Whether you are running a business, organisation or you are a freelance skilled worker; having a professional website in this digital age is absolutely vital. Today, almost everyone is online searching for specific products and services on the web. Becoming part of this online community could open doors and naturally give your brand more visibility.
There is no better way to cut down advertisement costs when you have a professional looking website up and running. It will not just boost sales or credibility, but it could help convert your frequent visitors into customers if they could have a view of your products or services at their fingertips.
A lot of people would say:
I have social media pages working well for me why would I need a website?
My business is too small for a website.
My type of work doesn’t require a website.
Well, I am advising you to get away from that misconception this year and try to think about what you can achieve online with a website. As a professional Web Designer for over 6 years now, I am going to help you adequately understand how a professional website can give you or your brand an ideal online presence.
What is a Website?
Let’s start from the basics. To begin with, you need to understand what a website really is? To make it simple, let’s separate the coined words which are Web and Site. The web is just short for World Wide Web and Site means a section or portion. Therefore, a website is a portion in the World Wide Web. Pretty simple right?!
Technically, a website is collection of web pages that is identified by a common domain name published on a web server on the Internet. All publicly accessible websites collectively formed the World Wide Web. Websites come in different forms and purposes, it could be an online store, a directory listing, a social networking site, a portfolio site, a news or hobby blog, a video streaming site, and the list goes on.
Why Do You Need To Invest On a Website?
Now that you have briefly understood what a website really is, let’s dive in so I can give you 10 reasons why you need one for your brand .
1. Modern Customers Expect it
Today’s customer expects you to typically have a website, so they can know more about your business and services. They would also want to know how you do business, which clients you have worked with, your pricing and other relevant details so that they can wisely decide to buy, subscribe or hire you.
2. It Makes Your Brand Look More Credible
Today, many online users would naturally like to go on Google Search to find out about a brand they just heard about. Would they think you not credible if they don’t find you online? Not necessarily, but having a website is an excellent way to communicate your value to your visitors and show them that you are serious about your business and can be trusted.
I receive potential clients who messaged me right after navigating my website and then later hire me without even meeting me face-to-face. This is because they have gone through my business website, flipped over my portfolio, read through client testimonials, read articles I have published related to my work and get to know who I am through my personal website. This actually gives them confidence to hire me without hesitation.
3. Talk Less and Show More
Having a website will cut down the time, you spend answering frequently asked questions about your business or organisation. No more answering questions about your specific location, services you provide, or hours of active operation. It’s all available on your website. A place where you can showcase your valuable products, remarkable success stories, client testimonials, product reviews for your visitors to see. Your visitors need proof so they can start building trust.
4. It’s Your Brand’s House On The Web
This day, your website can be your virtual office while you are technically working in your bedroom. This is what many freelancers like myself and small business owners use today to boost their businesses and generate more leads. If you can’t afford to rent a space for your local business, start with a professional website. This is how I started in 2015 by creating a website for my personal brand and business, and it paid well afterwards.
5. You Can Reach Out To a Wider Market
A recent study revealed that during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic we have spent about 1.6 trillion hours on our mobile devices. Since then, this has accelerated mobile commerce and online usage in general. Customers spent more time shopping online, subscribing to services, checking on product reviews like never before. So, if your business is still offline, you are missing out. Managing a website will help you reach out to a broader market and meet more potential clients.
6. Be In Charge of Your Content
When you maintain your own website, you have control over your content. You can create automated backups, you can move your content from one web host to another easily. You can customise the way you want your content to display and most importantly you are not limited. Do not rely on social media a 100%. Social media platforms should be your secondary revenue channel not your primary. Use it as a gateway to refer customers to your website.
Well, imagine if you are selling products on Instagram or other social media platforms and for some reasons their servers go down, you would lose your primary revenue channel. This means you’ll have to wait until their servers are back online because all your content are with them. I’m not saying this may not happen to your website, but at least you will have a copy of your data in case of a worse case scenario. If social media is working for you, that’s fine but if it stops operating that’s disastrous. It’s better to acquire your own house than keep renting.
7. Easily Understand Customer Behaviour With Analytics Tools
Using analytic tools on your website will help you easily gather data about visitors. As a business owner, you would want to know what type of online users are navigating your website, where are they visiting from, which pages or products do they visit most, how do they reached your website, are they navigating your website on a mobile or desktop? These are relevant data that could aid you to optimise and improve your website so that you can focus more on what is important to your visitors.
8. You Can Keep Your Visitors Focus
When visitors are on your website, they can easily focus on your products or services than when they are checking you on social media. There’s too much of information on social media that could easily distract users when they want to concentrate. On the contrary, if they are on your website, it’s like they are in your house and can instantly jump from one page to another without social distraction.
9. Business Information is Accessible 24/7
Having a website up and running means information about your business is always accessible at any time, and not limited to only business hours. You can have a ChatBot on your website that replies to messages while you are away. Or you can allow your visitors to quickly send you a message on your WhatApp with a single click.
10. Easy To Manage With Content Management System
Today, website management is quite easy with CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress and Wix. You do not need technical skills to efficiently manage your website content. I have been building websites with WordPress for many years now, and my clients can easily manage their content without much of my help.
So, Do You Really Need a Website?
Yes! You do. I am a Web Designer telling you that you need a website, hmmm!
To be honest with you, I experienced how my business and personal websites supported my brand grow from a freelancer to an agency in a short period of time. I have also helped many clients acquire a website. And this what some of them say about my work.
I am really happy with you and I do not hesitate to recommend you anywhere. Since you built my website, I never encounter any problem with you or the website. You are very cooperative and reasonable.
Director, International Community College
I have found working with Ousman Faal very interesting. I gave him a contract to design the Gambia Youth Chamber Of Commerce website ( www.gycc.gm) and this was done efficiently and exactly the way we wanted it. I therefore strongly recommend his services to any company/organization as he is very efficient, patient and skillful and overall the passion and PR shown to customers, well done and keep inspiring.
CEO, Gambia Youth Chamber of Commerce
I most highly recommend Faalen Technologies for Website Creation and hosting. The Website Development giant is run and managed by Ousman Faal, a young Gambian with high level of consummate professional and extreme courteousness. A big part of his success stemmed from his relentless work ethics which resulted in impressive productivity. He exceeded all of GYIN Gambia’s expectations and it is a pleasure working with them.
Executive Director, Global Youth Innovation Network, The Gambia
Ousman and his team helped us customise our website. Once you get started, you realise that this isn’t just a job for the folks. It is their passion. They communicate well and take their time to help you through some technicalities that tend to put off non technologists. And service is affordable! What touched me the most is how they quickly identify with your mission.
Blogger, Malagen.org
If you are convinced by these 10 points and testimonies from my clients and decide to acquire a website, here is the deal. First visit my business website faalentech.com to see what we have already accomplished or send me a WhatsApp message and have a 10% discount for reading through this article.
Ousman Faal [Digital Vigilante] is a Tech Entrepreneur & Digital Skills Trainer who teaches both in the classroom and online. He has experience in various technologies and likes sharing it with others. Ousman has published 149 articles on this blog. He is the CEO of Faalen Technologies and Skills.gm.
