The digital world has been dominating our lives for some time now. According to your occupation and aspirations, you might be more affected by digital advancements than the average person. New trends and efficient marketing techniques are evolving so fast, that by the time we catch up on ‘the new big thing’, it’s already history and another ‘big thing’ is the center of the spotlight. So, the million-dollar question is ‘how do I catch up?’
Let’s talk about websites.
At Online Solutions we like thinking of the world-wide-web as the perfect place to introduce someone to your business – especially if you live in a small country like Cyprus, aiming to target a worldwide audience. The most obvious way to do this is through a professional and brand-specific website. You might have a hard time understanding the importance of a properly designed website, so we will outline 10 reasons why you should consider redesigning or upgrading, your website.
#1. Brand, brand, brand!
People might not always understand what we mean when we say ‘brand’. A brand is everything that makes people recognize a business and what it offers. This might range from your logo itself to the colors included in your logo, the font you use, a catchphrase that defines your vision, and many more.
Think of your website as the digital store of your business. A professionally designed website includes all the colors of your brand and fonts related to the tone and purpose of your business. Branding is all about establishing the specific cues that people will see and immediately think of your business. And there is great power in that.
#2. Websites give insight into your vision.
The vision of a business is often a deciding factor in distinguishing it from other competitors in the market. If your business has a clear vision of what you want to give to the world, then your customers are not only more likely to remain loyal, but will also have a greater connection to you than the simple demand-supply relationship.
A website is perhaps the most appropriate place to share this vision. Through the eyes of a social media agency, we guarantee that a properly built and managed website gives ultimate freedom to create a vision page that matches everything you stand for. In other words, you might want to describe your vision through a short video clip, through a page filled with pictures or related projects, or with a piece of text and testimonials from previous clients. (Almost) anything you envision, technology allows us to bring it to life through your website.
#3. Sharing content.
You might be thinking that only influencers and publishers are meant to share content. But there’s a fault in this mindset since it limits you in countless ways.
Firstly, sharing valuable content through a website allows you to build trust with your clients before they even do business/purchase from you. Secondly, your business might have nothing to do with educating people, but we guarantee that if you share some of your expertise in your area of specialization, people will begin seeing you as the expert that you are. This leads us to the third and final point, a lot of people in most markets are focused on receiving. They aim to increase their sales, get more clients, more opportunities to expand, etc. And even though this is important, some businesses fall behind because they stop focusing on providing value to their potential customers/clients.
Beware, that we use the term ‘potential customers.’ Some of the most successful businesses across the globe make sure to provide value to their already existing clients, as well as the ones who have not yet become their clients. This has a variety of benefits. For example, sharing content through your website or social media platforms allows you to give opportunities to potential clients to see the quality of your work, and you have the ability to create hype and enthusiasm about upcoming products or services by giving ‘sneak peeks’ to the development process.
#4. Building trust.
As mentioned above, when you share content on your professional website you build trust with your audience and customers since you indirectly prove your expertise on a subject. However, content sharing isn’t the only way you can build trust. As a matter of fact, having a professional-looking website itself builds trust.
Let us ask you a question. How many times did you judge a business/company based on how professional their website looked? Were you ever thrown off by grammar or syntax mistakes on business websites? Imagine having a place to showcase your work, vision, and brand, and doing it halfway by poorly designing or proofreading it. A properly built website can be one of the greatest investments you make because of the authority it brings.
In the minds of a lot of customers or clients:
Professional websites are often associated with professional services/products.
#5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
If you already have a website or have researched a little bit about websites and their benefits, you probably came across the term ‘search engine optimization.’ Search engine optimization (SEO) is the north pole of a magnet designed to attract your target audience which is the south end of a magnet. SEO is what brings the right people to your website and generates organic traffic for your business. Organic traffic is when people visit your website without you having to pay a penny for it.
Therefore, as you might have suspected, SEO is a key element in displaying your business to the right audience – to potential customers/clients. Proper SEO not only helps you rank on Google for your country of preference and target your ideal customers but also provides insights into who is looking for your services or products (through the Google search console). As you can imagine, having this type of insight helps you be able to grow your business, make your strategies even more specific, and learn more about how to give value to your customers.
If you wish to understand more about SEO feel free to check out any of the following posts:
#6. Sneak peek at the team behind the brand.
One of the greatest advantages of having a small business is the personalization that comes with your products or services. This point might not apply to everyone but small businesses can use their website as a way of creating a more personalized and friendly experience for their customers/clients.
This can be done by introducing your team on a ‘meet our team’ page, or through a video where everyone gets to say who they are and what their role is within the company. Truth be told, when a potential customer gets familiar with who is behind the scenes of a company they want to work with, it helps boost trust and credibility for the business at hand.
#7. You get traffic while you sleep.
Having a physical location for your products or services is awesome. But choosing to also invest in a well-designed, professional, and optimized website means you get to attract audience, clients, or prospects 24/7. Ultimately, while it is 1 am in Cyprus, it is 6 pm in Washington DC, USA.
Therefore, when it’s time for you to sleep, or hang out with friends and family, your prospects on the other end of the globe still have access to your business, your vision, and the work you have done. Furthermore, this gives you the opportunity to have an unlimited presence on the web where people can find you at any time, from anywhere in the world. This takes us to our next point…
#8. Global reach.
As mentioned above, an optimized website is accessible to anyone anywhere. Therefore, if you aim to attract a global audience, or even a specific audience (i.e., a Greek-speaking audience), then you build your website in a way to attract these people and thus help you reach your goal. This, for example, can be done through local SEO.
#9. Showcase your work.
Other than trust and authority through a professionally built website, there is also another determining factor of whether a prospect will become a client:
Evidence that your work is all that you claim it is.
How can a prospect find evidence of your work? Traditionally this was done by the word of mouth. People asked each other for referrals, etc. Now, referrals have taken a different form.
Businesses showcase their work, previous projects, and client satisfaction through their websites. This can be done through the famous ‘testimonials’, or the ‘projects’ pages. Showing prospects what they can expect from you will save them time looking for and wondering if you can meet their needs. Therefore, people who like your work will potentially convert to become your customers.
#10. More people to your social media pages.
Our last point relates to social media. A big part of the web is social media platforms. Places such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, have now become a place where both small and big businesses engage with their audience and clients. A social media presence can be a powerful tool for a business, let alone when paired with a professional website. The two can work alongside each other to provide more exposure for your business and help draw traffic to one another.
Let’s draw the picture a bit more clearly.
A person interested in buying a laptop, will probably go to Google search and look for the model they are interested in. When you have a properly built website, it is likely that Google will present your website as a search result and give the prospect the opportunity to scan through your products. This person, however, might be just doing some research for their laptop purchase and is planning on buying it in a few months. A professional website will give them, then, the ability to click on your social media platforms and will redirect them to your Instagram or Facebook page. There, the potential customer can choose to follow you, so that they can easily find out about your latest discounts, or find you whenever they are ready to purchase their laptop. This can also work in the opposite direction.
Conclusion
To sum up, the benefits of professional, optimized, and branded websites are quite significant for businesses of any size. A challenge people often face when deciding to build or redesign their website is how to do it properly. Since there are so many factors to consider when creating a professional website, it can become a little overwhelming.
And this is where businesses such as us, Online Solutions, become very useful. We specialize in website development and web design. We make sure to provide our clients with cost-effective solutions for their specific needs. Luckily enough, we also have a website of our own, to show you our work, our team, our vision, and our professionalism and enthusiasm about what we do.
