Be Smart!

Many business owners or entrepreneurs set out to do business, rent expensive shops, pay for expensive billboard adverts on the signpost in their location and hire sales girls or staff but end up complaining every month that they aren't making sales.

Running a business requires so much more than a physical shop, billboard adverts, and staff. Some business owners are willing to spend thousands or millions of Naira to get a physical shop or office but they downplay the benefit of a website.

While your office location might be open only for 8-9 hours daily, a website that serves as a virtual location available anywhere and anytime is open 24/7, 365 days, and can handle the influx of people that your physical location cannot handle.

A website can also feature automation that engages your customers, answer their frequently asked questions, handle orders, send scheduled emails, and does other activities. The advantage of having a website cannot be overemphasized and for businesses, especially small business owners, it's a great disservice to the brand not to have a website.

Here are a few reasons why you need a website:

#1: Informed customers look out for it.
The world is changing and customers' behaviours are changing every day. They are becoming more sophisticated and getting tech-friendly by the day. Your customers will always look out for your website because on the website, they can get more information about your business, your products or your services without going the extra mile to call.

#2: It offers legitimacy and credibility
A well-developed and secure website gives some form of legitimacy and credibility to your business or brand. Some people wouldn't work with you or patronize you if you do not have a website. If you are targeting foreigners for example or you are targeting certain institutions, adding a website to your proposal brings legitimacy to your business. A website also improves the chances for your brand to impress your prospects especially when developed and optimized professionally.

#3: It makes you available 24/7
As noted before, a website makes your business available round the clock and also handles a lot of tasks that it has been designed to handle without the need to have people work shifts. For example, if you are selling items, offering consultation services or selling event tickets. These are things you cannot do round the clock from your physical office but with a website, your online store is always open to handle orders, your website can handle consultation bookings and you can sell your event tickets. You aren't just making things easier for yourself, you are also making it easier for your prospects in a cost-effective way. With AI-powered chatbots, you can handle customers' issues without even lifting a finger.

#4: It serves as an online showroom
Whether you are selling products, rendering services or trying to sell real estate, a website can serve as your online showroom. A website is usually the first point of interaction between customers and your business or brand. While you may find it hard trying to sum up all the things you offer in one word, it becomes easier when customers have to just visit a website to learn more about your offerings. A website can also serve as a place where you showcase your achievements, portfolios, tutorials, etc.

#5: You become independent of Social Media
Social Media is great and every business must take advantage of it. But what happens to your Facebook or Instagram shop if your account got terminated for a flimsy reason? A website puts you in control and even expands your reach to people who aren't active on social media. In a 2018 report, Facebook revealed that users spent 50 million fewer hours on Facebook than they had done. While you don't discard social media, don't put all your eggs in one basket. We have recorded several clients whose businesses were disrupted because they build their presence only around Social Media.

#6: It makes you in charge
You may not know but the majority of potential customers who have doubts or questions about what you offer may not seek the answers directly from you. They may decide to search for answers themselves. With a website, you can answer frequently asked questions, explain your business in clear terms and provide periodic information and updates using your blog section. This way, you are in charge of the narrative about your business.

#7: It magnifies your brand
Small businesses can be running their physical operations in a little corner but have a website that is professionally designed and highly optimized to become more effective than the websites of the big brand. Website visitors will not look out for the size of your store or office, they will not look out for how many staff you have, they simply want to get their problems solved or their products delivered. With a website, you become a worthy competitor of the big brands.

#8: Search Engine ranking
A website gives you an advantage in the search engine. People are searching for solutions and answers on search engines like Google every day. An optimized website puts you answers, information and other details on Google, helping you rank when people are looking for the kind of services you offer. If you are not prominent online, you are working for your competitors without any pay.

How to get a website
So many platforms including Google and WordPress(dot)com offer free website creation but the downside with this is that they often have very limited features, use subdomains instead of domains and become increasingly expensive when you begin to scale and decide to improve your website.

If you are tech-savvy or you have some time to spare, you may decide to learn website development from YouTube. I'll recommend that you go for my paid class on Website Development where you can learn how to build and manage websites using CMS like WordPress (not to be confused with WordPress(dot)com). This course is available at FunIQ Skills Academy.

Learning how to build a website may require some time and lots of practice before you can confidently build what will stand the test of time. If you don't want to get your hand dirty, you would want to have a professional developer build and maintain your website which is highly recommended for already existing businesses, we are always at your service at Funtrick Technology; a digital solutions agency based in Nigeria. You can contact us directly on WhatsApp.