The Importance Of Websites For Small Businesses

So you run a small business, and it takes pretty much all of your time and attention to make it a success. A big part of whether or not you achieve that could depend on your website. In this day and age, most small businesses know they need a website, but often they don’t know how to go about getting one, or if they do, they don’t know what’s needed to make it a good one. It’s no longer just a case of getting ‘something’ up on the web, getting it wrong could do more harm than good. With so many cost-effective options from small business web design specialists like Bixa Marketing, whether you need a simple pub website or a more functional e-commerce site, there really is no excuse not to have a good looking websites.

You’re small, do you really need to worry about your web presence?

Pretty much all businesses started out small, but most have plans to grow. If you’re happy to stay small, and struggle to find customers for your product or service, then you probably don’t need to worry too much about your website. But if you your business to be successful and profitable, why wouldn’t you make use of the Internet to market whatever it is you’re offering?

Your business might be small, and the web might be huge, but rather than trying to stand out on the Internet being a seemingly impossible challenge, it’s actually the exact opposite. Sure there are lots of other businesses out there, some of them your competition, but the Internet is actually a great leveller, and if you take the time and effort to develop a great website, it can actually allow your business to punch significantly above it’s weight

More small businesses are ‘getting it’

The good news for small businesses in general is that, according to a recent survey, more and more of them are aware of the need to have a strong digital presence. The downside to this news however, is that a large percentage of the websites these ‘digitally aware’ businesses have online, are not really up to the job. Many are simply out of date (content and technology wise), and a worryingly small percentage aren’t taking full advantage of the the latest content management systems to make their website something that shows their business off in the best possible light.

Of course, how good (or bad) a site looks is only an issue when people can find it. Because so many small businesses aren’t maximising the potential of their piece of Internet real estate, not only are they allowing a low quality website to represent them on the web, their site is also failing at what is probably it’s most important job – ranking well in the search engines and bringing the business the vital customers it needs.

Looking great only works if you’re seen

It’s not secret that Google has built a business on providing searchers with high quality search results which are relevant to what it is they were searching for. If your site isn’t high quality, either in it’s look, content, or the way it’s put together, it’s unlikely to feature very highly in the search results; which means it’s also unlikely to get seen by any of the potential customers who are searching for whatever it is you’re selling.

So rather than simply suggest that yes, your business does need a website, it’s probably a lot more helpful to stress that it needs a ‘good’ website. And before the age old issue of cost raises it’s ugly head, a good website doesn’t have to be an expensive website. With content management systems like WordPress and it’s easy to manage backend that allows you to keep your site up to date with whatever content you want to put on there, along with great-looking themes (the ‘skin’ that gives your site its look) that don’t cost the earth, you could have a website that does your business proud for less than you might pay to advertise in the local press for a month.

A good website makes good business sense

The key thing to remember is what your site needs to do. It needs to look professional, ideally stand out from the other sites in your market, effectively and attractively position your offer, and act as a marketing tool on one of the largest resources in the world for attracting customers – Google. Sounds simple, and it can be. With the right help from a professional website design company, your business can have the site it needs to go from being small and anonymous, to big and successful.