Will a website help my small business grow?

As a small business, having an online presence is essential for your growth in today’s digital world. A website can help you build a strong brand, gain customer confidence and trust, increase your online visibility and traffic, and establish credibility. It can also be used to showcase your products or services, provide customers with detailed information about the company, and even allow customers to make purchases directly from the website. All these benefits combined can help you take your small business to new heights. In this blog, we will discuss how a small business can benefit from having a website and how it can be a powerful tool in your business growth strategy. 

Why do I need a website when I can use social media for my business? 

With the rise of social media, many small businesses are wondering if they still need to invest in a website. Whilst social media can be a great tool for connecting with customers and building brand awareness, there are things a website can offer that your socials can’t. Having your own website gives you more control over your brand, as well as providing credibility, security and organic traffic that is essential for long-term growth.  

A great way to look at social media is as a rented property – would you rather rent or own your main presence to your customers and audience? Social media platforms are constantly changing the way they operate their sites and apps (and therefore how we can operate them), alongside permissions, rules and all without consulting or providing notice to business owners.  

Relying only on social media platforms, means that your content and profile could be taken down without warning and you have not only lost all your hard work, but your audience and/or customers. This is why we recommend to the ethical small business owners we work with to always have a website, even if you use social media religiously. Modern website builders are much more user friendly than they used to be, we have found that by using our expert team to set-up and build a foundation website structure for our business growth clients, they have been able to take the reins and manage a professional website themselves. 

There is no denying that social media is a powerful tool for businesses to reach their target audiences and promote their products and services, and we strongly recommend you have social media working alongside a website! Consider posting images and captivating teaser posts that will lead the reader back to your website, where they will be a captive audience for your brand as opposed to giving them full access on a platform where they may be easily distracted by a notification.  

Is a business website expensive to have? 

Building a business website can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be. There are many options available to help you create a website that fits your budget and needs. Depending on the type of website you want, there are basic packages that include hosting, domain name registration, and templates for creating the site. You can also add on additional features such as e-commerce capabilities or custom design elements. The initial cost of setting up a business website may seem high, but it is important to consider how it will help your business grow in the long run. 
In the UK you can purchase an affordable website building package for under £100 (depending on the type of domain you want) with even smaller ongoing costs.  

 
Here at Growing Circles, we like to recommend the use of Squarespace to our South Yorkshire-based business owners as a user-friendly and affordable website option. 

Our top 5 tips for building a successful website to help your small business grow 

1. Ensure your website is mobile friendly – Mobile devices can account for a large portion of internet traffic, so it’s important that when mobile users access your website, they are able to do so easily and aren’t given a second-rate experience. Most website builders have a function in place to view the mobile version, but we would highly recommend testing this on your own device as well. 

2. Make your contact information easily accessible – Try to ensure your contact information is clearly signposted on each page, preferably in your main menu, so that potential site users can get in touch without having to navigate through your full website. 

3. Use a call to action – Call to action are usually buttons or links that encourage users to take a specific action. These should have compelling language in places that stand out so try putting ‘Join our Facebook Group’ rather than writing some blurb about your Facebook group alongside a button stating ‘click here’.  

4. Optimise for search engines – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) impacts where you rank on search engines such as Google when someone searches for you, a keyword or similar. The key SEO tip is to ensure your keywords appear on your website regularly, but we’ll be creating a specific blog on this soon! Sign up to our mailing list to ensure you’re notified when the blog goes live. 

Here at Growing Circles, we recognise that not every skill, such as website design, is going to be available within the ethical businesses we work with so we aim to help fill those gaps where we can with our expert team. If you’re an ambitious entrepreneur or leader who needs a calm, organised and fun travelling companion to help you launch or develop your business or project or you want to increase your social impact and make more money then we can help. 

We’re female led and values driven. We’d love to work with you to dream big dreams and support your organisation to innovate and thrive. We offer a range of services designed to meet your needs which you can view here.