When it comes to building an online presence, many small businesses and startups find themselves being cautious, so as to keep costs in mind at all times. As the world becomes progressively more digital, however, it becomes harder and harder for a small business to survive either purely offline or with a low quality website – it’s time to make the move towards a professional site. Not convinced? We’ve had a brainstorming session and asked some of our clients for their feedback, and these are the reasons we found for why it’s time to take your website to the next level, even as a small business or startup.
First Impressions are Everything
You can guarantee that any potential customers will look for your website. Making sure you have a professional, visually striking and responsive website, with well-worded and informed content, will guarantee a good first impression. Despite the prevalence of social media in recent years, customers are still far more likely to Google a business name and make enquiries through a website. Although social media is a great tool for communicating, customers want more detailed information about you and your brand which social media isn’t always able to deliver alone. But how will they find this information if you don’t have a site?
For some businesses, having a low quality website is a money-saving exercise, but this can be worse than having no website at all. Presenting potential customers with a low quality, unresponsive, un-optimised site, which doesn’t take the customer into account, can end up damaging your reputation – especially if you’re in a creative industry or hospitality. It’s true what they say, after all: you rarely get a second chance at a first impression.
Making a Name for Yourself
Of course before customers can form an opinion of you, they first have to find you. A website isn’t just a pretty face, and behind all the visuals there are settings and code working hard to present your brand to the masses. In fact, what some businesses don’t know is that a professionally built website will actually help to generate traffic for you. By optimising behind the scenes, including tweaking important functions such as meta-descriptions and keywords, as well as a whole host of engaging content, your website can rank progressively higher in Google searches. This demonstrates you’ve put thought into your company’s image and the process helps to build your authority online – and creates interest from customers. A lower end website, however, won’t be able to fetch the same results, and it’s really the quality of traffic on offer that sets a professional site apart from one not expertly optimised.
You’ll be Taken Seriously
If you’re a small business just starting out, it’s important to make a name for yourself. In a world dominated by start-ups and small businesses, it can be difficult to stand apart from the crowd – but by having a high quality brand identity immediately available on the web, as well as top notch content to boot, you’ll find your business becoming the talk of the town in no time. Hiring an agency to complete the work also has the potential to expose your business to their network, letting them know you’ve well and truly arrived on the scene.
DIY can be More Expensive
Some small businesses go down the route of creating and managing their own websites in order to save some money - which is an admirable idea at first. However, as the business continues to exist, and the website requires more and more attention, you’ll easily find your time being wasted updating and tweaking settings. You may also find yourself paying for extra features, or outsourcing design and copywriting work. These costs eventually mount up to more than it would have cost to hire an agency, but often with results far below the quality on offer.
Whatever your feelings are towards professionally built websites, it’s important to view the cost as an investment – your reputation, online presence and marketing will all benefit in the long run, presenting even the most niche markets with a sizeable ROI.
Still need some help deciding? We’re dedicated to working with small businesses and startups to get their web presence off the ground. Interested in a consultation? Get in touch to find out more.