Website Advantages Explained – Part 1: Why would I want a website for my small business? Uses and Applications
Simple Website Service
| Updated August 29, 2023
The truth is a website can do a lot for your personal brand or small business. In fact, many people are afraid of technology or don’t see the value in a website. This is to their detriment. As there are a host of benefits that come along with a dedicated website. There are 5.3 billion internet users in the world as of 2023. This means 65% of the world’s population uses the internet. In addition, the number of internet users is expected to reach 6.54 billion by 2025. This means the party is online. If you want to do business, it’s the biggest networking event you will ever attend. Let’s look into the reasons you would want a website for your small business or personal brand. In addition, what you could use your website for. Read on…
Why would I want a website?
Interestly, there are certain phases a consumer goes through when they purchase a product or service. In fact, this is part of a marketing theory called the consumer lifecycle. To clarify, the consumer lifecycle is the theoretical breakdown of this process. Subsequently, it follows the consumer through various stages. Importantly, at some of these stages your website plays a vital part.
The consumer life cycle theory goes like this:
Attraction
In the first stage, the prospect discovers the business. Either through SEO, paid ads, or social media. The best way to be discovered is to create content that relates to what people are looking for. As well as what the brand has to offer. Here the focus needs to be on the target’s informational needs rather than only creating sales messages.
Considerations
The customer considers their purchasing options. This is where the brand needs to make purchasing its product or service seem like the obvious choice. Content types such as welcome campaigns, customer reviews, and detailed product descriptions are effective.
Conversion
At the conversion stage, businesses need to persuade prospects to take action and purchase their product (instead of a competitor’s). They can achieve this by providing access to content such as product recommendations and calls-to-action.
Retention
This stage focuses on keeping the customer and bringing them back to purchase again. It encourages brand loyalty. This is the stage where loyalty programmes and exclusive discounts (based on the behavior of the customer) make sense.
Advocacy
Here, the necessary steps are taken to turn loyal, long-term customers into brand advocates. The best way to do this is by encouraging brand followers to create and submit user-generated content on social media. This in turn provided ‘word-of-mouth’ or as some say ‘word-of-mouse’ which helps other customers through the consideration stage.
Reactivation
Lastly, the reactivation stage requires brands to employ strategies that get in touch with their “lost” or inactive customers by sending re-engagement emails to past, once-off customers to encourage them to “come back” to the brand.
It is important to note that a customer’s journey may not be linear and they may not pass through all the above stages in order. To make things even more complex these contact points can occur across multiple channels. An effective lifecycle marketing strategy takes this into account and develops communication based on each customer segment’s journey.
[source: https://imm.ac.za/improve-your-conversion-rate-with-lifecycle-marketing/
Firstly, during the attraction and consideration phases your website is vital to ensure you are in the running for the product or service the consumer is looking for. In fact, if you are online, the consumer can discover your business. Secondly, it can work for you in terms of brand building. In addition, during the consideration phase the consumer can gather all the information they need from your website to make their decision. Therefore a website can increase the number of customers you get for your small business. Therefore, you would want a website for your small business or personal brand.
Uses and applications of a website
So, now that we know that you would most definitely want a website and why, let’s look at the uses and applications of a website.
Uses of a website
Here are a few examples of what you would use a website for:
You small business
Your personal brand
A full-time business
A project or side hustle
A collaboration
An NGO
Applications of a website
A website can do a few things, namely:
Get the word out about your business
Promote your product or service
Provide information to your audience about your business, product/service, personal brand or project
Act as a great tool for brand building
Act as a way to find your physical location
Work with other digital tools to boost sales or build your brand
What are the blockers?
Firstly, there are various blockers to getting a dedicated website. Secondly, you can overcome them simply. In a survey conducted by Upcity it was found that across the United States and Canada 40% of businesses don’t even have a website. The respondents were asked why they don’t have a small business website and 72% stated the reasons where as follows:
- 40% don’t think a website is relevant to their business/industry
- 21% use social media in place of a website
- 21% don’t have the necessary technical expertise
- 18% lack the financial ability or necessary human resources
How can I overcome them?
The fact is that a website is great for business, in any industry. Absolutely, it shows off your brand in a better light than social media. Thus, due to it being like a blank canvas you can tell your story on. Therefore, when it comes to technology and cost, we have the perfect solution. At Simple Website Service, we do the tech so you don’t have to and our websites cost half that of the industry norm.
Subsequently, to break through the blockers, save money and get it all done for you,
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