Every aspect of a website is connected to other aspects of a business. And there are many such connections. Connections which result in substantial impact for any business, that influences how it operates. Understanding these connections, and taking advantage of their impact, is one of the smartest moves you can make, in the process of growing your business.
The first step in understanding the impact a website has on your business, is to appreciate the fact that, a website is nothing more than a tool: a very powerful tool. And like all tools, you need to figure out how to effectively use it, in order to get the best out of it.
A website can be considered to be the hub in a wheel, that is attached to spokes when visualising the business. As the hub, a website can act as the central feature of this wheel, to which the spokes, which are the various aspects of your business, are connected. The ultimate objective of the spoke and hub analogy, is increasing customer engagement and improving sales.
A website’s design has a significant impact on how your business will be perceived. A great web design dictates how people perceive your brand, which in turn has an impact on the level with which customers are willing to engage with the brand.
By looking at the design of a website, customers will be influenced to make the decision of whether they find your business trustworthy or reliable. The quality of a website design, is a direct determinant of levels of trust, between your business and its customers.
When you decide to get a website for your business, you should bear in mind that website design is a very important consideration. If your business already has a website, you should ask yourself whether the existing design engenders feelings of confidence and trust, with your customers. You should get the website redesigned if the conclusion is that it does not.
I often echo the statement that says “content is king”, and you will find me mentioning this on several occasions. Content is what brings people to a website, and has them coming back for more. Instead of just telling customers about the business, your content should offer more in terms of value to them.
The content on a website presents an opportunity for you to reach out to your customers, by appealing directly to their sense of value. If you provide valuable content, you have the opportunity to make a great impact amongst your customers.
A website is a perfect place to get feedback from your customers. Reliable feedback is necessary for your business to progress. It allows you to hear directly from your customers and improve accordingly, where and when required to do so.
The good thing about feedback mechanisms from a website, is that they do not require constant management. A form can be set up once to collect data, and notify you by email when there is a response. Furthermore, the data collection happens at all hours of the day, making feedback mechanisms from a website very effective.
A website can be setup to conduct transactions on your website in a hands-off manner, just like when collecting feedback from a form. Selling from your website has the potential to reach a wide audience, as there are no physical barriers to think about.
When people think of e-commerce, they tend to picture online stores with categories of physical products, ready to add to a shopping card. This does not necessarily have to be the case. Your business can apply the e-commerce concept to services such as trips for a travel agency or graphic designs for a design agency.
Every business can benefit from acquiring more information about its customers. Websites present the best opportunity for you to gain insight into who engages with your business.
Statistical data can be collected from systems embedded within the website itself, such as Google Analytics, from which you can make analytical and strategic decisions.
By studying website stats and analytics you can establish buying patterns. Where your customers predominantly come from. Which pages are most popular, and more. This is vital data that will facilitate the decision making process. By looking at this data you can decide how to better allocate resources to improve your business’ performance.
Advertising is an important aspect of your business, and a website can also play a central role in this regard. Furthermore, when you advertise on other websites and platforms, your website becomes the destination to which you direct potential customers.
If you are advertising with search engines such as Google to obtain sales leads, a website is indispensable. You need to have a central place, that provides landing pages for your ad campaigns from the search platform.
Whilst it is possible to interact on social media without a website, it is more effective to do so with one. A website becomes the home for some of the articles that you would like your potential customers to easily access. Through the content from your website that you post on social media, customers will have another point of contact and interaction with your business.
Posts on social media are highly chronological in nature and are for the most part, only accessible chronologically. As a result, it is not easy for people to revisit your posts after some time has passed. With a website, you always have a consistent location through which content can be accessed, which makes it easier to refer to old content.
It is best to think of a website and social media, as operating in tandem rather than in isolation. There are times when you need to send your potential customers to your social media profiles from your website, and other times when your send them from your social media profiles to your website.
A website impacts your business in many and positive ways. The design and content on the website speak volumes for your brand, and you can configure your website to perform a wide range of specific functions.
Furthermore you can achieve so much, in terms of interaction with your customers, and a website provides a means for you to gain insight into their behaviour, thereby promoting growth and success. I can only think of a few ways for your business to have greater impact, other than through a website.
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