Do I Need a Business Website?

In today’s digital age, having a website for your business is becoming essential. More and more consumers are turning to the internet to find products/services and information. Thus having a business website will certainly have more advantage over not having a website.

Singapore business owners often ask this question. Do i need a business website?
Well, there can be different answers just to this question alone.

Just from thinking on the surface, perhaps there are businesses which do not need a website at all.
A hawker stall that sells Kambing soup and are earning good stable income especially within the neighbourhood and from their regular customers, they are not looking to expand, and may already have a good reputation for their stall. And perhaps our neighbourhood friendly “Mama Shop” at the HDB void deck which caters to the neighbourhood.
That is their business strategy, perhaps a life-time one.

If we ask ourselves some other questions, we may perhaps find the answers within us.
What is our Business strategy?
What is our Marketing strategy?
What do we want to achieve for our businesses?

A hawker stall that sells Kambing soup, may want to elevate their brand and online presence to reach out to more potential customers. This business may also be opened to ideas such as Franchising in Singapore or to other countries. They may be selling their own soup base paste, or their catering services.
And having a business website is one of their tactics to achieve their strategy.

To have a full context to the question, let us look at the reasons to not have a business website as well as the benefits of having a business website.

From speaking to our clients or potential clients, we often hear these. Be it to engage a partner for their websites or to create their own Business Website. These are the most common reasons to not have a Business Website.

First and foremost, cost. To build and maintain a website. Website hosting and domain name to design and development of the hosting do add up to the cost. 

Having a website do require costs, but there are also many options available that may align with your budget for a business website.

There are business owners whom decide to save cost and decide to create a website by themselves, but the lack of technical knowledge is the first hurdle to go through.

You do not need to do custom coding to build a website. There are different options to look at and perhaps Wordpress may be a suitable solution.
Though there are also many online and free resources to make up for this, but not everyone are inclined towards learning the technical knowledge and eventually applying it in a short time.

It can be overwhelming when creating and/or maintaining a website as it is additional effort on-top of your daily work and you may not have the manpower to do so.

Depending on your Business and Marketing Strategy, there are a few ways to make up for this.
If having a website is for the long run to your business, you may start by having a website first. Then schedule for content creations and website maintenance at a later phase.
You may also consider to partner up with an agency or freelancer for example, to help you take care of these.

Yes we know. Social media is a “must have” to many businesses and some business owners may think social media alone is sufficient to promote their business online. Sure, there are a lot of traffic on social media, is free to use and also allows your customer to reach you instantly and vice-versa. But it should not be relied on as your sole online presence.

You do not have full control over your online presence on social media. Social media platforms are owned by 3rd party companies, they may change their algorithms at any time, which may negatively impact your business’s visibility.

Millions of people are using the internet to search for products and services, having a website can help you to reach a wider audience. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your site.

A well-designed website can help to improve your business’s credibility. It shows that you are a legitimate business and that you take your online presence seriously. A website can also provide potential customers with valuable information about your business, such as your products and services, testimonials (social proof), and contactable information.

Unlike a physical storefront, a website is available 24/7, which means that customers can access your business anytime, anywhere. This can be particularly useful for businesses that operate in different time zones or have customers located around the world. You may also have “night-owl” potential customers seeking for your products and find the information they want in the middle of the night.

Compared to traditional forms of marketing, such as print or television ads, a website can be a cost-effective way to promote your business. You can use your website to showcase your products and services, share industry news and updates, and engage with your customers through blog posts and social media.

Together with the use of tools such as Google Analytics, you may gather different information for use in your next marketing plan.

A website can also help improve your customer service by providing customers with a way to contact you and access important information about your business. You can use your website to provide answers to frequently asked questions, offer online support, and even process orders and payments.

A business website is certainly essential and advantageous. There are many results that it can deliver to your business but it has to be well planned and developed.
There are definitely many more factors to consider when building your business website, and if you need help in this aspect for your business, you can always reach out to us below.