We all know that social media is fun and engaging, but should you use it exclusively instead of having a great business website?
One of the biggest reasons you should have a great website for your business is to increase your credibility and trust. Without a website, prospects may question your legitimacy as a business. Having a website is an opportunity to make a great first impression and give people trust that you’re a real business.
Here are some top reasons it’s important for your business to have a website:
- Flexibility: You can showcase your brand – however you’d like.
- You can more easily collect leads through opt-in forms and landing pages.
- A website allows you to enjoy organic search traffic, especially through mobile searches.
- A website saves you time by addressing most questions, and/or selling online.
- You can provide great customer service 24/7.
- Digital marketing is much easier with blogging, social media sharing, and landing pages.
- With a website, you can create a space strictly for testimonials, creating more word-of-mouth business.
“But isn’t social media enough?”
In most cases, businesses that use social media as their primary online presence are potentially setting themselves up for disillusionment – or worse.
Think about this: With a website. you own the domain name and content – you have creative control! After all, it’s your companies’ online hub. Your social media channels can compliment your website by engaging prospects and driving traffic to your websites’ home base.
Don’t make the mistake of doing everything from social media platforms. Your identity and content are ultimately in someone else’s hands!
Here’s some points to think about if your business is using social media exclusively:
- SAD. But not everyone uses social media.
With a properly optimized business website all prospects can find you, whether they use social media or not. - Competitors’ advertising.
As you might have noticed, social media has more and more advertising. Those ads compete with your own short-lived posts and messages for your visitors’ attention. Your website will always compete with other websites for visitors, but on social media you’re competing within the same space. - You’re relying on a third-party – you don’t “own” your assets.
For example: With all of Facebook’s changes in recent years, many businesses have either lost content and/or formatting, or have had to start all over. If Facebook goes down or deactivates your page, you would have no web presence at all. When you create content and information on your own website you maintain reliable, creative control. No hand slapping! - Social media limits creativity.
With your own website you can create a great user experience that you completely control. You can add a blog, develop an email list, engage visitors, and start building your customer base.
DO use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to perk interest, gain followers, and drive extra traffic to your company website. It’s a much better long term strategy and will help you grow your business.
Let’s create a new website together. You can improve it over time, but the key is to start.
Stacy Layman
Director, Marketing and Creative Services
Jacksonville, Florida