It seems everywhere we turn these days, we’re hit with social media and more social media: You simply must be on Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn … You simply must post something every day … You simply must send out tweets to be heard, be on Pinterest to be seen … You simply must have followers or you don’t even exist!
No, no, and no! Websites are most assuredly not being put out to pasture, and although there are many, many reasons why they’re still critical and effective, especially for small businesses, let’s pull a David Letterman and list only the top ten most cogent and compelling reasons why websites still matter:
- Ownership: First and foremost, your business website is yours. That means you’re entirely in control of how it looks, how it reads, how it operates, how it collects and uses visitor data to inform your marketing efforts and lead generation. In contrast, when you rely on social media platforms as your primary marketing channel, those companies—with their ever-changing regulations and algorithms—can significantly affect if and how your targeted market can get to you.
- SEO results: Coming up on the first page of search engine listings is the single most powerful way to drive your customer base to your business. It’s a direct route from them to you. So keep your eye on your website’s SEO maintenance, and the eyes of the world will stay on your company.
- Ability to stay “active”: One of the ways to keep ranking higher in SEO listings is to post new content on your website, so that it stays active instead of operating in passive mode. One of the easiest ways to do this is to start a blog—every time you publish a short article that could be of interest to your visitors, it’s like adding fuel to your website’s tank to keep it running instead of idling. Posting new testimonials and updated product blurbs will also keep your site adequately active.
- Fastest route to necessary information: Surveys show that what people go to first and most frequently on websites is the basic information required to access a business—namely, hours of operation, location, and directions. So that “Contact Us” page is there for a reason … a very good reason that will, literally, put you on the map.
- Platform for content marketing: It’s now a universally accepted notion that you can’t just do “marketing” anymore, you have to do “content marketing”—creating and sharing material that doesn’t explicitly advertise your company but that instead offers your client base something of value to them in the form of knowledge or stimulated interest. For example, a bookstore might publish a list of the 100 best books ever written; a craft shop might upload a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a birdhouse; a landscaping business could repost an article about environmentally sound pesticides. And where do you think you have a FREE, 24/7 platform to offer your own content marketing? Your website, of course! Blogs will do the trick, but so will website additions like informative videos, educational webinars, summaries of or links to relevant research, and online slide shows. Content marketing is an indirect pathway to your business, but a strategic one nonetheless.
- Work samples: A picture is worth a thousand words. Your website is the perfect display case to showcase that new deck you just constructed, the new braid technique your salon now offers, the latest room you just decorated—all free of charge.
- Business collateral: Speaking of free, are you still going to the printer’s for your brochures, flyers, and white sheets? You can, there’s still a call for print materials that people can actually touch and keep on hand; but when looking for ways to streamline the budget, save storage space, and allow collateral updates in real time instead of during the next print run, your website can include any and all business collateral you want to make available for viewing or downloading at the click of a mouse.
- Allows client interaction: And now we come to that sought-after customer of yours and their mouse. When you have a website visitor, you have a clear and open invitation to engage them—to include them in a poll, to entice them with a quiz, to add them to your mailing list, to motivate them to click over to your online store. In other words, your website is your megaphone for a call to action. Once you get your visitors to take the next step that you want them to take, your website has empowered you to keep leading them to your door.
- Source of trusted information: According to a recent survey by BrightLocal, websites are still the preferred source for consumers of trusted and reliable information about a business they’re interested in.
- Ultimate destination: Yeah, your business might be reviewed on Yelp or lauded in a Facebook post, but once the potential client takes the bait and is on the line to learn more, it’s your website they’re going to visit to do that. And if they’re impressed by what they see, the odds of landing them as an actual client increase exponentially.
RWS Consulting specializes in website construction, maintenance, security, and design updates. Contact us today to learn about how we can put the best face on your business’s website as it faces the world: 202-409-8113 or info@rws-cc.com