Website development for Small and Mid-size Enterprises (SMEs) raises awareness of product and service offerings and sets your brand apart from competitors. There are 8 reasons why website development is key to building a successful online presence for SMEs.
- Establish business credibility
A website for SMEs serves as its official presence online. This digital space is where businesses share their product offerings and services along with their mission statement, value proposition, team, and anything else related to the company. The more online visibility, the more business credibility established with current customers and prospects.
- Maintain ownership
Website development can help safeguard your brand identity. Having your own web address and domain name will prevent issues such as surrendering control of your brand to a third-party website or, even worse, social media platforms who can, have, and will shut down your page without warning, justification, or recourse. Choose a reputable web hosting company to host your domain (website) and so that you own and can protect your brand, business, and online presence.
- Improve search rankings
Website development for SEO purposes can help strengthen your online presence and make it easier for customers to find you. Optimizing your SEO ranking will put your website on top of search engine results pages (SERPs) and give you a considerable edge from competitors in terms of ranking for specific keywords.
- Make navigation easy
Developing the website for SMEs should lead to user-friendly navigation. Information on each web page must be easily accessible at fast loading speeds. Including of a search box will enable visitors to be directed to what they’re looking for. Ensure good navigation capabilities during website development and you will be rewarded with more organic traffic.
- Gather important data about customers
Websites for SMEs can help with lead generation and targeted email list. As your site receives more traffic, there are higher chances that their satisfactory browsing experience or purchase journey will make them refer your products and/or services to others – either shared on social media platforms or by word-of-mouth testimonials.
- Provide visual content on the website
Without websites, it would be more challenging for SMEs to encourage leads and prospects to access what they offer – especially if there are already well-known competitors in the market. A professional web designer can help business owners choose visually appealing but appropriate images, videos, sound files, and other media to go along with promoted products and services.
Visual content provides users with a clear picture of advertised brand merchandise, makes it easier to drive the message home, and improves the chances of getting more visitors on the site.
- Become a thought leader
People want to know they are supporting or promoting businesses that are trustworthy and are knowledgeable of the ins and outs of the industry. Having a small business website means having the freedom to post valuable content and the power to share industry knowledge and insights that customers will find useful.
- Increase sales
Developing a website will enable SMEs to attract more users which translates to higher sales. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the digital transformation of businesses worldwide – and there’s no reason you shouldn’t start creating and managing your own website right now.
According to a McKinsey study, more than 80% of customer interactions during the pandemic are digital in nature. Companies must re-focus their digital marketing strategies to ensure that their products and services are easily accessible and readily available online. When digitization is a top priority for SMEs, it increases online purchases and sales.
ClinkIT Solutions is a Multi-Gold Certified Microsoft Partner that provides bespoke website development and design as well as digital marketing, cloud, cybersecurity, and software services. Get in touch today.