₦airaland Forum

10 REASONS WHY BUSINESSES NEED WEBSITES IN THE 21ST CENTURY ENVIRONMENT

[Published Wednesday, July 17, 2013 in Daily Independent Newspapers]

Many business owners today carry on with their businesses without an online presence and they continue as if it is not important to them. If you are a serious business person then you cannot afford to stay aloof in this 21st century business environment. Website presence in the 21st century is must for any organization that wants to define its business properly.

It is surprising to note that even the few organisations that have websites are not leveraging on them. Imagine an organization that has a website but it is not printed on their complimentary cards; not on their calendar; not on their signage; just not anywhere to promote it. Such organization is under-estimating the importance of a website to their business.

Some have websites that have not been updated for a long time, thereby defeating the purpose for having it in the first place. This does not give a good portrayal of a serious organisation. Some also go with the erroneous belief that having a website is very expensive but it is NOT necessarily so. The need for a website in the 21st century business environment is numerous.

1. Online Business Face and Identity: A good website provides an online face for your business. A website is an appendage of your business. You open office from 8am – 5pm and may not even open on weekends but a website would continue your business 24hours a day, all through the year without closing ensuring that your business continues. With a website, there are no closing hours.

2. Global Business Reach: A website gives your business a global presence. Immediately you have a website, your business can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Businesses that know their onions do not localise themselves because a website provides global accessibility and leads to customer loyalty in the long run.

3. New Lead Generation: Online presence becomes a new way of generating leads and business opportunities. Most users today just go to the Internet in search of products to buy because their nearest store or warehouse is online. If a proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is done for your website, all the prospective buyer or customer needs to do is to type the product on a search engine like Google. For example, if one is into charcoal business or someone needs to buy charcoal all he needs to do is to type charcoal on Google and links of different websites that are doing charcoal business would come up. If you are into charcoal business and you have a website, it is possible that the prospective buyer would click the link that would connect him to your website and you can go on from there negotiating with the person. It is as important as that.

4. Corporate Image: A website gives your company a corporate outlook. It qualifies you has a serious business person. If you are into exportation of some products abroad; your buyers or even prospective buyers may not want to communicate with you if you do not have a website. The reason is that a website comes with a personalized e-mail address. They expect you to communicate with your personalized e-mail address to show that you are organised. For instance, if you have a website, say the address is www.cashcropexport.com, they expect you to have an e-mail that goes with it like info@cashcropexport.com or sales@cashcropexport.com. Personalised e-mail addresses helps to brand your organisation. They cannot just do business with you if you are still using a Yahoo or GMail e-mail addresses because such e-mail addresses could also be opened by any unscrupulous persons.

5. Increased Sales: A professionally designed website increases sales for your business. If you think you are making sales in the office, try selling your products online too because it would surely rake in money for you. You can set-up an e-commerce website where people can purchase your products and make instant payment via their ATM cards. Nigeria has the highest Internet penetration rate in Africa and some companies like Konga.com and Jumia.com are taking advantage of that by selling all kinds of products online.

6. Leveraging On Social Media: You can also leverage on social media with a website. What this means is that you can link your website to Facebook, Twitter and other social media so that you can reach a lot more people through the social media and increase your visibility and sales.

7. Credibility: A website clearly helps you because it establishes credibility for your business and this speaks volumes for organisational goals. For instance, if you are in Lagos and someone calls you from Kaduna and requests that he wants to see the products that you have to know whether it is of the same specification with what he wants, you can refer such a person to your website so that he can make informed opinion about the product he wants to purchase. Without a website, it would be difficult to convince a prospective buyer and if you continue with this kind of reputation, it is going to be hard to make sales.

8. Keeping Customers Informed: Another reason why a website is important for businesses in the 21st century is that it keeps your customers informed and updated. It is the cheapest way to inform customers about your latest products compare to radio or T.V adverts that gulp lots of money.

9. Communication and Customer Feed Back: Your website can give your customers a way to easily communicate with you on a one to one basis. A feed back form can be on your website which customers can use to reach you and you can also reply immediately.

10. Digital Marketing is cheap and reaches more audience: It is by far the most cost effective way of marketing and attracting new customers. Having a website is equivalent to having a catalog delivered to every computer in the world. The Internet provides a level playing field for small or large businesses to attract new sales.
In conclusion, doing business in the 21st century without a website is missing out on one of the most powerful and effective marketing tools available in this age of Information Technology. A company without a website is like someone without a face. It is clear like broad day light that a website would do a lot of good to your business. Get one today!