Learn why your website matters to your marketing efforts both online and in the traditional world.
A strong website is an essential part of today’s business. In an environment where informed consumers have more choices when searching for products and solutions, you need to understand that your website matters and have the digital information that will help them decide that your products and services are what they need.
Before making a purchase, many consumers:
- Studying the Internet
- Read online reviews
- Ask colleagues for advice
- Compare product features and benefits
- They will analyze which product is easier to purchase.
If you don’t have a presence on digital platforms or your presence is weak, consumers will likely turn to your competitors to satisfy their needs.
No matter how great your products and services are, you can be completely invisible to customers without a proper online presence. Here are the most compelling reasons why your business needs a website.
Your website matters
With today’s tools, creating a website is as easy as copying and pasting content and uploading a few photos. But that doesn’t mean you’ll have an impressive site that will make you money.
To assess how your site stacks up against your competitors, here are some reasons why it should impress your visitors.
1. Reliability
Consumers not only research and review products online before they buy them. They also lebanon mobile database shop around to compare products and prices before they buy in-store. A staggering 81 percent of consumers shop online before heading to a physical store.
Your website shows that you are a real company that can be trusted. In most industries, consumers are spoiled for choice. When evaluating options, they may have 3-5 choices that are all pretty good and boast similar benefits. The job of your website is to show that, although ws database the consumer has a choice, yours is the best.
However, be aware that Google has ways to detect fake or fabricated reviews. Don’t pay for services that promise hundreds of positive reviews in a short period of time.
You need to create a system for asking for reviews after services are provided. This could be email, text messages, or even point-of-sale transactions. This way, your reviews will be genuine and related to an experience that Google can verify.
4. List your business in local directories
Look for local business directories or places that list businesses in your area. This will further when your website ranks well solidify your service area and give search engines an idea of what you offer. Additionally, being listed on these sites gives you the opportunity to gain high-quality backlinks to show Google that you are trustworthy.
Some SEO tools offer local search assistance to help you create and manage these listings to ensure ongoing accuracy. Monitoring them is just as important as creating them, as you may find inconsistencies or misleading information that need to be addressed to avoid long-term problems.
5. Test Google Local Ads
Google offers local ads to help service-based businesses find customers in a specific geographic area. This will place your business at the top of the results for local customers. Make sure you do your homework before you pay for these types of ads.
6. Work on social networks
Social media is another way to tell search engines more about your business location and the areas you serve. Instagram is highly geotargeted, as is Facebook with its check-in feature. Encouraging users to participate in these services will help strengthen your local SEO presence.
Social signals help Google determine the best businesses to show in local searches, so be proactive and encourage customer interaction.
7. Earn High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are proof that your site is trustworthy from another authoritative site. But you don’t want backlinks from just any site. Make sure they are high authority so you don’t end up with spammy links that will do more harm than good to your rankings.