5 Reasons Why It Is Worth Investing in a Modern Website
Since you are reading this text, it means you are wondering why on earth you should pay an agency (often a substantial amount) to build a website. Perhaps you are thinking: “after all, I have a nice website that my nephew built for me during a school class, it has photos and a phone number.” If, on the other hand, you are just planning to “build an online presence,” you may have already heard that there are various kinds of website builders where you just need to paste a bit of content, add a few photos, and a ready-made company website is created. Why overpay? There are many reasons.
What a “modern” website actually is.
This is a question that is hard to answer unambiguously. Is it enough for the site to have been built within the last six to twelve months? Or perhaps modern technologies were used in it? Many such questions can be asked, and answering “yes” to each of them makes us partly right, but the full definition of a “modern website” is the result of all the above factors combined. On the one hand, it should be comprehensive, and on the other, it should allow the user to easily find what they are looking for. It should feature elements that intrigue the user without making it difficult to achieve the purpose of their visit. It should be visually appealing and functional at the same time. Below, you will learn about the factors that influence how a website is perceived and can help achieve online success.
- “Why do I even need a website? In the past there was no internet and business was booming.”
The above statement is completely true. The keyword here, however, is “in the past.” Today we live in realities that are very different from the realities of the past. The world has moved forward, technology has evolved. Communication channels have also changed. The Internet is currently the dominant force when it comes to mass media. Basically, any website on the internet is easily accessible at any time from anywhere on Earth. Isn't that in itself a sufficient argument for becoming part of the internet? Isn't it worth giving yourself a chance to exist on a broad scale, allowing your business to reach a wider audience? The answer seems obvious. Whether you want to buy a new TV, go on your dream vacation, or check world news, in most cases the first place you will start looking is the Internet. It is an indispensable part of the modern world, and we basically cannot cut ourselves off from it completely. A website is therefore a kind of business card - ours or our company's - based on which we can judge its professionalism or reliability. Will a company website whose last post in the “News” section was 3 years ago inspire your trust? If you run a business that provides services or sells something, you definitely want to have the largest possible audience. Wouldn't allowing them to find your company at a time convenient for them be the ideal solution?
- Responsiveness, or you are judged by how you look
Another important factor we should consider is the fact that nowadays a significant part (in some industries even 60-70%) of web traffic is generated from mobile devices. Think back - have you ever experienced a situation where, being away from home without access to a computer with a large screen that can be comfortably operated with a mouse and keyboard, you needed to find specific information online? So you typed the term you were interested in into the browser, opened the first page that matched your search, and an unreadable site appeared before your eyes, where it was hard to find anything. And even when you finally found it, to read a paragraph of text you had to do some gymnastics and swipe your finger across the screen. Nothing pleasant, especially when it's freezing and snowing outside
In such a situation, you probably left the current page very quickly more than once and opened the next one from the search results. Running your own business, can you afford to hand over potential customers to your competitors, basically without even putting up a fight for them? The buying journey for many people looks like this: first they test/try on equipment in a brick-and-mortar store, and then they look for the desired product online and buy it at the best price. To illustrate the above, let's consider the following scenario: you own an online store selling ski equipment. Let's assume that the average cart value during a user's purchase is 1,500 PLN. Every month, 2,000 users visit your site, 50% of which (that is 1,000) take place via smartphones. Let's assume a conversion rate of 5% (5 out of 100 visitors complete a purchase). Taking the above into account, we get 50 customers wanting to make a purchase in your store using smartphones. If the store is not responsive (that is, it is not adapted to display properly on mobile devices), it is highly probable that a significant part of these potential customers (determined to make a purchase) will simply leave the site immediately after entering it. Let's assume again that half of them do just that - this results in 25 lost customers. After tallying everything up, it turns out that over the course of one month we lose 25 customers, each of whom would have made a purchase for 1,500 PLN! You can see for yourself that in such a situation, the potential monthly loss resulting from losing mobile device users significantly exceeds the cost of building a website that will meet the expectations of increasingly demanding customers.
- User interaction - show that you are not a robot!
It is not uncommon that when looking for company offers to perform a service, we browse many websites, comparing their offers and prices. However, there are situations and industries where it is difficult to assess the labor input and cost of a specific service in advance, which is why contact between a potential customer and the company is essential. One of the tasks of a website is to make it as easy as possible for the user to initiate contact, or even to encourage them to do so. Elements such as contact forms, clickable links with a phone number for making a direct direct connection, or elements known as CTA (Call to Action). The more communication options you provide, the greater the chance that the user will decide to reach out. Some prefer phone contact, others would rather send an inquiry by email, and yet another group visits the site only to check the store's location and go there in person.Another factor that enables business owners to connect with potential clients is running an elegant company blog, where you can share industry insights, new additions to the company's offer, or how-to guides related to your field of expertise. It also gives you the opportunity to engage directly with users through a comments section. Running a blog with care can demonstrate the company's dedication and professional approach to its business, as well as its care for its clients.
- Will having a modern website help promote it?
Absolutely! A technically sound website has a much better chance of making its mark online than its "archaic" counterparts. The responsiveness described in the previous point plays a significant role, and it is actually required for certain online promotion channels. A professionally designed website also increases your chances of successful SEO - which is undeniably the most cost-effective element of an online marketing strategy, considering the financial investment and the results that can be achieved. In many web development agencies, the design and implementation of a website involve not only graphic designers and developers, but often also SEO specialists and professionals who test it for user experience while browsing (known as UX - https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience).Such a holistic approach to the website project right at the planning stage should be important if we are considering taking actions in the future related to promoting the website online, both through SEO, AdWords, or other forms of advertising.Add to this the ability to integrate the website with tools that track user behavior on the site and have this behavior analyzed by a specialist, and we get a wealth of information that can prove crucial to successfully promoting your company.
- What's in it for me? The benefits for the owner
The earlier points discussed the benefits that having a modern website can bring in terms of acquiring new clients, their experience, as well as promotion opportunities. However, there is another, equally important benefit that comes with such an investment: the ability to edit it yourself and expand it easily in the future! It is common knowledge that everything new eventually wears out, becomes obsolete, or simply gets boring. When we buy a new car, we enjoy it for a while - it's beautiful, everyone envies us - but after a few years, scratches appear, its components break down and need replacing, or our family grows and we suddenly need a bigger car. It's the same with a website - for it to meet all our requirements over the long haul, being able to edit, expand, or update it is essential (the latter is especially downplayed by owners, which is a huge mistake, because the internet is not as safe as it seems, and data leaks, malware infections, or unauthorized use happen time and time again).Websites equipped with a CMS (Wikipedia) come to the rescue here. In short, anyone can manage such a site; you don't need programming skills. The website owner can easily swap out photos in the gallery, edit text describing a service, or add a blog post or a new product to the store. Many different CMS engines are available, and a large portion of them are even free. WordPress is an extremely effective solution, offering virtually unlimited editing and customization options thanks to its flexibility. Naturally, not all of them can simply be set up with a few clicks; it is often necessary to commission specialists to build specific functionalities. Once properly prepared, however, such a project brings a lot of joy and satisfaction for years to come
The elements discussed above are, of course, only a fraction of the benefits that come with having a professional website. Keep in mind, however, that simply having a website does not guarantee business success on its own - yet today it is an absolute necessity if you want to think seriously about promoting your brand.