Why Does My Whole Online Presence Depend On My Website?
Posted on 27th May 2020
There are various ways to have an online presence for your company.
You should ideally be active on at least a couple of the larger social media sites – if not all of them. You should be listed in the right business directories and have your contact information on Google Maps and other such resources.
However, your entire online presence should always be underpinned by your website. This is the foundation upon which your online branding and marketing should be built. All of your online work should be aimed at pointing customers back to your main website. But why is it so important?
Control
Your website is the only online element over which you have complete control. Social media platforms limit your branding opportunities and have discretion over what you can and can’t post, how long your content can be and how it is displayed. But on your website it is all under your control.
You can choose the colour scheme and the font. You have control over the layout and design, using white space and imagery to guide the customer to where you want them to go. You also have final say over all the content and none of it is limited by social media guidelines.
Design
Website design is very important. The way your site looks and navigates will determine how successful it is. A generic Facebook business page limits you as to what you can and can’t display, and all the pages are the same. That means it is very hard for your business to stand out.
With your own website you can employ the tactics of good web design to captivate visitors and guide them down your sales funnel. This might be with the aim of making a sale or booking, or simply to develop leads.
Powerful web design can have a huge effect on your business but it can’t be fully deployed on somebody else’s platform.
Ecommerce
Your website is the best place from which to sell your goods and services. Yes, it is possible to sell via third-party sites like Amazon and eBay, but you will have to pay a commission for the privilege. Selling on these sites can also be rather anonymous, and there is less chance of upselling or repeat custom.
Often people who buy from sites like these have no real idea who the seller is unless there is an issue. But sell from your own site and you can build relationships and encourage customers to keep coming back.
Content
Your website is also your main platform for providing content. You have the space to really give people an idea about who you are and what you do. Across your home page, your “about us” page and services page, you can describe in detail how your goods or services can benefit people.
You have total control of your content. You can get creative with images and videos. You can have a blog where you can keep your content fresh and interesting. No limits, no restrictions. And you can also use this content across other platforms.
SEO
Search engine optimisation is the process by which you make your site more visible to search engines such as Google and Bing. Yes, listings sites, social media, and other online marketing can have an impact. But again, it is your own site where you can make a big SEO impact.
You can use keywords in your content and metadata to make your site more visible. These will be picked up by the search engine robots when people carry out online searches. You can go after the long-tail keywords which help you to attract more specific business from people looking for your services in the local area or area of interest.
Data
Using tools like Google Analytics, your website is also your most important source of data and market research. Using these tools you can find out a huge amount of information about your customers that would be very difficult in other ways.
For example, you can find out where they are located geographically, what they are looking for on your site, how they arrived there and how long they stayed on various pages. This allows you to target specific markets for better return on investment. It also means you can fine tune your website, improving on the areas that are losing visitors and finding out which pages hold their attention.
The value of this data is very powerful and the best part is that it’s totally free. Just sign up for Google Analytics through your Gmail account.
When you are using other platforms, they are able to harvest this data for their own use, selling it on without your permission. But on your own site you get full control.
As you can see, there are a number of very good reasons why your website should be the focus of your online marketing. That’s not to say you should ignore the other areas. In fact, a really successful marketing strategy is one that is able to join up all the various aspects of your online presence into one cohesive whole. But your website should always be the main anchor for all of this work.
Your aim should always be to grow web traffic - this is the key to online success. Try to include links back to your site whenever you can, either in your content or through manual links in posts.
Of course, as a small business, finding the time to do and maintain all of the above can be tricky. That’s why we are here to help. If you would like more information about how we can build a strong online presence for you, all revolving around your website, then get in touch.
We can help you to drive traffic to your site and drive it through your sales funnel when it gets there – with spectacular results for your website. We look forward to hearing from you.
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