5 ways your website can help you beat the squeeze
Now, more than ever, you need a website that delivers results. Advertising budgets are tight and a website costs money to maintain. But what’s the point, if your website doesn’t win you new customers or keep your current customers happy? A poorly designed website can put off potential customers and lose you business - something nobody can afford right now.
A website that’s out of date, difficult to use or just plain ugly could seriously affect the credibility of your business. There’s a lot of choice out there and if visitors can’t find what they want on your website (and fast), they’ll simply go elsewhere.
A website is the ideal way to make a limited advertising budget work hard for you. Now might be the perfect time to rethink your website:
- A website’s success can be tracked. A tool like Google Analytics shows which pages are being viewed, how long visitors spend on each page, how they found your website etc. You can’t do this easily with an advert in the Yellow Pages
- It’s easy to keep up to date. Nothing puts people off faster than a page that says “last updated 2005” - who wants to read information that’s nearly 4 years out of date?
- It reaches a wide audience. Online advertising has the potential to reach a large and varied audience. You can also save money on print adverts - place a small advert in a publication that directs customers to your website for further information
- It’s interactive. Your customers can search your site, post reviews, download your catalogue and email your page to their friends
- Sell online. If your products can be mailed to customers, one obvious way to save money is to move your business online. Sure, there’s an initial cost in setting up an ecommerce website but it’s much cheaper than renting a shop in a high street location
If your business hasn’t got a website, you’re not even in the game - potential customers will simply find your competitors instead. Ouch.
