You have a Facebook page, and maybe that’s really all you need, right?
Think again.
Whether it’s an online portfolio, a simple website with a blog or something more complicated, all businesses need a website in this day and age. Surprisingly, many small businesses don’t have one.
A website will be your business’s home on the internet. It is how people will find you, it will afford you more control, and it is where you will do your business with online customers. In short, it is a second storefront, and likely one that’s more visible than your physical one.
One of the main reasons you should have a website is to increase your organisation’s credibility. There may be more than one business in your area providing the same services, and a website gives a great first impression. It provides information about your company and services, and puts you ahead of the competition. Also, having your own website gives you control over your own content. You don’t have to play by anyone else’s rules.
Social media platforms, like Facebook, force you into a nice neat box of their design, even if your business doesn’t fit. With your own website, you have the freedom to do more and represent your business in the ways you choose. You can break out of the box and build a design that works with your business. You can add an online store or a forum, or become a membership website. You create the rules.
Most of your website traffic is either coming to or will be coming to your website from search engines. A search engine optimised website can bring you much more business than a Facebook page. The people you’re trying to reach —prospective customers or clients — are using relevant keywords and questions to find what they are looking for. Simply put, search engines are going to be how many people find you.
Finally, and probably most importantly, your website is going to be the place that you call home for your small business online. All of your digital marketing efforts will point back to your website. All of your links on Facebook, Twitter and other social media, will point back to your website. All of your Google ads will land visitors on your landing pages on the website.
Having that one place for everyone to funnel to, a place that you have total control over, is incredibly important in today’s digital world. It is your chance to begin turning those interested and prospective customers into paying customers.
And that means everything for your business.
So yes, your business needs a website.