5 reasons your small business needs a Website… now!

Maybe you’ve had good, understandable reasons for dragging your feet so far, but having a business Website is no longer optional. Every day your business goes without one, you’re leaving money on the table.
Still not convinced? Here are five important points that may sway you.

1. The majority of people in the U.S. shop online.
And we don’t just mean a few over 50%, a full 96% of people do some of their shopping online. You probably do it yourself. It’s easy and it saves time. Shopping online means avoiding crowds, traffic, and parking. And if you’re not giving consumers that option, your competitors are winning that business.

2. Even when they shop in store, consumers like to use online tools.
That doesn’t mean people are done with heading to a store to shop. In fact, people still do at least as much of their shopping in person as they do online. But even for the customers willing to come to you, the internet plays a role.

When they’re trying to figure out where to go to buy the item they need, where do you think they turn? They go online. If they want to compare the prices of similar items at a few different stores or check if the store has an item they need in stock, same thing.

A lot of people now take some time to do online research before heading out to do their shopping. Without a Website, you’re at a disadvantage during the research stage.

3. A Website makes you more discoverable.
Right now, the people who can find your business are those who already know about you, those that they tell, and the people who happen to drive by. Maybe that’s been enough for you to stay afloat, but think about how many people those three categories don’t cover. How many potential customers never become actual ones because they simply never learn your business exists?

If you don’t show up when they search online for businesses in the area, you might as well be invisible to them.

4. A Website gives you a way to alert customers to your hours and specials.
Have you ever showed up at a business ready to spend money, only to find they were closed? It’s a frustrating feeling, especially if the drive to get there was at all long. You can save your customers from that frustration when you have a Website that lists your hours. Even better, you can entice them to come in at times they wouldn’t have otherwise by using your site to advertise all your specials and sales.

You get more business; your customers get a better experience.

5. A business Website makes you look more legitimate.
People expect legitimate businesses to have Websites. In a world where scams abound, the first place people turn to make sure a business can be trusted is Google. If they don’t find a Website, it makes you look suspicious at worst, behind the times at best. Either way, it doesn’t help your case.

Obviously, you need to get your Website up now.