15 Reasons Why We Need to Have a Website in the Post-Pandemic Era; 2022

 Why websites are crucial for our businesses in 2022? We are living in an era in which technology is evolving faster than light speed! Therefore, it is nonsense not to have a website for your businesses, whatever they are! In a world where people even go to classes online, it is normal for every possible business to have a website.
It has been 26 years since users launched the first website, and ever since, online services have been on the rise, even till this moment which I am writing this article! Still, despite this enormous rise, 49% of small businesses do not have an online environment. Based on the research results regarding the extent to which people search online for services, for example, Canadian spend 36.3 hours per month surfing the web, which is 35.2 hours for American users.
But, before we elaborate on why we need websites for our businesses, let's talk about why some business owners resist establishing a website for their businesses. Well, it is controversial, but the top excuse for not having a website is, "O come on, I'm not tech-savvy; I don't know a thing about managing a website." Or even "Websites are good, but I don't have the time to check on them!!!" The latter is annoying; one of the primary reasons why people build a website in the first place is that they want to save time!
Let's talk statistics a bit to give you scientific proof of why all businesses, whether local or not, need a website. According to Beamlocal, "81% of people research a business or service on the internet prior to making a purchase decision. That's 25.92 million people searching for businesses online. Yet, 46% of business owners listed "Business currently doesn't need one" as their #1 reason for not having a website." So, no matter what kind of business you have, in order to be seen and trusted, especially in the post-pandemic era, you need to have a website; To ensure that statement, I'll propose 15 top reasons, stay with us!

Nowadays, people tend to elicit the information they need from the Internet. Old school ways are not the answer anymore! Potential users try to use their smartphones to search for the nearest clinic or pharmacy to go to. They would search to know which company and services are the best to use and which online shops are trustworthy enough to purchase a product online. So, if you see any marketing principles, not having a website is not parallel to them in this technology-evolving time!

Years ago, a well-trusted store would have an actual address to go to and buy things; but, today, with the evolving of technology, customers would look for your website, for it is one of the significant factors providing authenticity for your business.
Not having a website would form tons of questions for your audiences and makes them suspicious; Is this clinic operating legally? Are they good at their job? If they are professionals, why don't they have a website yet? And many other negative thoughts you DO NOT be in your customers' heads.
In fact, users tend to use your rivals with designed websites in which they show their products and contain enough information regarding their purchasing services; and to be honest, it makes sense! For example, whenever I want to purchase a product on Amazon, I would look at the customers' feedbacks who have already purchased the product.

Having a website gives you a permanent presence in the online environment. Just look at it like an advertising billboard, through which you can gain tons of visitors and promote your credibility. You see, it is only installed online instead of physically in the margins of a highway that thousands of people pass across it!
Note that developing a website is not the only factor that can increase the credibility of your business. Still, you have to be actively and interactively involved in your website, for example, upload relative content, introduce coming discounts and so on. Other vital factors could be Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Content Optimization through which you can absorb tons of visitors and customers to your website

Suppose you own a business that operates in the real world as well. In that case, you must have experienced when you asked your customers to write down their information to inform them about the latest products and services or even seasonal or occasional discounts.
What if you would lose that piece of paper? You would probably lose a potential customer. But, thanks to Google and websites, you won't lose your customers' info ever again, and you can send them updates about your business monthly, weekly, and even daily!

According to Optinmonster, "Online shopping is growing so fast that the global online shopping market size nearly hit 4 trillion in 2020. And in the US alone, we're expecting to have 300 million online shoppers in 2023." You can see the number of customers who prefer to stay at home while sipping their hot coffee purchase for whatever on earth they desire. Considering these statistics if you don't own a website you would lose an enormous market. Still, want to resist developing a website for your business?! UNBELIEVABLE!

Let's think you have a bicycle shop. Lots of people like to know about a product before finalizing their decision on purchasing it. Now, if you also have a website for that and provide relative content about each bicycle with pictures, for example, you would see how magically it can revolutionize the number of customers who come to your store in real life.
Although 90% of purchases are done in the stores, having a website in which you entirely and explicitly explain the features of the products you have in your store is one of the modern marketing approaches through which many business owners are absorbing customers.

Okay, you're not tech-savvy, and you know nothing about managing a website; but please tell me how much you can keep your store open? What if a customer desires to purchase a product at 3 A.M. on Sunday? Yeah, websites have their perks too. Let's think you have a well-known apparel business, but you don't own a website for it. In the real world, another apparel store can hardly compete with you; on the contrary, that very rival may precede you and gain online authenticity in the online environment. This authenticity may lead to a reputation in the real world and may cause a dwindle in the number of your customers. Therefore, develop your website to even stay on top in real-world marketing and gain more customers for what it's worth.
By the way, if you are an apparel business owner and plan to develop a website for your business, check out our professional article about online apparel business.

Based on what Go Creative has found, " Let’s look at some rough numbers. Say you save just 15 minutes per day by being able to refer customers to your website instead of going through it on the phone or face to face. And now let’s say you have five staff doing the same thing. That’s 15 minutes X 5 staff X 5 days per week x 45 weeks a year. That’s a whopping 280 hours a year that could be spent on improving your business!"
Every salesperson knows how time-consuming dealing with customers is. But websites are the time saviours of the business owners. Back on that apparel example, you may include every crucial detail your customers would need to select a particular, and they do the rest. Also, you may provide answers to some common questions or, in general, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Consequently, you'd be able to assign the time you saved to do more valuable things; Ta-Da!

Yeah, social media can play an essential role in interacting with your customers and reply to their messages and requests. However, websites can provide a better platform to do so. Believe it, or not many people check on reviews on websites to decide whether they are worthy of their trust and purchase or not. Therefore, if you have a website, you can post your positive testimonials, directly affecting the reviews on your website.

Let's think you own a very well-known local shoe industry, and one of your potential customers introduces you to their friend. Well, if he already doesn't know anything about your shop, s/he wouldn't just rely on your advice, and definitely search online environment to see whether your customer's claim is valid or not. Therefore, provided that there would be a website that is actively operating and interacting with its customers can give you a hand in proving your reliability.

Based on what we see today in the marketing world, online shopping is massively increasing. As we all know, it is always beneficial to invest your time and money in a developing area. If you have a website for, let's say, an apparel business, provided that you would use relevant and frequent keywords in your content and URL, you can attract some customers thanks to Google's search engine mechanism. Day by day, the number of visitors would grow, and they would change into potential customers. Consequently, they would give feedback about the purchases they've made on your website. Add positive testimonials and gain permanent authority among all your audiences, whether they are buyers or not!

A website provides you with the quality to use maps and show your store's location to your customers, especially those who found you online and maybe plan to pay a visit. Your customers are not local necessarily; for example, you have a store located in Vancouver, but you also provide services online for Ohio or Toronto. If a customer from, let's say, Toronto would visit Vancouver and are familiar with your shop, they probably would want to see your shop and interact with you face to face. So, if you show your location by embedding a map into your website, it would be a piece of cake for your long-distance customers to find your store.
There are also some tricks to encourage them to visit your store; for example, you can put special offers on some of your products that would only be available for those who visit the store personally.

Initiating a Website might be intimidating at the beginning, and it may take a while, based on your proficiency in website management, to develop it regarding its credibility and visibility. However, if you maintain your patience, it would definitely result in a positive and rewarding way. After gaining the trust of all your customers, whether they know you from the real world or online, your website starts to pay off all the effort you put into flourishing it, and BOOM! You're making a fortune every month or, in some cases, every day!

Having a local business alone is a significant reason why you should develop a website for your business. When a user in a particular location, given Vancouver, searches for a specific product or company, Google would show the nearest local stores, provided that they have a website. Therefore, if you own a local business offering a particular service or product, having a website is a big help to guide your customers into your store.

To be the first store that comes to people's minds when thinking about purchasing a particular product, you should have a website. If you establish a website for your business and try to develop it properly, it positively helps you advertise your branding. Consequently, you would be famous enough to be searched by your brand, and that's the time when no one can compete with you. Such a satisfactory, no?!


So…!

You see?! there's a lot of reasons, convincing reasons to be honest, that you SHOULD have a website for your business, whether local or not, small or not. Websites are crucial components of today's marketing and are referred to as digital business cards. Moreover, you know how negatively the pandemic engaged all businesses, and money-making was demanding; therefore, this pandemic helped online shopping to be on top. Nowadays, in this "post-pandemic era," it is still the most used and trusted way of purchasing.