According to a recent study, approximately 46% of small businesses in the United States don’t have a website – and almost half of those businesses are unlikely to build a website in the near future, or are unsure about building a website in the near future.

If you have customers, you need a website

Yes, it is really that simple. More than 80% of shoppers do online research before purchasing. If you don’t have a website, you are missing out on sales – bottom line.

As I sat down to write this, I tried to think of some type of business – any type of business – that would not benefit from having a website. I couldn’t think of a single business type that would not benefit from having a website.

Customers have plenty of choices when it comes to shopping, dining, or finding services. They can purchase items from pretty much anywhere in the world. They can find a new restaurant simply by searching online. While they may still solicit word-of-mouth recommendations for services, they are just as likely to search for them either before or after they receive a recommendation from someone. If your business doesn’t have a website, excellent word of mouth may not even save you from obscurity. If they can't find you online, they likely won't look for you elsewhere.

Why don’t some businesses have websites?

Cost seems to be one of the main factors determining whether a small business has a website. But a web presence doesn’t have to be expensive. Many small businesses (especially those without an e-commerce requirement) can get away with a very simple site – some with even a single page outlining products/services and contact information.

Every small business owner should look into creating a website – or even just a single web page. After all, even if someone is given a recommendation for a particular restaurant, if that person searches for that restaurant online and finds nothing, they may simply not bother to search any further. That’s lost business – and that comes with its own cost.

Get a website – do it now

Everyone understands budgets, and a small business – especially a new one – may not have the capital required to market themselves the way they’d like. Building a website doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking, and the revenue a website will generate (though not always measurable, depending on your business category) will always be worth the investment. And while you may start out with a simple or single-page site, you can always expand as your businesses grows and you have more room in the budget for marketing.

Some things to remember when building a website for your company

• Make sure your website is mobile friendly. The number of people using smartphones and/or tablets for internet access continues to increase. If your site doesn’t render well, they may dismiss it. Even more importantly, mobile-friendly sites get a “boost” in Google’s mobile search results. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it won’t likely be very high up in natural listings.
• Remember SEO. If you hire a professional to design and build your site, they should build it with at least some very basic search engine optimization (SEO). Even if your site is a single page, there are certain keywords, metatags, etc. that should be incorporated into the site. 
• Websites are fluid. Unlike that brochure you printed, or those ads you’ve committed to, a website is fluid. If you have a restaurant and you need to change the menu, it can be done easily online. If your business has grown exponentially and you need a more robust website, it can be done. It’s important to have a website now – you can always change/update it later. Of course, having a website does mean that it needs to be updated regularly. It may be as simple as updating to the latest version of WordPress (or whatever web platform was used to build your site). Or it may be a bit more complex, like adding an online store to your site. But it’s important to refresh your site from time to time, to make sure it is working properly and contains the correct information.

Contact us to see how we can help

At Nuvonium, we’ve built complex e-commerce sites as well as single-page sites. We’ve worked with international corporations, start-ups, and small businesses. Give us a call at 856-258-0002 to see how we can get you online so you can grow your business.