Harnessing the Power of the Web in the Weald
I WANT to share with you just how important a website and the internet is to any business, particularly in rural areas such as ours. The World Wide Web has transformed the way that businesses trade regardless of just how remote some might be.
Whilst numerous businesses have risen to the challenge of harnessing the web, there is often apathy from some small and even large business owners to having a website and putting their business online. Here are my reasons why it is so critical to do so.
i. Potential customers are searching for you and you aren’t there. Consumers use the internet to search for products and services, as well as to do research about products and services that they need. Your competitors are putting their goods online and so should you.
ii. With a mobile-responsive, optimised website to direct traffic to your products and services giving the customer what they need, you can compete.
iii.Online traffic is trackable: Smaller businesses, particularly rural ones, do have smaller budgets. With online marketing, you can start by investing small amounts and be able to measure the results. By utilising direct response messaging on your offline dvertising you can drive potential customers to dedicated landing pages on your website, enabling you to better monitor return from your investment in publications, television, radio or other media.
iv. Because digital marketing is trackable from day one, this means that you can measure which channel or message is getting better sales conversions. You can adapt your messaging, change your promotions and alter your products along the way.
v. When you have a website you convert more business. People will search for a product or service, or name of your business, and go to your website. In today’s world, most searches are conducted on a mobile telephone rather than going, for example, to a printed directory.
vi. With various advertising tools available you can reach a global audience. It is easy to run a campaign across the globe. If your product or service is transportable you can increase your turnover and profits from international customers and not be reliant purely on visitors to your locality, or those residing in Cranbrook or Sissinghurst and the surrounding area. And of course with local customers in mind it is also important to remember that according to Google
statistics:
- 72% of customers that do a local search visit a store within five miles
- Local searches lead to 50% of mobile visitors to visit stores within a day
- 78% of mobile searches result in offline purchases. So no matter what size, nature or location of your enterprise in the Weald, I cannot emphasise enough how important is it that you harness the World Wide Web by having a website to promote your business.
If you would like to discuss how you can make the most of trading on the World Wide Web call Emma on 01580 715772
