10 Major Reasons why Local Business must have a Website

The first and foremost reason for a local shop owner to have a website is because that’s where most of their potential customers are going to be!
Over 42% of world population has access to internet today. As a matter of fact, myriads of eyes are going to be browsing and interacting with your business, only if you had a website!
“We are just a small business”, “We don’t have time”, “The process is expensive” are most common reasons why local shop owners hesitate to create a website. In truth, local shop owners rely on local advertising and word of mouth to attract customers.
However, if you don’t have a website, you are disregarding potential marketing opportunities for your business!
Following post will enlighten you as to why local shop owners must have a website:
-
Broaden your selling opportunities:
Modern-day customers now prefer to shop online rather than visiting shops. So, if you have a website, you can effortlessly sell your products/services virtually anywhere. Biggest advantage here is that even if you lose locally, you can compensate that loss through online selling.
Your website will act as a shop front to influence wider markets.
-
Connecting with Existing as well as New customers:
Not just for selling, but websites can be an interesting way to connect with your already-existing as well as new customers. Instigating customer loyalty is the key here. A website will be a long-term solution to maintain connection with them.
Use your website to promote events & sales, send those newsletters, offer discounts or gift vouchers and so on. Websites allow you to send newsletters/promotional offers automatically to a large group of customers within seconds.
Soon that online relationship can be turned into offline customer loyalty. People will be coming back to your local store for more!
-
Majority of customers don’t like to call!
As a local shop owner, if you think your online presence should only be limited to directory sites like Just Dial, Yelp, etc. then this will change your mind. Just showcasing your opening hours, contact details and address is not cool. Customers want to see your website!
Most of the users don’t even bother calling a business, they’d rather look for other shops that have online website. This way, you are missing out on myriads of potential customers. Moreover, you are also wasting your money on directory listings!
-
Getting direct feedback:
Allowing your customers to give feedbacks can really do wonders for your business! And, anonymous feedbacks happen to be more straightforward and honest.
You will get valuable insights regarding your customer service, prices, products/services, etc. Use these insights to improve your services and boost customer satisfaction rate.
-
Collect or deliver orders:
Nothing is better than a local business trying to ease their customer’s tasks. Customers prefer local businesses that provide pick up or delivery services for their orders.
- For example, “Food takeaways”- here customers can order food online through website and later pick it up at their own convenient time.
- Order Food Online and Home delivery– Local food businesses can have their menu displayed online, customers can easily choose their meal, make online payment (or opt for cash on delivery) and get it delivered to their address! Local shops can really benefit from this tactic as they can deliver quickly in the nearby areas.
- Picking up customer’s clothes for ironing/dry cleaning, online booking of groceries, etc. are good examples of convenient services provided by local shop owners.
Now, if you have a website, taking customer orders, scheduling them, receiving online payments, etc. becomes very manageable and quick. Do you see how extremely necessary a website is for your local business?
-
Online presence 24/7:
Big goodbye to 9 to 5 opening hours! A local business can be available to its customers 24 hours per day and 7 days every week through a website. Customers can book orders, ask questions, fill enquiry forms, regardless of time and conditions. Without a website, all of this is practically impossible!
-
Your Website: All-time available Digital Business Card
Customers can refer to your website again and again for business details like services, products, contact info, address and so on. Again, it’s like a digital business card that’s available 24/7.
-
Excellent Marketing platform:
Business website gives you an online presence and simultaneously works as an online marketing platform. Of Course, there are other factors to consider as well in order to make this marketing strategy work such as blogs, SEO, social media, content quality, user-friendly interface, etc.
-
Collecting data and generating leads becomes effortless:
Repeated experiences of customer satisfaction can get people to provide their personal information (email addresses) to you. You can then make use of this info for enhanced customer outreach and behavioral remarketing.
-
Building Credibility:
Look of your website, quality of the content and easy navigation tells a lot about your business itself. If all of this is good, then it builds credibility in the eyes of the customers.
Which is why, local businesses need to get their website designed from professionals. This way, your website will look more authorized and tech-savvy!
Essential Tips for a Local Business wanting to have a Website:
- It should be a search engine optimized website. Your website must pop up in top results of search engines.
- Get it optimized by an SEO specialist
- Search engines give priority to local business websites when searched through mobile phones. So, your website must be optimized for mobile phones.
- A website must look professional and be user-freindly
- Fast load time is very essential. You need to have a good web host.
- It must have full address and contact information
- Website must be embedded with social media information (feeds, posts, photos, links, follow buttons)
- Relevant and good-quality content is a must
- Several convenient options for online payment is much appreciated
- A sound FAQ page is extremely insightful for a customer
More and more people are heading towards the internet to do research and even find local products or services online. They expect every business will have a website from where they can at least get some info. From this article, now you know how a website can benefit your local business in many ways.
If you are running a local business and willing to create a website, check out our affordable website building plans.