Your website should be thought of as the brain of your company.
The most essential component, the creator of content, the organizer of information social media pages are just the mouth where you repeat the original content created on your website with your branding so that it will help you Search Engine Optimization also. If you just have a social media page none of your content can ever be branded as original content created by your company. It will forever be content created by facebook and if facebook ever goes away as they all do eventually then you must start from scratch to rebuild your presence and reputation. Plus there are many benefits you gain when linking your website to a facebook mouthpiece that some who just has a facebook page won’t get but that is a whole other blog.
You build a reputation.
Though the internet has been around for some time, it’s true that you didn’t always need a website to find your audience. It was a lot easier to market via direct mailings, Yellow page ads and local word-of-mouth. However, today your website is the factor that customers are looking for when they research a small business. They want to know that you’re stable enough to have a dedicated Web presence. That you’ll be around tomorrow should something go wrong. That they can get ahold of you when they need to. By creating a website, you set up shop on the Internet and show customers that this is where they can come to find information about you, to read articles that you’ve written and to learn more about your company. All of these things build reputation and authority. Without a website, you’re at a huge disadvantage as a small business owner trying to speak to your customers.
The ROBO Effect
Which is when you research online and buy offline. If you don’t have a website submitted to all the major search engines image how much business you are missing out on when someone searches for your keywords or services online and you are not submitted to those major search engines?
You create another sales tool
A website is a powerful sales tool and one that allows you to address your customers’ concerns, give them the information they need to make a decision and create compelling calls to action. Sure, you can keep placing ads on the radio and hope that word-of-mouth generates on its own…or you can build something that inspires it to happen. Your website is your home base where people can go to seek out trusted information about your company and engage with you on a more personal level. Use it to build confidence in your brand and to give customers important buying information (and incentives).
Ability while to control search engine placement
Because you can’t simply rattle off a list of search terms you want to be found for anymore, you can use search engine optimization basics to help control where your site shows up and for which queries. By creating optimized content, building relevant links and creating a brand that customers want to engage with, you set yourself up as an authority in the eyes of the search engine and increase your chances of appearing for the right queries – the ones paying customers are using to find businesses just like yours. Creating an optimized website helps you to gain important visibility for the right terms. And posting enough ORIGINAL content branding from your site, it takes atleast 60 blog posts before you can even be looked at as a consideration for an authority and it takes at a min bare minimum of two posts per week to stay in the consideration but a post a day is ideal if you are optimizing that post with the right words.
Remarketing also known as reselling.
When you have a website you can create call to actions that prompt your visitors to do an action. Depending on what you goal is, if you are trying to build your youtube presence you could ask them to subscribe to your youtube or if you are in sales you could capture their email and other contact info to use to market to with automatic newsletters and communication you can set up ahead of time. You can also set up email reminders about things left in the cart if you sell online or you can set up an auto email that goes out a certain length of time after they purchase a product or service from your site. A website can even be used to create an entire campaign where you have a multi-step funnel used stand-alone with just “the brain” which is your website or in conjunction with your social media “mouthpieces”.
Please check out my previous blogs with amazing side-by-side comparisons of owning your own site and hosting versus using a site builder on http://RhondaCosgriffDesigns.com. You could save yourself money by hiring a professional to design a site you fully own and have the right to take with you anywhere because after all time is money and the learning curve for those “easy site builders” can be steep if you are not already computer savvy. You don’t even have to hire me, just please don’t use site builders for a legitimate business you can’t even download a copy of your site to have as a backup.
