Alee

Don’t Have A Website? You’re Really Missing Out

The statistics are surprising- nearly half of small businesses do not currently have a website.

In this age of technology where more and more people are constantly connected to the web, why is it that so many small businesses do not have a website? As recently as 2015, about 90% of North Americans used an online search engine to look up local businesses. This indicates the huge demand from customers for businesses to have an online presence- it is as if consumers have come to expect businesses to be online.

The biggest reason entrepreneurs give for not having a website is that they believe that having one is not relevant to their particular business or industry. But this is a huge misconception that a third of small business owners have, because websites are actually relevant in every single industry.

There are many benefits to having a website. First, it increases your visibility and ensures that potential customers can find out about your existence, no matter which industry you’re in. Second, if customers always ask you the same questions on a daily basis (ex: the nutritional content of your bakery’s goods, the retail brands you offer in your clothing boutique, your hours of operation, your area of delivery, etc), it is easy to direct customers to your website where they can quickly find the information they need. You will be able to focus more on running and growing your business rather than answering basic questions. Third, having a website gives potential customers a preview of your service. A professional looking website can make a difference in the way a customer sees your company. Their first impression of your business can make the difference between getting a sale or not.

The second biggest reason given for not having a website is that it is too costly to create. About a quarter of entrepreneurs cited that they believed websites are out of their budget range. However, there are quick and very affordable ways available to get a website.

It can get pretty expensive to go through a web designer, who will custom-build websites from scratch. If you are up A more affordable (and less time-consuming) alternative are web platforms where you can sign up, choose the template you want, put in your own text and media and then pay a monthly or yearly fee to keep it online. There are several web platforms to choose from, depending on your technical aptitude, budget and desired level of simplicity. This option is great for busy entrepreneurs who neither have nor want to spend a lot of time on their website. The bottom line is that websites do not automatically mean a hefty price tag. Even if you have a few dollars a month to spare, you can find a company or a web designer that will create a website for your company, allowing you to be connected to a much larger, online clientele. Getting a website requires a small investment in time and money, but will produce huge returns in terms of increasing your visibility.

For entrepreneurs strapped for time, there are web design agencies that will create, update and maintain your website for you. One such company that we recommend is MyBizSite. They offer a comprehensive “ Website for Life ” package with lots of the great features that makes a website functional and professional for a reasonable, one-time fee. One of the most valuable features of this package is that it comes with free managed hosting for your site for life, meaning you never have to worry about paying a yearly hosting fee to keep your site online. This package is one of the best deals we have seen and it’s great for small business owners, as they can get a personalized, secured and great looking website without breaking the bank! To find out more about what they offer, visit their site at MyBizSite.net


Statistics:


https://clutch.co/web-designers/resources/small-business-websites-2016-survey
http://www.statisticbrain.com/small-business-website-statistics/
http://www.inc.com/associated-press/small-businesses-have-no-website.html
https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/


Image:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/132604339@N03/24681902891


HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN HELP THE LOCAL COMMUNITY?

March 2, 2021
Do you want to give back to your community but not sure how to do it? Here are a few ways to do it… Community Collaboration Business owners are a vital part of the communities in which they live and their work thrive. Thus, their decisions impact others in the community. A local business owner can be involved in the community. For instance, they may sponsor local little league teams, donate to cities homeless shelters, take part in community charity events or contribute to a local non-profit organization, so on and so forth. Innovation and Competition Businesses need to stand out from the crowd in order to survive and serving the community is one of the ways to do it. They must serve the needs in the community and do it better than their rivals. Having multiple small businesses all striving to be unique and better can result in a healthy maker place and well-served customer. Create Local Jobs Businesses play a very important role in creating local jobs. The benefit of local jobs is that the employees can work closer to where they live and won’t need to travel to another city or place. Businesses can also partner with and help small local businesses that can be beneficial for fellow community members who work at them. When a community has an operational commercial center, it also creates great opportunities for local people to shop at other local small businesses. They buy lunch or dinner from local restaurants, run errands on their break, and grab drinks from local bars. This keeps money rolling local and further creates a tight-knit community vibe. There are numerous ways in which brands can contribute for the wellbeing of the community. In a nutshell, our community can help our company to grow as much as a business helps the community to become stronger. All in all, we should always remember, no matter how you do it, giving back can ignite change and positive impact, and will make your company as well as your community better, smarter and stronger.

Research is The Key

By Ayesha Ahmed • March 6, 2017
Writing content is a task in it self, and keeping it fresh and up to the mark is something that the content writers struggle from time to time. In this situation, you need to sit down and review some key points about your content and analyze where you can improve to get going again. Here, we will give you some tips on how to do that. Your content normally revolves around sales enablement, eBooks, white papers, and blog posts. With so many things to cover it sure does meant to get overwhelming at times. With the deadlines fast approaching, it gets even difficult to be more creative with your work since you have to get the job done quick. Bland content is not only hard for your readers to digest but also not really inspiring for you either. Research is the key. Stay updated. Keep checking out new trends and embed them in your content. That way your content stays fresh and contemporary. It’s important to keep evaluating, optimizing, and adjusting. One other problem content curators face is the monotony. Your readers get bored since you’re either repeating your content or following a certain unattractive pattern. Worry not. Alter your strategy. Look closely at your content. You might realize that it’s actually not the content but the way you structure it. Try restructuring it. Try changing the format. If you think that your content is flat, try to add some flare to it by adding infographics. That will spice it up. If your podcast is not doing as well as it should, try transcribing it into a blog or even better try adding some visual element to it to spice it up. That will surely catch the attention of your customers. Add some fun images to your blog. Make it livelier. Make it stand out and be more attractive. Add some interaction to your content. Give your audience creative content forms. That way you will keep your audience engaged. You need to keep shifting and adjusting your content strategy in order to keep it fresh and engaging for your audience. Sticking to this formula and your readers will never get bored.

Onsite Content Optimization

By Ayesha Ahmed • December 15, 2016
You put in hours in putting up your website online. Your sole purpose to put it up in the digital realm is to attract visitors to it and eventually make it a hot source for lead generation. But what good is your website if the search engine doesn’t even know what it’s about and it fails to appear in the results that you would want to see it? Content optimization is the answer to this debacle. Optimize is the keyword. You’ve got to ensure that your web presence is fully optimize to leverage the best internet has on offer. But wait. Optimization just in the name of beefing up the pages in order to be more visible to that bot? Is that the real motive behind optimizing your website? If that’s the case then you must read on, this is for you. Optimization is not merely about getting it right with meta data and the web crawlers. Today, search engine bots are smarter than we think. You can’t just go about cramming X number of keywords umpteen times in a single paragraph. You content’s meta should be legible i.e. it should make sense when your website’s visitor hovers their pointer on it. The text that reads when your website’s visitor hovers their mouse over it matters, matters a lot. It matters because search engine’s web crawler is comparing it with what your competitor is putting in in their website. It orders it according to the relevancy of the content when it displays the search results. Hence, it’s imperative that you ensure your website is being handled by a professional outfit that knows the intricacies and pros and cons of the digital world. When going through the meta tags and page content for the various pages, ask yourself over and over: Does that make sense? Does the keyword belong there, or am I going out of my way to put it in there? Does this accurately describe, in an artful way, what my page or site is about? For the content modules on each page: Do they give the reader the information they need? Also, is the information clear and concise? Finally, is the content correct? So, here you go, we’ve laid down the essential basics for you to get it right when it comes to creating meaningful content on your website. Content that not only gives you more visibility on line but also ensures that authentic traffic is diverted to you digital abode.
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