What Are Businesses Missing Out on by Not Having a Website?

It is the digital age, and not having a website for your business is expected. If you do not have one, even a simple one, it could be having a detrimental effect on your profits! Websites used to be the privilege of the online-only businesses, but with more and more of us taking to search engines to find local services and goods, if your business isn't online - you are quite literally handing your competitors the edge! This blog will explore the aspects that can significantly benefit small business owners who embrace the online world!

Having a Website Is Expected

The internet has impacted our lives more and moreover the last decade. Whether you think this is for the good or bad is a personal choice, but like it or not, it is here to stay. The Yellow Pages and the BT phone directory days are gone - even they have moved online! To put it in straightforward terms - if you do not have a website for your business these days, you are quite literally handing your competition free customers. 

Local SEO Results

Google handles about 5.6 billion searches per day, which gives them a real insight into how people think; reports from 2017 show that:

• 136% year on year rise in "near me" searches
• 1.5billion people visit a destination they search for locally every month
• 76% of people who search for something nearby visit a business within a day and increases to 88% if expanded to a week. 

These figures are from a few years ago now and have only increased over the last 5 years with more and more use of the smartphone and internet in general. 

How does this apply to your business? As mentioned above, if you are NOT in these search results, your business is losing out on customers! Even the most basic of websites set up correctly and teamed up with a local SEO strategy will help you be found by customers looking for your goods and services. 

Social Media Is No Longer Enough 

You have probably seen a million posts by now from small business owners, friends or family who own businesses asking you to like and share their social media posts, but why? This all comes down to how social media works and how they treat organic results, organic results being non paid for posts or ads. Social media platforms are businesses, big ones, but they are all the same and there to make money. They can't make money if every business on their platforms reaches its target audience without paying for their services, so the organic reach is limited. They all claim it isn't, but it is! 

This means that small businesses struggle to stand out on social media and reach their target audience, be this nationally or locally, so simply being on social media is not enough these days to be found in any meaningful way - plus, not everyone is on social media too! 

TL:DR How Can Having a Website Help My Business

Cards on the table, and as mentioned above, your business needs a website. It is no longer a gimmick or a luxury - if you want your business to be successful! The benefits of having one are:

• Increased local exposure.
• More brand awareness.
• Builds trust between you and potential customers.
• Reach a wider audience.
• It is expected - people look for businesses online. 
• The cornerstone of any marketing for your business. 

Having a website allows you to put everything in one place and link back to it from all your other marketing channels. Think of it like a spiders web. Your website is at the centre. All the other marketing arms lead back to it, creating a solid foundation for local exposure, building trust and reaching new customers. 

Here at E2E, we are experts in small businesses and how they operate and here to take the strain from your shoulders when it comes to getting an online presence that works for you. We are a team of dedicated small business specialists who know precisely what it takes and have the tools, the skills and the passion for helping your business succeed online.