New generations of consumers are coming, those who have grown up in this digital world and who choose how to spend their money in a completely different way than our grandparents

They want information that is accurate and fast, and they only find it online. If you are not there, you do not exist for them.

We live in a digital age when almost everything is online, and everything is connected via a WI-FI network: from your computer, and phone, all the way to your washing machine or air conditioner.

We are used to having all the knowledge and content of the Internet under our fingers 24 hours a day, the Internet has become our encyclopedia of the entire world, a digital window into that world.

For anything you can think of, there are websites for it. New generations trust Internet content the most. Everything is checked online: what are the restaurant reviews, the prices of different products are compared, hundreds of comments are viewed, and impressions of the city or country we intend to travel to are read, thanks to online applications we plan the entire trip, book accommodation… We could list dozens more. dozens of sites with which all our habits have moved to the online world.

The Internet is a place that is growing at an incredible rate. As of January 2019, there were 1,518,207,412 websites. Creating websites is a business that tens of millions of people are engaged in, and every 2 minutes 380 new websites are created.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why it is said today that “you do not exist if you cannot be found on the Internet”. Although it sounds a bit funny, this is actually a very serious element for all business facilities, institutions, associations, clubs, and other organizations.

Being present on the Internet is especially important for the business world, that is, for companies and trades. We have long since left in the dust of the past those thick phone books in which our grandparents looked for craftsmen or shops.

Therefore, if you are starting a business or trade, one of the first things on the list should be creating a website. And so we will explain why in more detail.

We exist and do business

You’ve started a business or a business, but if you don’t have a digital identity, only your acquaintances and family or people who pass by your office, shop, or store know about it. And that’s it. No one else has heard of you. However, if you are online, very quickly a large number of people will find out about your company or trade, or the services or products you sell. You will be found by a group of users who need your services or products.

What we offer and who we are

On your website, you can present your company, services, and products in any way you want. You can use video materials, and photos, show on the map where you are, how to contact you and tell the story of which idea or people are behind your company. One of the greatest advantages of the Internet is that your imagination is the only limit.

Personality and visual identity

Creating websites is much more than just putting information on the internet. You address your potential customers or clients through the design of your pages and send them a message through the style of textual and visual content. Unlimited design possibilities and inexhaustible creativity in content writing are a combination that reflects the personality and visual identity of your company or trade. Customers or clients do not know much about the people behind your business, but they get their first impression through the way your website is presented. That is, it is the first step that contributes to the decision of whether they will choose you or someone else.

Promotion and sales

This is one of the most important elements of business and it becomes much easier when you have your own website. Because it is now a place where you can very easily communicate all discounts, benefits, promotions, novelties – anything you want to attract clients or customers. You can also sell all your products online if you have created a web shop on your website. Now, when everything is finally arranged properly, the whole undiscovered world of digital marketing awaits you (but that’s a whole topic for itself).

Having summarized why you really need a website – perhaps it’s easiest to continue with the reasons that are hard to contradict.

Let’s be realistic, we are entering the year 2020 and you must have your website. In fact, you needed it on the first day you started your business, but better late than never.

Therefore, let’s try to phrase the reasons in an even more logical way.

WHY DO YOU NEED A WEBSITE CREATION REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOUR COMPANY OR TRADE DOES?

Reason number 1: 30% of customers do not want to do business with a company that does not have its own website.

Your websites are your biggest asset for breaking into the market because we live in the digital age. According to some statistics, potential clients spend an average of 24 hours online in one week and are on their mobile devices between 3 and 4 hours a day. This means that clients (consumers) expect companies or trades to be present online, and all businesses that DO NOT have at least one website are considered less professional.

Reason #2: People will search for you online.

Today, more than 90% of potential clients search for local businesses online – and that’s why you need a digital marketing and website development service (if you don’t already have one).

One of the advantages of websites for small businesses or trades is that they are within easy reach of clients. There is a reason why so many companies invest in search engine optimization (SEO) websites: today, demand for a service or product starts with a Google search.

This is also confirmed by the fascinating fact that 3.5 billion terms are searched daily through the Google search engine and right now, at this very moment, someone in your area is looking for your product or service online. If you are not online, then you have missed all those clients, that is, it is as if you do not exist.

Reason #3: Most clients and consumers use websites to find and contact a business or trade.

Exactly. According to the latest research, more than 60% of consumers exclusively use the company’s website to contact it. It’s a really big part of the market pie. And when you take into account the fact that more than 90% of users start their journey to a product or service by “Googling” – the calculation is clear. Another interesting fact is that on average, consumers consider three companies, or their websites, before making a purchase decision, and a third of them automatically reject companies that do not have their own websites.

Reason #4: Website content affects all business transactions.

This especially applies to wholesalers and companies engaged in mass production for further distribution. For example, if you are a large producer of olive oil, and you only deal with distribution, your justification may be that you are simply not an online company. Totally wrong.

Smaller companies that want to sell your product and that have contacted you BECAUSE THEY FOUND YOU ONLINE, have already half made up their minds that they want to buy your product. The remaining half depends on your ability to negotiate a face-to-face sale.

In addition, a good number of such clients expect their suppliers’ websites to be a good customer channel through which they will solve possible problems.

Reason number 5: As many as 75% of consumers admit that they base their opinion about a company or trade on the design of their websites.

Translated, this would mean that users have less trust in companies that do not have an online presence (they do not have their own websites). Trust is a very important thing when it comes to making deals or making decisions about buying products or services, and the website is the first place where they will check your credibility, reviews, and the success of your business so far.

And one more very important thing – if your site design is bad or out of trend, you’re not really using it. You only have 10 seconds to make an impression on your website visitors and show them what you have to offer. After 10 seconds (or less), if you failed, customers move on.

Reason number 6: You need to quickly provide answers to basic questions.

People come to your website when they want to know something or do something. They expect fast information, which means that – after the user has come to your site – he must receive an answer to these three important questions within three seconds:

Who are you?
What do you do/what do you offer?
How to contact you?

The reason for this is that we live in a time when everything has to be NOW when consumers want to get the information they are interested in right away – and this means that your company’s or trade’s website must answer the above questions without the user having to “scroll” through the pages.

Reason number 7: It will help you fight against the big companies that are your competition.

Of course, only if they are optimized for search. For example, a smaller company that sells furniture may appear in search results before a large manufacturer.

Reason number 8: social networks are not enough.

Think you don’t need websites if you’re on Facebook and/or Instagram?

Well, it’s not really like that, because everyone else is on social networks too. Regardless of which social networks you use, YOU NEED A WEBSITE.

It is becoming more and more difficult for companies to connect with customers through social networks. And the number of visits, for example, to Facebook – in 2018 alone was 50 million hours less than the year before.

While social media can help your business, don’t rely on it as your only source of marketing and online presence, especially when considering future trends.

By now, I guess we’ve already concluded that without your website you simply don’t exist on the market. If you haven’t done it yet, it’s high time you did, which brings us to the next important question:

SHOULD THE CREATION OF WEBSITES BE LEFT TO THE PROFESSIONALS?

Absolutely YES, here’s why.

A website that is boring takes too long to load, and does not show important information that potential clients are looking for is a waste of money if you have invested in its advertising.

Nowadays, there are numerous online tools that offer enticingly easy ways to build your own websites. This is especially attractive to small business owners – because why pay for something when we can make it ourselves, right?

Well, not really.

Because your own effort to save money can do you more harm than good. Over time, you will fall further and further behind in the highly competitive world of e-commerce.

One of the biggest problems with digital marketing is that small business owners don’t realize how important their website design really is. Even to the extent that the appearance and functionality of your internet pages can determine the success of your business.

But not every so-called “web designer” can create a website that meets all the needs and criteria of small companies or trades.

These are the most frequently overlooked website design requirements (yes, even this year):

• the website must display well on all devices, including tablets

• it must be adaptable and have a well-built foundation for all new devices and ways of browsing the Internet

On the other hand, when we talk about good web design, it’s not just about meeting the minimum standard for digital marketing; web design can bring a lot of benefits to your business.

Creating well-designed websites will not only help build your brand recognition (which is very important for new businesses or trades) but also help optimize your pages for search engine optimization (SEO), which is a good way to an inexhaustible source of new clients.

The conclusion is that you will save both money and time if you leave the web design work to professionals. Here’s why.

You save money because you will immediately create a website the right way. And that’s why professional website design should not be seen as an unnecessary expense. It’s a much better idea to think about how you create websites in the long run.

Long-term: When you hire professional web designers to build your websites from scratch, you’ve saved yourself a lot of hassle. If there are any mistakes, fixing them will be cheaper and easier. On the other hand, a “homemade” website may need a complete overhaul in the near future.

Bug Fixes: Poorly designed pages have bugs. Various plugins on the pages are disrupted, compatibility problems appear, and all this then turns into one big problem in maintaining your website. But thanks to professional web design, there is little chance of such problems occurring. Even if they do happen, they can be resolved much faster when you work with professionals.

One but valuable site: Some companies still have two separate websites: one for desktop computers and one for viewing on smartphones. It is clear that it is more expensive to maintain two pages than one.

KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD WEB DESIGN

Good web design creates a visual language that is consistent across platforms. The good design actually means presenting your ideas in the form of a website.

There are a number of design elements that you need that only professional web designers can achieve:

Remember me: All your online platforms must create a meaningful whole. Brands with consistent messages create a more impactful impression. All elements of your website should complement each other. And this does not only apply to your website, but also to your pages on social networks and other digital content.

Stand out: you don’t just want clicks; you need users to stay on your website. It is necessary, especially today, to offer something special to make your site interesting to users, especially if you want them to buy a product or service.

Effective “calls to action”: these basically call for users to register, buy, contact you and visit different pages of your website. How many users will respond and how many purchases (conversions) there will be on your pages, depends on the positions where the “calls to action” are placed. You must not let your potential customers search entire pages just to contact you or buy your product.

Clean design: Your content and design must be in perfect harmony. The following should definitely be avoided: large blocks of text with lowercase letters, confusing navigation, and “calls to action” that are not prominent enough. Professional web designers will clearly present your content and guide users toward the goals you want.

Details are important: Well-chosen fonts, spacing between texts, and contrast will improve the quality of your pages because they affect their readability and functionality.

Logo: It should be at the top, before the content, on all your pages.

Main photo/video: The visuals of the home page or landing page must be aligned with your logo so that it is still easily noticeable.

Choice of colors: your internet pages should be structured in such a way that they are intuitive and that it is very easy to find the information the user is looking for.

As you can see from all of this information, websites that are “good enough” are no longer an option – you have to stand out visually.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF BADLY DESIGNED WEBSITES

The consequences of a bad design can be much worse than the additional cost of a professional web design. Bad design means losing potential clients, and that can cost you a lot more.

Here are some statistical facts that support this:

• most clients expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less (most customers won’t return to a page that’s slow)

• 44% of them will share that bad experience with their friends

• 75% of consumers form their opinion about the credibility of a company based on that company’s website

CONCLUSION

If you want to start a business that will be successful and competitive in the long term, then websites and their professional creation are absolute priorities. We live in a digital world and anyone who thinks they can do business without an internet presence will not survive in the market for long.

New generations of consumers are coming, those who have grown up in this digital world and who choose how to spend their money in a completely different way than our grandparents. They want information that is accurate and fast, and they only find it online. If you are not there, you do not exist for them.

Source: tilio.hr