Why you should treat your website as an asset
A website is to a business as a home is to an individual!
A website gives you an identity, an online presence, and it is one thing that promotes your business 24X7 which no employee can do. There are a lot of benefits of having a website, there are reasons why you should treat it as your asset. Let us understand various advantages of having a website and why every business owner, big or small, should have one.
1. It lets your customers know you exist: When you start a business, it is very important that your customers know that some company by your name exist. And a website is the best thing, it gives you an identity, an online presence. When someone hears the name of your company, the first thing they do is to search for your website. If your website has sufficient information and satisfies a need of your visitor, you are sure to get a lead.
2. Home to information: A website is your home, you can provide a lot of information on it for your customers. A website with all the relevant information is sure to get a lot of traffic. When a customer comes to your website, he certainly wants to know what you offer, your contact details, pricing and why they should choose you over similar others. If your website has all this information, it is easy for your visitors to make a decision to buy from you.
3. Brings traffic: When you get a proper SEO done for your website, it is sure to bring traffic to it. Search Engine Optimization and content optimization are two things which bring more visitors to your website. A website remains an asset if you get a proper SEO done for your website, however, it turns into a liability in the absence of SEO and other necessities like Webmasters and Google Analytics. When a website brings traffic, it gives you either leads which you can then convert into customers or directly give you sales, more in the case of an e-commerce website. Traffic is necessary because it eventually results in low bounce rate and high conversion rate.
4. User Engagement: One of the best features of a website is you can plan a lot of user engagement on it and give your visitors chance to stay longer. User engagement includes Videos, download brochure, Download PDF Books, Podcasts, Annual Reports, quiz, contests etc. When you use all these or a few on your website, it is sure to bring more traffic. It acts as a powerhouse for all your content.
5. Brings revenue: Yes, there is no denying the fact that a website not necessarily an e-commerce website, brings revenue to your business. When a visitor visits your website, he either comes to check the information available or to make a purchase. In the former, if the content and the information provided on the website help him make a decision, he is sure to fill the sign-up form or raise an inquiry. In case of an e-commerce platform, where your customer can even buy your product, he is likely to buy if your information is authentic and solves this problem.
6. It generates revenue 24/7 even when you are on vacation: So while you want to enjoy a long weekend or hang-out with friends for few days, with a website in place, you do not have to worry any longer. It promotes you 24X7 whether you are physically present or not, all you have to do is when you return to check your emails and sign up forms and reply back to all those valued visitors who filled the form and you are all set.
7. No expenses (rental, electricity, cleaning, maintenance expenses) like traditional shops: Website is a true investment and you encash its benefits for the lifetime. It requires minimum maintenance but does not require any overhead expenses like monthly upkeep etc. It is a viable investment and a hassle-free too.
8. No need to sale and interact customers physically: A website gives you an online presence that means you do not have to be physically present to meet your customers and address their issue. Once you have put all relevant information about your business, products, your contact information, your job is done and you just have to wait for your potential customer to raise an inquiry.
9. No need of employee for sales and marketing: A website promote itself, which is a unique advantage, you do not have to appoint a sales or marketing person. You save a lot on hiring talent to promote your website and can deploy the already working employees on other Product development and strategy issues.
10. No lines to wait in or assistants to wait on to help customer: A website is self-explanatory, it speaks for itself, you do not need to explain or assist your customer on how to buy or how to look for relevant information. But you need to take care that the navigation of the site is easy and simple to understand, it should not be confusing for the client to navigate through the website for the information.
11. A website makes it possible to target a wider/global market: Website has a wider reach in comparisons with another medium like the print or even the TV or Radio. Once you publish the website on the internet, it promotes itself and reaches every customer, domestic or global and you get leads for pan-world, which is not possible if you go for any other medium.
12. No worries of theft: Don’t’ worry, no one can steal your website it is actually an Intellectual Property. And you do not have to put it in a safe place, all you need is a server to host it on the world wide web.
13. Customer himself invest time understanding about your company and business: With a website, one of the biggest advantages is your customer himself invest time to understand your product and service, you do not have to hold his hand or indulge in a telephonic conversation to make him understand., This saves your time and you can invest that time elsewhere in more productive task.
There are numerous reasons why you should treat your website as an asset, it is not an expense, it is an investment and nothing can substitute a well-laid, user-friendly website.
