

Several times, customers are not sure of what they want yet, so they go around to make enquires, ask many questions and decide whether to buy or not later. Are you tired of answering the same questions over and over again to many customers?” “How much is this”, “how much is that”, “how do I use this or that”, the simple solution to this is CREATE A WEBSITE. On your website, you can supply as many as possible helpful information about your products or services. You can put answers to frequently asked questions, put up different product photos and their prices. Put up your portfolio page so that you do not have to keep sending these to different clients or customers each time. You will just direct them to the website for all information. You can also collect payments via the website and manage orders

4.Open for Business 24/7:

With a website your business can always be on 24/7 a day. A walk-in store opens and closes for the day at a particular time right? But a website does not close , therefore customers and other interested people can interact with your business 24/7 a day. You may be sleeping while someone is making an order, making payment and getting automated response. People can go on to read about your product or services in the evening or even in the midnight when they are not busy or at work. Of course, they do not need to start asking your repetitive questions until they are fully satisfied and ready to buy

5.Display Positive Reviews:

When people buy from you offline, do you post on the wall their good comments about your products or services or do you tell them to stay behind till other customers/clients come around so they can say how good your product or services are? No, you do not! But on your business website, you can display good reviews and testimonials from those who have brought your products or patronized your services can simply. This will act as social proof and boost your sales as many potential customers will be more encouraged to patronize based on good testimonials from others


6.Competitive Advantage/Premium Look:

There is something we all popularly call “packaging”. The same job a make up artist charges 10,000 for is the same another charges 100,000 for. Some event planners charge 100,000 while others charge 5 times more. Some barbers charge 300 naira per cut while others charge 5000 per cut. Although some jobs are always well done than others but many times the person who charges less may even have a better job

than the other person who charges more. So why is the other person able to charge more? The reason is simple, customers mostly pay based on perception of what you are worth being paid. To shape that perception is yours, that is why you need to “package yourself tight”. You can go from attracting low paying clients to premium clients who will gladly pay you 10 times more. But to attract these kinds of clients, you need to act up to their standard, you need to look premium to attract premium pay. Having a website, helps make your brand look premium and look like a big player, even if you currently do not have an office location.