“A few years ago, some businesses created websites because in those times, having a website address on the business card was a luxury. Time has changed. It is no longer a luxury. IT’S A NECESSITY.”

Imagine, a person opened a small cake shop and he sells for a competitive price. The quality of the cake and the taste is excellent. The shop is located a few hundred meters far from the main road where he didn’t have much visibility; so there was not much business there.

After a few months, our guy had to close the shop because he didn’t have enough sales to run the shop profitably.

How did that happen? He sold the best cakes in the city. There should be a rush in his shop all time of the day.

But that didn’t happen. I don’t have to tell you why. The reason is obvious, isn’t it?

We can’t expect customers in our shop if we don’t have the visibility, right? 

It doesn’t matter we sell the best quality products or service if people can’t find us, we are sucked. We need to be right in front of the people when they are thinking about the product or service we sell.

That is why companies and retailers get their shops or offices right in the city where people can find them easily. But this is the story of the past centuries.

Today, people look for products and services online and compare different companies offering similar products or services sitting at their home. People have gone online.

Some clever business owners foresaw this possibility and built an online presence of their company. They could amass all the customers who searched for the products or service they sold. They grew their business with this technique.

Believe it or Not! Your Customers are Online

Your customers find solutions to their problems via online. They search for the restaurants, beauty parlors, fitness centers, physicians, training institutes, consultancies and agencies etc. They take their phone, open Google and search for what they want. That is how today people find solutions to their different needs and requirements.

If you don’t have an online presence, these people are never likely to find you. Without finding you how do you

Do You Want to be that Old Cake Vendor?

The success of any business lies in letting know the people that you exist and you have what they need solutions for their requirements.

The cake vendor in our story failed in the business because he didn’t have the visibility. This is exactly what is happening to you if you don’t have a good online visibility.

So, if you don’t want to suffer from the lack of enough customers, build a strong online presence. Remember, online visibility is an extension of the old offline visibility and it will help you get more customers. 

But how do We Build an Online Presence?

A strong online presence is important to success today how do we build it. You need to be visible in the search engines and promote you through social media websites. The center of any business’s online presence is a website. A website is the first step to build a strong online presence.

How a Website Improve your Business

Now you know the importance of having a website. It plays the role of in your online visibility. A website helps in many ways and here is a list of few obvious ways how a website helps a small business. Depending on the nature of business this can vary greatly.

Let’s take an interior design company as an example to help you understand the points better. This company offers services in interior designing, decoration and renovation and stuff like that, you know them.

People Find Your Business through Search Engines.

A man bought a new apartment in Chennai and he wants to do some interior designing. He wants bedroom interior design, help to choose right furniture items and colors for the paint, bathroom interior decoration and a modular kitchen.

He got some needs and he needs a solution. Probably, he would open Google and search for the best interior design companies in Chennai.

Suppose, if our interior design company has a website, it can appear on the Google results when someone searches for interior designers. This is one way a website helps the business.

You may be thinking that sometimes, the man may not choose our company and choose one of our competitors. It is okay. That is not a reason for not having a website. There would hundreds or thousands of searches per month and a few of them might choose you. You need a website for that. The website needs to be compelling to convince the visitors that you offer the best service.

Sometimes, it would be difficult to appear on the first pages of Google results if there are so many interior design companies in Chennai and most of them have websites. Then, our company would have to take extra measure to boost the visibility in Google. This process is called search engine optimization (SEO). If you need to do SEO, you need a website. So a website is compulsory.

Reach more Customers

If you have a website, people from different places can reach you. Suppose you are a wholesale supplier of wedding dresses based in Chennai, you can get customers from different parts of the world if you have a website. Without a website, it would be almost impossible. People interested in can find you no matter in which part of the world you are. With your website, your company is visible to the global audience and it would give you more business.

A Website Does the Role of a Sales Person 

Through your website, you can tell your visitors that you provide the best products or services in the market or how good you are in what you do. The copy in the website and other contents can convince your website visitors that you are better than your competitors and persuade them to make business with you.

So a website can function as your sales person if it is designed well.

Display Your Portfolio

You can put the photos and videos of your previous products or the works you have done on your website. This is a great way to attract the visitors to your company.

Increase Credibility

Suppose a guy came to know about your product or service. Even if he is interested in your product, he may want to check your credibility. How will he do that?

Most likely he would go online and search for you. If you don’t have a website, he may become suspicious. You need to build trust with your prospective customers in order to convert them. A website is a great way for that. You can include testimonials on your website from your satisfied customers. This can back up your credibility and ultimately help you do more sales.

Moreover, people would naturally think that a company having a website would be more professional in their service than a company without a website.

The Platform for Content Marketing and Building Leads

Content marketing is a marketing technique to attract the prospective customers towards business by providing them relevant and useful content for free.

We can take the example of the interior design company. This company can post some DIY decoration tips for a bedroom or any useful ways to make the interior of a house look better.

People are interested in this kind of information. They search online for how to decorate a bedroom or interior design tips for small houses and something like that. If our interior designing company has some relevant information for these people, they would reach your website.

You provided some useful information for them and they will be loyal to you. The more helpful your contents are, the more loyal your visitors would be. When they need some interior design works, they are definitely going to prefer our interior design company because they had made a bond with you.

Additionally, you can prompt your website visitors, through a pop-up or call to action, to give you their email id by offering them some useful e-book or online course for free. Some of the visitors might give you their email id and you can use this send them promotional email occasionally.

Build Community

If you update your blog on your website regularly, you can create some engagements on the website. You can foster discussion on related to your business and build a community around your company. You can also social networking websites to do this.

Customer Support

You can have an FAQ section or page on your website to help people interested in your products or service. Visitors can instantly get the answers to common queries which will help both you and your customers.

If you are selling products, you can have some info about the right way to use your products and how to troubleshoot common issues. This would give instant solutions for your customers and while this makes them happier, you can save a lot of time.

yourname@yourbusinessname.com

You can have a professional email address which would give you credibility while you reach out to the prospective customers or influencers.

A proper website has become a necessity in today’s competitive market and a good website can help you achieve your business goals fast.