Pick your adventure. What is the purpose of your website?

Websites.

Should every business have one?

Controversial question.

With the rise of social media, a number of businesses, particularly small businesses, have shunned having a website and opted only for social media pages instead. Why do some businesses only opt only for a social page? Cost. Investment in funding, time and effort. Many businesses believe that having a website is a costly investment to get it up and running and maintained, and having a social media page is simple as this can be managed themselves, for free.  

What is the impact of this for a business? Well, that depends on who you ask. In our humble opinion, there are a few impacts to your business.

First, we need to work through how potential customers find your business?

Organic search still ranks as the highest form of traffic to a website. What does this mean? Basically, it means when a prospective customer is searching for a business in an industry / sector, they are typing some key words into Google, or other search engine, and businesses that closely match those key words show up on the search results page.

We’ve all done it. For example, we are looking for a plumber in Caringbah. We type into Google, “plumber Caringbah”. The results come up.

We can see that yes, there are sponsored posts that appear first (these are the paid advertisements that appear on the top of the search results), followed by a range of other search results. All of which, link to a website.

So, with this in mind, understanding that many customers use Google to search for businesses (yes, they also use social media, particularly Facebook), why is having a website so impactful for your business.

1)    Findability: Here’s the rub. Search engine results will always prioritise a website over social media. The only ‘if’ here is when typing in an exact name, if there is a social media result and no website, that will appear first. By having a website, it will allow your business to have a higher chance of appearing in a generic search for customers and opening up greater opportunities for your business to be found by potential customers.

2)    Trust and credibility: One of the main reasons you should have a website for your business is to increase your business’ credibility. Without a website, people may question your legitimacy as a business. Building trust with your audience is imperative to your business’ success. And a way to build trust is to communicate your business’ legitimacy. A website helps to communicate your business’ brand story: history, purpose, offering, example of previous work; and how you can be contacted.

3)    Connectivity with all potential customers: When you simply rely on having a social media page (such as Facebook or Instagram) as your only source of findability and connectivity with audiences, you assume that all your potential customers are also on that same platform. Yes, while many people are on Facebook and Instagram, a great many of them are not. This means that even if your potential customer conducts a Google search and your business page on social media appears, they are unable to connect with your page due to each channel’s requirement that viewers also be users (ie, have an account) of the platform. Quite simply, don’t assume. If anything, those customers that don’t use those social media platforms can be turned off by only being able to access your business via a social media channel.

While there is more to say here about websites being stronger online platforms for generating leads and increasing sales, and increasing the customer experience, we’ll move onto other aspects of websites.

So, now that we have established that having a website is a good (very good) idea, what is the purpose of your website?

• Holder of your brand story (awareness): This is the place where you build your brand story. A website is the hub of your business. Most likely it is the main way of enhancing your brand and communicate to your audience what it is that you do and what it is that you stand for. With branding, comes showcasing your authority.

• Library of information: The primary purpose for some websites is simply to present, share, or display some information or content online. This can include all of your sales materials, blogs, photos, videos and so on.  Your website is designed to share an abundance of information on an ongoing basis. These sites require ongoing updating to ensure relevance and searchability.

• Contact page: Some websites purely exist for the purpose of being a site to generate leads, or act as a format for customers to contact the business.

• A sales tool: One of the most common purposes of a website is to generate traffic and sales. This is usually most suited for a business website that’s selling a product or service.

• All of the above: We’ve seen it more times than not. Websites that try to do all of the above. If your business is able to do this without overwhelming the customer, confusing the messages and blurring your brand, all power to you!

  Whatever the purpose of your website, we do believe all businesses should have a website presence. A website and a social media presence (don’t get us wrong, in this day and age, you need both).