In the age of Clubhouse, TikTok, and Instagram, the humble website seems like an afterthought. Old school. Even, unnecessary, perhaps. Here are eight reasons why that’s totally wrong and why a website for your business is more important than ever.
I run into a lot of people running their businesses exclusively on LinkedIn or Instagram just fine, thank you.
They get a critical mass of business from a platform, then convert that business into a steady stream of referrals. That’s great as long as it working. If it stops working, it’s disastrous.
Here are some reasons why having a professional website still matters and why your business needs its’ own digital home.
#1 There is nothing more powerful than a professional website to build your ‘Know, Like and Trust’ factor
If for some reason, your rented platform (social media) stops working, there is no digital home selling for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
No place where, under one roof, someone can learn about who you are and what you have to offer.
If you’re selling services; services that require a client to make a significant investment, potential clients need to get to (all together now) know, like and trust you.
Of these three things I say ‘trust ’ is the most important.
My clients are all over the world, almost all of them I have never met face to face. Yet they will whip out their credit cards and send me thousands of euros or dollars over the internet.
Why?
Because they can check me out on my website.
They can flip through my portfolio, read through all the client testimonials. Get a feel for who I am on my ‘About’ page.
On my website, a potential client can look at large, clear, pictures of my face. If they want to dig deeper they can read blog post after blog post.
Some of my posts are informative and germane to the topic of getting a website live, others are more personal, like the story of how and why I quit my day job.
Last month a client told me she finally pulled the trigger to book with me after she read that post.
#2 You need a website for SEO
If you don’t have a website, there is no force driving leads and clients your way that aren’t in already in your referral network.
The simple fact is, when most people are looking for a service, they research and base their decisions based on multiple Google searches, not while passively scrolling through Instagram.
The only digital property you can optimise for search engine optimisation is your website.
Even if your business runs on referrals, you should still be building your list, your authority and your brand recognition beyond your referrals.
Driving people to your website helps you accomplish this.
If part of your marketing strategy is some kind of content creation (and it should be) you might as well optimise it for SEO to add an additional stream of leads.
These leads need to land on your website.
#3 A website showcases your expertise
No platform better shows off what you know than your website. You can create portfolio pages, publish loads of blog posts and articles. Embed a podcast or video feed that speak directly to your ideal customer.
The content on your website gives you a chance to show potential clients that you ‘get it’.
You can solve their problem. You can help.
#4 Your website is away from the crowd
Not only can a website show off what you can do, it does it without distraction.
You are not positioning yourself side by side with a bunch of other accounts trying to do the same thing and fight for the same attention.
Instagram, LinkedIn, Clubhouse, etc. are all big, loud, busy carnivals.
Visitors can jump from person to person, room to room, or just passively consume a feed of never ending information.
When people land on your website, they are in your house. It’s only you and them with no distractions.
When designed right, your website can hold and keep a visitors attention; the most valuable resource around.
#5 A professional website confers legitimacy
If someone tells me they don’t have a website for their business, rightly or wrongly, I think: ‘Oh they’re not serious’.
Even if it’s not the case, I jump to assumptions; they don’t want to spend the money, they’re scared to put themselves out there, they don’t ‘get’ how a business needs to be online these days.
Having a website is just table stakes.
#6 A website let’s you sell products and book services on auto pilot
At some point you may want to sell information products or services online.
Or you may want to allow clients to book your services, or join your mailing list. This happens best on your own site.
All major website platforms now have an e-commerce component, or allow you to embed scheduling or a newsletter sign-up.
Your website is the best place for people to do this, for all of the other reasons mentioned in this post.
#7 A website is the home of your brand
Often clients I work with will have businesses that run 100% on referrals.
They aren’t trying to generate leads or business via their website. Maybe LinkedIn is their biggest platform and their potential clients check them out there to see who they know; that’s the mechanism for building trust and legitimacy.
But! You still have your brand to consider.
You don’t want to be the person who drives a Lamborghini but lives in a shack.
In this analogy the ‘shack’ is your website. Your website is a keystone digital presence that communicates who you are and what you’re about.
If you don’t need a website to demonstrate your thought leadership, you can at least point people to it.
Although, if you are creating a lot of written content I can make an argument that hosting it on your own platform is better than hosting it on someone else’s, where you don’t have any control of it.
One client of mine does most of her writing on LinkedIn. She didn’t want to duplicate all of her efforts with a blog on her website.
I found a tool that lets you pull in your LinkedIn posts on to your website. You can do this with any social media platform.
So even if your site is a straight business card/brochure website, it’s important that it’s there, looks professional and communicates your brand.
#8 A website allows you to gather crucial metrics
A website can give you access to information that you can’t always get on social media platforms.
Where people found you, what content they clicked on most, what content is highest ranked by Google, at what access point on your website did they sign up for your mailing list?
You can also get metrics on how people booked you. This provides you with important data on which to base your business and marketing budget and activities.
So yes, I’m a web designer telling you that you need to have a website, what a shocker.
Never the less, these eight reasons should stand on their own to back up my point.
If you don’t have the budget to hire a web designer, the least you should do is purchase a domain and throw up a page, that way your domain will begin the ageing process to help your SEO.
Your future website will thank you!
Ready to get started with your website project?
