If you own and run a brick and mortar business, you may wonder how important it is to have a website. Many business owners will promote their business through social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but may feel like an accompanying website might be overkill.
On the contrary, having a website can benefit your storefront business. Whether you have a website that needs a little updating or need to create one for your brick and mortar business, it’s important that you have an effective ecommerce section and a nicely designed site overall in order to improve the trust and sales for your business.
Do You Really Need a Website?
If you have a brick and mortar business, also known as a traditional storefront operation, you may think that a website is unnecessary. However, here are some reasons as to why you may want to reconsider a website if you don’t already have one:
Low-cost and Easy Advertising: Traditional advertising (ie. newspapers, billboards) can be expensive. Think of your website as advertising. Have you ever noticed a new storefront while driving down the street and then looked it up on the internet later? If your potential and existing customers can find you online, you may “stick out” in their minds longer.
Accessibility: If your business has special hours, or even normal business hours, it’s a good idea to have a website so that your customers can check you out at any time of day. Not only can they see what your hours are, but they can see what your business is about and learn more about you.
Your E- Commerce Section
Depending on the type of business you have, an e-commerce section on your website can do wonders for your business. While your business goal is to draw customers into your storefront, there are some people who do most of their shopping online; approximately two thirds of US adults shop online at least monthly. If you aren’t allowing your customers to purchase your products or services online, you may be missing out on some major revenue. Think about all the revenue you could earn while you sleep or are away from your store.
When creating the e-commerce section of your site make sure that you have clear and detailed product descriptions as well as high quality images that accurately reflect the product. Your e- commerce section is replacing the storefront shopping experience and it should be appealing and secure. In order to make sure that your ecommerce section is secure, check out the best ten website builders and always select a website builder that is designed for a secure and trusted online shopping experience.
Your Business Website
When you’re building your business website there are a few things to consider other than just adding an e-commerce section. The design of your website should reflect your product or service. Use images and text that will be appealing to your customer base and is relevant to your business. Keep your website simple, yet informative. Remember, your website is an alternative to shopping at your store front. You wouldn’t attempt to overwhelm your customer as soon as he or she enters your business, so don’t attempt to bombard your customer with too much information or clutter on your website.