Maybe you already have a Google Business Profile, a Facebook Business Page, and regularly tweet, pin, and post updates across social media platforms. With that much online exposure, you may wonder—do I really need a website for my small business? 

Yes, yes, a resounding YES! While social media and public directories are excellent tools, a personalized URL is vital whether you are a solo entrepreneur or leading a company of any size.

If you are still debating whether carving out a customized corner of cyberspace is worth the investment, we have rounded up a few extra nudges of incentive to show you the importance of a website in small business success.

Why You Need a Small Business Website 

Consumers seek to feel confident about every purchase they make. Especially during times of economic instability, customers are highly likely to shop around and vet all their options for quality and value. A well-crafted website speaks volumes during this process. Not only does a polished web presence show that you are an established company, but even a small virtual site helps potential customers view your business as legitimate and trustworthy.

Besides presenting a professional appearance, a website also provides you with far more control over the content you display compared to social media. Your website allows you to show your audience who you are, what you offer, and why you are the obvious choice—all on your own terms. A business website also opens important communication channels, forging better customer relationships. 

Surprising Small Business Website Statistics

Still unsure why you need a small business website or online store? We have gathered an assortment of incredible statistics to show you just how powerful websites are for small businesses.

1. Your Lack of a Website Destroys Customer Confidence.

Have you ever been searching for the website of a particular business and ended your search unable to find them online? You have a moment where you question why the company did not bother to create one and then whether you are better off looking for a different company. 

Having a business website shows that you are serious about what you do. Neglecting this essential piece of professionalism can harm your brand image. Over 1 in 4 small businesses does not have a website, according to findings from Top Design Firms. More than 25% is a high percentage of business owners letting potential customers walk away empty-handed.

What Should You Do?

If you do not have a website, it is past time to meet modern expectations. Having an online presence is no longer optional to stay competitive. Digital Netword can help you to get your site up and running without delay.

2. Keep the Customers You Worked Hard to Get.

Now that you have customers, you want to keep them, right? Unfortunately, if your website loads like at dial-up speed, your viewers might become impatient and leave before getting what they need. Your competitors know this, and they are setting up their websites to capture the easy sales you lose.

Unbounce conducted an extensive page speed survey, and their results reinforced the importance of web pages loading in the blink of an eye. Nearly 70% of consumers reported that the speed of a website affects their eagerness to buy from an online retailer.

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword can help you to optimize every aspect of your website for speed—without losing its crisp clarity.

3. Prioritize Your Online Image with Consistent Branding.

Unless you have intentionally themed your website to match a specific historic era, you do not want users to wonder if they have stumbled into a time machine on the way find out more about your products or services. Consumers often look for brands that understand current trends and deliver goods and services that match today’s most desirable wish list items—with everything wrapped up in an attractive package. 

Therefore, having a delightful website matters a great deal to your customer. Your brand should be memorable with a consistent look and messaging—whether your customer is encountering your business online, in print, or in person. A Marq survey found that 33% more customers interacted with businesses through their websites when the business had a consistent look and messaging.

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword can help you craft a consistent, clear, cohesive tone across all your media to make your brand memorable. Customers often trust brands they recognize, and Digital Netword can help you choose a style that works for your website and other marketing materials.

4. Mobile Matters More Than Ever Before.

How often do you access a website on your phone or on a tablet? Do you even regularly use a computer to do internet research? Statcounter has charted worldwide web traffic and found that nearly 60% of users are accessing the internet with mobile devices. Ignoring such a large percentage of web surfers can be a costly mistake for businesses as the number of users on mobile devices is likely to continue increasing.

Many consumers use multiple devices, and mobile devices are especially popular for users on the go. Some of these potential customers are planning their next move from their car right in your neighborhood. Does your mobile site inspire fresh faces to drop in and see how can help them or pass you by?

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword helps you make sure your local business website is fully functional and looks amazing on both desktop and mobile. Digital Netword strives to create a fluid, responsive layout that adjusts to a wide variety of screen resolutions without cutting off any menu items, images, or other meaningful content.

5. Clean Web Designs Create the Best User Experience.

Websites with too much happening on the screen at the same time can be a real headache. Think about your own experiences. You cannot expect potential customers to maintain focus when they are overwhelmed by too much information on the page. Instead of creating an engaging experience, your website can discourage your customers from spending more time learning about your business and the solutions you offer to their problems.

A GoodFirms survey found that over 84% of web designers say visually overwhelming webpages are the most frequent mistake found on small business websites. Your website should feel like a breath of fresh air.

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword can help you invite visitors to linger on your website with a clean, well-organized design with plenty of negative space between items. We help you do more with less, and we do not compromise on personality or functionality in the process.

6. Good Visibility in Online Searches Gets Your Site to the Right Audience.

Google reports that 76% of smartphone users searching for something nearby visit that location within a day, with 28% of those local searches resulting in a purchase. This is a pretty good reason to make sure your business shows up in online searches.

If your site is not updated to match the latest changes that search engines such as Google, Bing, etc. require, you are likely losing potential visitors and potential income. Even smaller local audiences can impact your business bottom line. If your website shows up in top positions on the results page when someone searches online for businesses like yours, you have an advantage over your competitors.

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword helps you to make sure your website is accurate and in the best position to be seen by your potential customers while looking for opportunities to add new bits of information that search engine users seek.

7. A Smooth Customer Experience is Essential.

You have likely had some terrible experiences visiting business websites, whether because it was difficult to find what you needed in a maze of menus, or there was not enough information to convince you that the business could help with what you needed. People crave simplicity, so your website must be very easy to use.

A pleasant customer experience keeps your website visitors from leaving immediately, and it encourages them to do what you want them to do on your website. UserGuiding noted that almost 90% of website users will turn to a competitor after struggling with a negative website experience, so having a great customer-friendly website is not negotiable for your business success.

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword thinks like your customers and makes sure your website is easy to use so that finding information, searching for items, and contacting you is as easy as possible.

8. Make it Extremely Easy to Get in Touch with You.

Despite every effort to anticipate your customers’ needs, your website visitors will always have questions that require personalized answers. Your potential customers will not want to waste time searching through your webpages to find your very important contact information.

Simple, user-friendly communication tools that are easy to locate on your website are essential for connecting with your customers. In a survey conducted by multiple marketing companies, over half of users said they’re more likely to distrust and abandon a vendor website that lacks thorough contact information. 

What Should You Do?

Digital Netword helps you create connection points on your website so that your customers can easily get in touch with you. Whether a contact form, email address, phone number to call, or WhatsApp link to get in touch, Digital Netword helps you boost the confidence of your website visitors.

You Do Not Need to Do All of This Alone

Are you ready to take your professional website to the next level to captivate your customers and gain more conversions? Digital Netword helps organizations and small business owners like by creating websites that help your business grow and thrive.