Ok, Can you just make a wild guess how many websites are there as of now? How big is Internet?
You will be surprised to know that Internet is very huge, and growing up very fast on daily basis. According to the survey conducted by “Netcraft January 2018 Web Server” – there are 1,805,260,010 (which is over 1.8 billion) websites.
Why should I have a website?
Well, for that lets first understand how fast web is growing?. There is a modest growth and as per the survey people are shifting towards Internet to showcase their business online using websites.
Web – How fast is it growing?
| Month and Year | Number of Websites |
| January 2018 | 1,805,260,010 |
| January 2017 | 1,800,047,111 |
| January 2016 | 906,616,188 |
| January 2015 | 876,812,666 |
| January 2014 | 861,379,152 |
As of January 2018:
- There are 332 million registered domains…
- For over 1.8 billion websites…
- Served up by 7.2 million computers.
That might be sufficient data for you to make a move now. Few might still be thinking hard to find out at least some reason for not having a website.
What are the most popular reasons people give for not having a website?
- I am not tech savvy
- I don’t have the time
- My business is too small to have a website
- I don’t have that kind of money, websites are too expensive.
- I am already busy having sufficient workload, why create more?
If you have any of the above or similar reason for not having a website, then this article is for you. You must read it to find out – “Why you must have a professional looking website in 2019?”
I have compiled top 10 reasons for creating a website or getting it done by some professional.
Before we move ahead let us look at some more interesting facts about online world:
- More than 8o% of the visitors – search for a business or service on the internet before they make up their mind to purchase an item online, and even before buying offline.
- That comes up to approximately 30 million strong communities, who are making online world big enough to venture in it. These people hook up to Internet and spend time searching for all their needs online.
Top 10 reasons for having professional website in 2019
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Get Noticed – “I also Exist”
Show your presence by having a website
Quoting Bill Gates – “If your business in not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business”.
At the pace Internet is growing, if your business is not online – may be how good you are, you simply don’t exist. By having a website you can shout a loud that “I also exist” and you will get heard and notice across the globe just by bringing your business online.
Since this online community is growing fast, just a website might not be sufficient. It should be well planned and well designed website.
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Your Customers expect you to be there
More than 60% of the customers and the entire youth is there online and expects you to be there. If you are not there where the action is – customer will look around for the same someone else. Websites have become the mark of trust and authority and people expects brands to be there online. Brands that showcase themselves online add more value to their brands.
Since brands online are seen with great trust, customers even before buying any product offline try to collect information about that product online. If they don’t find that product or service listed on some trusted website they change their brand.
Being online you can shape the public perception about your brand. Being consistent with your content that broadcasts the “Brand Message” – creates immense credibility simply by building trust in your skill areas.
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Social Verification – Online Reviews and Ratings influence buyers
Today no doubt we socialize online. From “Birthday” wishes to “New Year” wishes are expressed on social platforms, and people love that. Since people today socialize online using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc., we rely a lot on what people are talking about on these platforms. These people rely a lot on online reviews and testimonials. That clearly shows people compare products and services on the basis of the experiences of other users which are expressed in the form reviews and testimonials.
Since we know that potential customers are comparing things online– it is a good idea to include customer reviews and testimonials on your own business site. This can build trust and can influence potential customers into buying your products or services.
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Your Competitors have a website – Can you afford not to have one?
It is a human nature we do compare and follow recommendations. Online consumers also do the same by starting with research and recommendations from peers – and today these peers are found online using social network connections. When they search and compare online – if you are not there, you have lost even before the game has begun.
Experts believe after studies that reflect – consumer after identifying their buying need, first they start by finding more information about the product or service. More than 72% of these people look around for such information online. They form their firm opinions on the basis of educational material, reviews, and testimonials found online.
If you don’t show your presence online with full authority, while your competitors are – by all means you are going to lose your business to them.
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This is your platform – Create your own story
Once you are in business, people talk about you. Since they are online, they will be talking about you online – good or bad. You having a website, create your own compelling story to shape a public perception about you.
For example, if people are talking about that your product is expensive, and not about its befits and features, you can educate them by creating a product page on your website that talks about – how your product is cheap in long run by listing all the features and user experiences.
At times wrong opinion is created about your product or services by your competitors, who are present online. Though that is not an ethical way to compete, but being online you can use your own platform to create your own story, your own followers and build a trust that weighs more that negative campaigns run by competitors against you.
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Not having a website is costlier – Having a website is cheap
In today’s scenario, you will end up paying more for not having a website, since website can save lots of money and efforts. Having a website is rather very cost effective. Websites promises better ROI (return on investment) as compared to any other form of publicity. Website is the best to market your business.
Initially planning low investment on planning a business will pay you huge rewards in the long run by getting new customers and building your brand presence.
There are free tools that can be used to create website yourself, thus saving the development costs. It is like more bang for less amount spent on your website. There are tools like wordpress that go well with thousands of themes and plugins – most of them free, can lower your cost of website development further.
You can even enable tools like Google AdSense and monetize your website and make your website paying for its own development and maintenance.
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Your business now runs 24×7, 365 days – No “CLOSED” sign required ever
Internet has made possible something that was impossible even to think about. You might not want to work at 2 a.m, but there might be someone who wants to buy your product or service at that point of time, sitting in some part of the world. It is possible today, thanks to internet.
Create a website and you are online, up and running 24×7 and 365 days a year. When your sales are not confined to just 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., it will boost up your sales since your customers are restricted by time or geography.
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Coding Skills – not such a huge barrier
You don’t know how to code, jut chill. There are tools for designing website easily and effortlessly without writing a single line of code. WordPress, joomla, Drupal are just few of the FREE website designing tools. These apart from being free tools, don’t stop you from designing any kind of website from simple blog to ecommerce store.
These tools provide extensive online video tutorials, community based support and forums – that even a novice can design a website on his own. These tools boast of getting anyone create a website in few minutes, not even hours. Though I won’t support that gesture, since website designing is time taking task but for sure it won’t be very difficult to create a website on y our own.
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Improved Customer Service = Customer retention
When you are present 24×7, 365 days a year – it improves customer service as customer can communicate with you at his or her convenience. Customer can address their issues any time and you will be able to answer to their grievances on time leaving them happy.
Somebody has rightly said – Good Customer Service means customer retention. Customer will repeat orders and will come back again and again.
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Let people Google you – Website can make you show up in search results
As per survey more than 80% of consumers perform online search to do some research on product or service before making a purchase. That simply means they “Google” by typing search criteria – Google calls that as “Keywords”, for example “Best Speakers”, “Best leather purse under Rs.5000” or “Website designer near me” and Google finds related website links to help its visitor.
If your business is not showcased online, Google won’t be able to find you. Having a website gives you a chance to rank on Google search engine, though you might have to optimize your website to compete with other websites. Even if you don’t do any optimization Google algorithm does recognize good content and as your domain ages and you keep the good work going, your website will start showing on Google search results.
Conclusion
Not having a website is like taking your business on a suicide path. You must have a website in 2019 to be there where the action is – a marketplace that is growing by leaps and bounds. As more and more people join this marketplace it will become more and more difficult to compete with them. Sooner the better, plan a website and execute your plan and make your business leverage from the benefits of internet.
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