Why you need a website and why it is important to own your content.
The world as we know is quickly digitalising, from the books we read, down to the music we listen to. Everything that is a part of our daily lives is getting digitalised and disintegrating from our world and getting transferred into the digital world. Not too long ago all businesses had to have a physical presence, either that be on the high street, the local shopping park or maybe just a random location. This is not the case anymore. Businesses as we know are quickly packing up and leaving the physical world and moving to the digital high street. The attention of the average human being is getting shifted more and more everyday. In 2021 users in the United Kingdom spent an average of 4 hours per day using their mobile devices, up from 3.7 hours the previous years. What does this mean for you? People won’t be going out in the physical world looking for your business. They will be taking a walk down their local social media platform, perhaps their local search engine to find your digital business premises, maybe even your social media profile or your website.
A digital business premises you ask? Yes, this should be an analogy that stays in your mind when it comes to your website. This is what it acts as in the digital age. It has an open sign (Website being live), a reception (Homepage) and all the other rooms inside that you would expect. As with a normal business premises you expect potential customers come inside. As the owner you want to give them the idea that it’s a place that’s well looked after, clean, organised and ready to provide services or products. A website is no different, if your website isn’t operational, slow at loading (customer service is slow) your homepage is cluttered and not well presented, nobody will want to stay in your digital business premises/shop front let alone buy from it.
You could argue and say that a social media profile acts as a 1 page website in itself and you are correct in thinking that. The problem with having that as your only option is you don’t have as much control over that profile as you think. In a scenario where a social platform is down, not available anymore or perhaps you don’t agree with the platform's values and you want to leave, your following is left on that platform. It’s always good to have options and control your content and your following. This is why it is important to build a website and build your own email list.
Overall having a website is a great option to have in your arsenal, to scale your business, create brand awareness, improve your customer experience, generate leads and increase your sales. The digital world is getting more and more saturated with noise and more people. What are you doing to stand out? What are you doing to show your brand’s story?
Is your website showing your business’s human essence?
