Is your local small business making the most of your website?

Why a website can eliminate time and money spent on recruiting

It’s true, having a website for your local business can bring a lot of benefits to your business. It can open up your business to customers, bring in more revenue, and help you promote your brand. But there’s another way a website can help build your business, and will save you time and money.

That’s when you use it to recruit new members to your team.

It’s no secret that recruiting new staff is a big expense for any business owner. Ads often need to be placed, time needs to be spent collecting resumes and applicants are often briefly talked with before their actual interview. It takes a lot of time away from the business owner that they could be spending on their business. And it can be expensive. But a website can change all that.

When you include a Careers page on your website, you can easily advertise that you are currently hiring. Those page on the website can then be shared across social media channels, letting people right in your neighbourhood know that there are positions available. Those interested can apply right online, through your website, and even upload their resume in many cases, depending on the software being used.

You no longer need to be actually present to speak to applicants, or to collect resumes. You can simply review them when you have a minute to spare. And spending money on ads in the classifieds are definitely a thing of the past.

While there are many obvious benefits to business owners that have a website, being able to recruit new staff members is a huge one that often goes unnoticed. It’s just one more way having a website will work for you.

Your website can generate income

Many local business owners feel as though they have to fight for every dollar they make for their business, particularly when comparing themselves to the Amazons and Targets of the world. But, there’s an easier way to do it than posting flyers all over town and feeling as though you’re living your life on social media. That is by creating a website.

When a local business has a website, they immediately open themselves to a much larger customer base. Consider that approximately 47 percent of customers around the globe are online every day. And while they may be searching for answers to common questions, many of them are also shopping and looking for businesses that can help them! That means that just by having a website, more people will be able to find you, contact you, and purchase from your business. There’s no more fighting for every dollar. Your website will do that for you even when you’re out actually living your life.

But, as a local business owner, you may be thinking that you’re not reaching out to customers around the world. You’re just trying to reach out to those in your own community. And a website will let you do that, too. Just because customers are in your area doesn’t automatically mean they know about you. The chances are good they’re out there right now, looking for a business just like yours and have no idea there’s one right around the corner. A website can change that.

When those customers are out there, they’re often looking at their phones trying to find your business. Having a website will let them find you more quickly, because the search engines they’re using to find you will deliver them local results. When they do, they’ll head on over to your website or your business and start learning how you can help them solve their problem with your product. This will greatly help generate income for your business and it’s one of the best ways to work smarter, not harder.

Give potential customers an inside look at your local business

If you’re a local business owner that has been using the traditional forms of advertising, such as signage and flyers, you may have a problem and not even know it. You have no way of knowing how effective those methods of advertising are. There’s no way to track them, so you could essentially be sending all that advertising out there without it being effective at all. Yet you keep on doing it, because you simply don’t know that it’s not resonating with your customers. So, what’s the answer? Creating a website that can be tracked.

A website is many things but first and foremost, it is the most effective marketing tool a local business owner can use. You can use it to promote your products, increase brand awareness, and establish yourself as the authority in your industry. But what’s even better is that you can track those marketing efforts.

Analytics such as Google Analytics can be placed onto a website and it will track every type of activity on your site. You’ll be able to see how many visitors are coming to your site, how many of those are unique visitors that have never been on the site before, how many people are ‘bouncing,’ or visiting and never returning, and more. All of these tracking measures give you an inside look at your website, and your business, so you can know without a doubt how effective your marketing efforts really are.

Stop spending money on marketing efforts that you really have no way of knowing just how effective they are. Instead, create a website that can be tracked and measured, and is often much more effective than those other forms of marketing anyway.

Improve your business credibility 

These days there are so many ways to reach out to customers, local business owners have made the mistake of thinking that they don’t really need a website. After all, with so many social media channels out there allowing you to reach out to customers in an instant, why both with a website at all?

However, while social media is a great way to interact with customers, it can never replace the value of a website for the local business owner. One of the biggest reasons for this is because while a social media profile won’t help build credibility for the business, a website with a top-notch design will.

This is simply because a website will legitimise a business. Customers can turn to the Home page to learn about the values of your business. They can then head on over to the About Us page that will tell them more about the business. After that, if they have further questions, they can wander over to the Contact page that will let them get in touch with you in an instant.

All of this goes a long way in establishing you as the most credible source in your industry. And it’s not something many social media platforms can do.

In addition to all of this, when creating a website you’ll often get a certain number of email addresses that can reflect your actual business. This is important, as a a large percentage of consumers view a company-branded email address as more credible than a generic one, such as Gmail or Outlook. It simply looks more professional, and that can have a big impact on your credibility, and your business.

So while it’s true that there are dozens of ways to reach out to customers online today, remember that they don’t replace the best way of all to do it – creating a website. Social media will only do so much for your credibility, while a website can see it really take off and cement that credibility into the minds of your customers.

Open up your business to customers 24/7 

It can be difficult for any business owner to be available to their customers around the clock every day of the week. And when customers can’t reach a business, they’ll often look elsewhere trying to get a solution to their problem right away. It can be a frustrating predicament for local business owners, knowing that sometimes they’re losing out on business simply because they can’t be around. However, a website can be the answer, ensuring business owners don’t lose out on any more business.

When a local business has a website up and running, customers can easily find it online and get the answer they’re looking for. Plus, if the website has a way for customers to make purchases directly from the site, that business can be generating revenue even though there’s no one actually there to help customers. With a website, it doesn’t matter if customers visit after business hours, on weekends, or even on holidays.

This is something not even social media can do. With social media, business owners still need to be available to reply to customers and give them the information they need. And in many cases, it can be difficult for customers to actually make a purchase on social media, particularly when that business doesn’t have a website customers can be directed to.

When a business has a website, it’s a great help to customers. And they likely won’t go looking for someone else to do business with, as they may when a business doesn’t have a website. It’s also beneficial for the local business owner because they’re not losing out on business simply because they’re not around.

With a simple website, businesses can be available to customers 24/7, which is a win for everyone!

Looking for more tips on how to maximise your reach online?

Don’t get left behind in the social media and the digital marketing revolution! REACH your community and grow your business.

If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to touch base with us any time. Slight Edge Digital is here to help your local business online!

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