Why Is It Mandatory for all business to own a website?

In today’s digital age, the internet has provided everyone with an avenue to conduct their businesses online. Within the last decade, social media platforms have become one, if not the most powerful, source of marketing and promotion. Recent updates also allowed businesses to sell directly to users on Instagram and Facebook.

The recent pandemic has forced businesses globally, to embrace technology. Harnessing the power of tech, eCommerce can help businesses overcome present challenges and unlock potential growth opportunities.

The urgency of the digital transformation is very real. This might make you think it would be wiser to skip website development altogether and head straight to social media. Unfortunately, there are other factors to consider in order to successfully launch your business online.

Besides being beneficial for you in the long run, here are some key reasons why having a business website is still necessary in 2023:

Business Credibility
Business credibility and trust is key to gaining new customers

In the world of business, credibility and trust is key to gaining new customers. A website adds legitimacy. In a sea of competition, online businesses that stand out and convince potential customers to buy from them are the ones that make a profit.

A well-designed website helps you make a more convincing sales pitch to these users. This drastically increases your odds for conversion compared to businesses without a website.

Increased Brand Visibility
The digital age is highly saturated with information. People want more information on a specific product or service before they decide to buy it. With over 80,000 Google searches submitted every second, getting ranked on the first page of Google is not easy.

This is true especially if your business’ presence is exclusive to social media platforms. When searching on Google, you see results related to keywords ‘read’ by the Google algorithm on the website’s contents, not through apps.

Optimising specific keywords on your webpages will allow your website to show up whenever users research specific products and services. Being on the first page of Google increases your chances of being the place where customers choose to buy from.

Stronger Control of Your Brand’s Online Presence
If you create a website for your business with its own domain name and hosting, the content belongs to you. You have the freedom and flexibility to control how you convey your brand story and present it to an audience.

This can be done through different elements like design, copy and images. No social media site completely allows this and the content you post there technically no longer belongs to you.

Saves time and provide better customer service
Social media, with more than 3 billion people using it, makes it easy for you to reach a wide-ranging audience. But having a website provides potential customers a consolidated avenue for everything your business offers.

A website can help your business provide better customer service because of the amount of information it can house. This includes all your products or services and a Frequently Asked Questions page.

A highly personalised User Experience (UX) to guide customers to the information they need will also make things better. This saves you considerable time and energy you would otherwise have spent answering all your Direct Messages (DMs) every time a user can’t find something on your socials.

High return of investment
If you are planning to market your business, a website should be at the top of your list. While it requires a small investment to get started, your website, if done right, should pay dividends. Building your brand and driving new and potential customers to it will guarantee returns.

A study has also found that eCommerce website traffic has significantly increased in 2023, partly due to COVID-19. Yes, social media is incredibly easy to use compared to managing a website. Fortunately, you don’t need to be tech-savvy to get started on creating a website either.

A simple productivity method; the Ivy Lee method

Today there are lots and lots of ways, methods, and applications to improve your productivity. And with each new application that comes to the market, we see a new feature never seen before that promises to revolutionize your productivity. However, even in so many ways, methods, technology, usability, and everything else that exists, there is always one piece that seems to fail in all of them: ourselves.

And the main advantage of this method is that it is easy to start and maintain. Especially for those who have tried tools and methods, ended up not being able to keep the practice, but still want to try again with a simpler method, but which can be equally effective.

The secret of this method is to prioritize priorities in a focused and as simple as possible and consists of only six steps, listed and commented below:

1 – Define your life values ​​and life goals, both in the professional and personal areas.

Without goals and values, you won’t know where to go, what shortcuts you shouldn’t take, or whether you’re getting where you should be going. So take the time to define your values ​​and goals.

The values, so that you stay in line with them and don’t deviate. Of course, we all have our values ​​ingrained and we would hardly do anything out of line with these goals if we took the time to think about each task we do. However, in the rush of everyday life we ​​may end up taking actions that do not reflect these values. So, think about your values ​​and make a note of them, leaving them always visible or easily at hand for when you go through the next steps. It could be a sentence, it could be a few words, the important thing is that it reflects what you believe.

The goals, so you know where you’re going and also to build and keep your spirits up. Think here about the things you have and perhaps you should value more, as well as everything you want to achieve and by whom. We hardly fight each day just for ourselves, usually, there is a spouse, child, or any other family member who depends or at least could have a better life if we take bigger flights, and remembering that we do what we do for them, believe me, it’s an air fresh blowing the candles of our minds. In the professional field, try to think about where you can go, both in the near and distant future, and define these goals clearly and, if possible, with dates.

And you can compile those goals into a sentence like this:

I want to achieve (list your goals) to have a better quality of life for myself and for (list the people who love you)

2 – At the end of the day, set aside 15 minutes to write down the six most important tasks to be done the next day. And never write more than six tasks

Why only six? Well, it’s the method, but think about how many days you actually do more than six things in a day, not necessarily microtasks, but important tasks that really count as a job. So six is ​​a good number to not waste your time thinking more than these six tasks.

Remember here to give a quick assessment if these tasks do not deviate from your values ​​and goals.

3 – Organize the list by priority order

List these tasks by the most important. If you’re having trouble making this assessment, there are methods to help you set such a priority, such as the Eisenhower matrix, but be careful not to fit one method into the other and that will cause you to lose heart.

Always remember to do this at the end of the day, setting priorities for the next day, this will help reduce the doubt and fatigue of deciding these things the next day.

4 – Start with the first task

Just don’t make fun of what you decided the next day. Sometimes it can be tempting to skip to the second or third task because it feels easier or more rewarding, but you would just be fooling your own priorities.

5 – After completing, move on to the next one.

Again, the priorities that a smart person (yourself) set yesterday should probably be respected by a smart person (you again!).

6 – Repeat this process daily

If you couldn’t perform the six tasks for the day, don’t despair and relocate the missing tasks for the next day, placing them among the 6 tasks to be defined for the next day. Remember that a method is something to create order and help processes, not to martyr yourself and feel that you are not fulfilling everything you set out to do the day before. In fact, almost no one can and over time you will learn to better measure the time it takes for each task and better realign your expectations.

Thank you. 🙂

One thing I could ad dis jurisdiction. Where is the best conditions for your new company to succeed these days very competitive business environment?

Just because you live in  a country it doesn’t mean that it’s laws will give you the best options to succeed. Most companies goes bankrupt within a few years and only 3-5% make the grade.

Hi guys, today I’m going to share with you my briefing questions!

If we ask a smart kid what it’s like to make a website, he’ll probably say something like:

Sounds simple! You need to put in some nice text, some really nice images, some flashy buttons and make half a dozen pages. (and isn’t it true?)

And actually, if someone asked each of us the same thing when we were going to make our first website, we would most likely say the same thing. And we would keep answering until we get to the second or fifth customer site and suddenly realize that that information we forgot to ask the customer was missing or, worse, you struggle to think of that extremely killer and creative phrase, and the only thing that comes to your mind are flying cats fighting space ninjas, which could turn into a crazy comic book, but for your current objective it means a complete blank, a tremendous creative standoff, a nightmare!

I’ve been there, so have you probably too (if not, please share your methods too!). So I’m going to share with you the questions, some obvious, some intentionally unusual, that I use to do an initial briefing with clients, and some considerations about each of them:

1 – Company name (and how to spell it).
It may sound silly, it may seem trivial, but sometimes the name can be spelled one way or another than the client’s domain or even the way a partner gave you the name, not the way they actually use it.

2 – Responsible contact
Something to take note of, but sometimes also know who really decides in a meeting with more than one person in the company

3 – Responsible Contacts
That is not always the same person who made a first contact to hire your service. So, to avoid annoying this person as an intermediary, get this contact too!

4 – Products or services
Here, sometimes there will be many and you will have to send them later, but sometimes there will be few and it’s worth breaking down a little about each one, especially when you don’t know the product or service well. At this time, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask the questions you would ask if you were going to buy.

5 – Does your company have a logo? What is the inspiration?
Inspiration is usually the most important thing, it’s usually a story that the owner has already bought from whoever made the logo. And now the most prudent will probably be to follow.

6 – Are there predefined colors of the company or brand?
Sometimes they forget to say they have it, don’t forget to ask. If you don’t have it, it’s even better to think about some color possibilities at this point. Color is vital and above all it will take a lot of work to change later throughout the site.

7 – Tell a short story.
How was the company born? Why does he do what he does?

8 – What is the tone of your brand?
A calmer tone? Hectic? Direct? Formal? If they don’t know the tone of the company, ask the partners’ personal tone.

9 – Brand personality?
If the company were a person and appeared in front of you, what would it be like? Would you be an innovative, logical, activist, defiant, conservative person?

10 – Think about shapes and images when you think about your company:
Here the person can give references to images that have to do with the business, or not. At least try to get the shapes, for example: square or circle? With this simple question you will have an important basis for the design, even if it is to decide whether the corners of the elements’ edges will be straight or rounded.

11 – What do people have to know when entering the site?
Simple question, but one that will give important answers and that the website owner would probably only remember in the middle of the process.

12 – What do we want people to feel?
Trust? Desire? Calm? The feeling can be just as important as the information, and again it will be something that will reflect the essence of the company or the partners.

13 – What do we want people to do?
A question that may seem obvious, but it actually isn’t always. For example: sometimes the customer may prefer the user to get in touch as soon as possible, sometimes he may prefer the user to read some information by scrolling the site and only then get in touch. Maybe they want them to read the articles or just buy them. Anyway, we must always think about user usability, but we also have to think about how the business owner wants this experience to be.

14 – What makes the company really different?
An answer to dig deeper. When he gives the first answer, ask: – But don’t the others do too? Business partners will likely be able to dig deeper and expand on more aspects that make their business really different and that may or may not give them great arguments to be put on the site.

15 – Choose a word for your brand:
Just as Coca-Cola chooses the word happiness, it will likely have a word that represents the company to its customer.

16 – Name three competitors
The customer may know your business very well, or it may not. Asking about competitors will help you to get deeper into your client’s business, complement information and check if the differentials really are different.

17 – Three brands you admire. And the reason.
The most important thing is the reason. And what a person admires about other brands is likely to be something they want for their own brand.

18 – Three brands you DON’T admire. And the reason.
Again, the most important thing is why. And again what a person DOES NOT admire is likely to be something he does not want for his own brand.

These last two questions will help you a lot in thinking about the usability and style of the site.

Final considerations:
There are no right answers. Even answers that seem wrong can provide valuable insights into content. Try even to say this at the beginning of the interview with the client: – There are no right answers, answer whatever comes into your head!
Briefing is about listening, not talking. Leave your comments at the end and only if necessary.
Remember: the site belongs to the customer. But ask if you should follow the information to the letter or if it has space for creation. Some customers want exactly what they say, others accept or want to be surprised, and asking this can save you and the customer time on reviews.
Not all people will answer all, or even half. But that will give you a head start to the responders’ website and give you the revelation that some companies don’t have a very clear path yet, so you’ll have more freedom in laying the stones down and creating that path.

I hope you enjoyed. If you have ideas for questions that you haven’t seen here, please share them with us in the comments!

If this sounds interesting – please let me know and I will continue the dialog here…

Best regards / NORMAN

I know that topic is about conversion, but as a side note, I would add p.s. at the end:

As always, as we speak about WordPress sites, updates are made from time to time, it is important to have site backups and make those updates on staging sites in the first place, to see does all will work the same way. With any kind of issue on the site, and especially on the checkout page the conversion steps will be not valid anymore.

It is similar to a local store where you can see multiple people shopping and all of them end up at the checkout, but the cashier says that the electricity went out, the cash register is not working and she cannot handle anyone. This plays an important role. Not only will customers not buy, but there is a high risk that they won’t come back.

In these years of the global pandemic it has created a trend for everyone to be searching online whether they need a service or product. Besides Web development as a service, I myself own a ecommerce store and I will like to pen down some of my thoughts on this ecommerce subject.

In the world of ecommerce, just sending traffic to your website is not going to be sufficient to bring sales to your business. Getting traffic alone is tough and expensive, however the next step to be taken care off is conversion. Conversion is actually the key to success of the sales. Imagine you can have a thousand people walking to your retail store but no one buys anything. That is worth nothing. Therefore to improve your conversion rate you will need to optimize that traffic for success.

Here are nine ways which I will like to share with regards to creating a positive impact on your conversion rate.

1. INTEGRATING MULTIPLE PAYMENT OPTIONS

The most fundamental but yet forgotten. One of the easiest ways to increase the conversion rate is to add multiple payment methods on the checkout page. Just adding one payment method is not enough. Often people stop at PayPal or stripe alone, but adding up additional channels like bank transfer will create more options for your customers.

Benefits of using multiple payment methods:-

• It makes customers feel more secure

• It makes your company look more trustworthy and legitimate.

• Therefore increases conversion rate

2. ATTRACT RELEVANT WEBSITE TRAFFIC

One of the reasons your online store conversion rate is low is that you are not sending the right traffic to your website. Just sending high traffic to your website is not enough. I learnt that SEO and Paid Ads are both a whole new level of skillset individually. By not optimizing them, you could actually be losing money without receiving ROI.

3. MAKE BUYING PROCESS SIMPLE & EASY NAVIGATION.

You are sending all traffic to your website, but browsing your website is confusing to your users/customers. Try to make user-friendly navigation so that users can navigate your website easily and take action accordingly. The less time spent finding their product, the higher conversion rate.

4. SHOWCASE YOUR PRODUCT SOCIAL PROOF

One of the authentication factors on the website is social proof. Nobody wants to be the first buyer of the website due lack of confidence. Already many people buy from your site and give feedback on it.

5. OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE SPEED

So many people land on your website and browse accordingly. But if your website speed is not good enough, your conversion rate is low because users cannot browse those websites, which takes time to load. My ecommerce site is hosted on WPMU Dev bronze plan, and it really work wonders for me in terms of speed.

6. PROVIDE DISCOUNTED/SAVE OPTIONS

One of the easiest ways to engage your customers is to provide discounted prices because users are often interested in your product. Create discount coupons for different occasions.

7. PRODUCT GUARANTEE

This is another way to create authentication for your customer, like buying your product without any 2nd thought. You just need to add a few words on your website/product page like- 30 days money-back guarantee etc.

8. ADD HIGH-QUALITY IMAGES AND VIDEOS

After a user land on your website, they see the product. If they see the product clearly with high-quality images, they know about it in detail. One of the important factors for users is to see the product clearly how it looks.

9. REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STEPS IN THE CHECKOUT PROCESS

Similar to point number three, but this one is more of the check out process after the product has been added to cart. The lesser number of fields required on the checkout page will contribute to more positive conversion rate as well. For my ecommerce store, I have combined both fields “first name” and “last name” into “Recipient Name”.