There are many benefits in having a website for your business these days. A website not only validates your business as legitimate and provides vital information, it is also an online brochure – selling to potential customers – 24/7 even if you’re not around.
A recent survey found that 91% of social media users will seek out a business website once they have followed you on social media. If you don’t have a website, it might seem like you’re not trustworthy – although there are some industries that seem to manage without them with just social media and physical marketing material. Nevertheless, with the introduction of low-cost website builders, it’s never been a better time to get a website up and running.
Benefits of having a business website
1. Increased Visibility & Reach
A website allows your business to be found online, making it accessible to potential customers 24/7. This is especially important in the UK, where a large percentage of consumers search for products and services online before making a purchase.
2. Credibility & Professionalism
A well-designed website enhances trust and credibility. Many UK customers expect businesses to have an online presence, and without one, they may question your legitimacy.
3. Competitive Advantage
Having a website allows you to compete effectively with other businesses, both locally and nationwide. Even small businesses can compete with larger companies through SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and digital marketing.
4. Cost-Effective Marketing
A website serves as a cost-effective marketing tool compared to traditional advertising methods. With SEO, social media integration, and paid advertising, you can attract more customers at a lower cost.
5. Increased Sales & Revenue
An e-commerce website enables businesses to sell products and services online, increasing revenue opportunities. UK consumers increasingly prefer online shopping, making it a crucial sales channel.
6. Better Customer Engagement & Support
Websites allow businesses to provide customer support via FAQs, live chat, or contact forms. This improves customer satisfaction and reduces the workload on phone and email support.
7. Local & Global Expansion
With a website, a business can reach both local customers in the UK and international markets, helping with business growth and expansion.
8. Data & Insights for Better Decision-Making
Websites provide valuable data on customer behaviour, preferences, and trends through analytics tools, allowing businesses to make informed decisions.
Build it yourself or hire a professional?
There are some benefits to building your own website;
1. You will learn valuable new skills
2. It will save money
3. You can tweak as you go/ as your business grows
4. It can be done for a relatively small investment of money
But there are also some negatives;
1. It will be time consuming to perfect new skills
2. You don’t know what you don’t know – how do you know you have fulfilled legal obligations if you don’t know about them in the first place?
3. It can look unprofessional if you don’t have the design abilities
4. It can cost you in vital sales if you get it wrong.
The best website designs
Fashion trends and new technology will shape website designs – who remembers the square websites that fit older CRT monitors until the new widescreens were the norm? – but there are some ‘best practices’ that have been established for years of studying usability.
And so, it’s worth keeping the design classical, and consistent with your branding, rather than following the latest style. Unless you are building a site for something like a music festival, which needs to look fresh every year and appeals to a fashion-focused crowd.
What to budget for
● The design – what do you want it to look like, do you need a designer or can you buy a pre-built theme?
● Images – will you need to buy/commission images and graphics?
● The functionality – what do you want it to do – example, a shop function?
● The content – will you need help with writing content?
● Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and marketing – will you be implementing this during the build?
● Accessibility – do you need it to be compliant?
● Ongoing maintenance – will you need someone to look after it?
● Ongoing costs – what will they be?
Website Essentials
Imagery/Videos
Images or videos should be copyright free and be used to enhance the text sparingly. Large images and videos can slow a website down but can make it look great if used in the right way.
Videos also help engagement and keep people on your website for longer.
Function
The function should tie in to your overall goal/ intent for the website. What is it you want the customer to do when they are there;
● Buy something – you’ll likely need an ecommerce system
● Book an appointment or service – you may need a booking system
● Get in touch – a contact form or something like a whatsapp button, whatever you’re preferred method of communication issue
● Find information – a download repository of information might be the answer
Content (also known as copy)
Words are very important for a website – both for SEO and for customers – so the more content the better and it should speak to your target audience so they ‘buy in’ to your proposal. Pages should be a minimum of 600 words and make sure it’s free from spelling mistakes and typos. It should contain key benefits and sales messages but try to keep technical jargon to a minimum.
If you can’t afford copywriters then AI can be used as a base but make sure you read it through, to ensure it says what you want it to say, and add in your own touches to make sure it sounds less like a robot has written it.
Branding
Branding is more than just a logo – it includes colours, fonts, tone of voice of the copy and the imagery that is used. Try to keep branding consistent over all digital and printed media so it is easily recognisable. Ask yourself how you want to be seen – do you want your business to come across as approachable, professional, friendly, fun, stoic?
The branding used for solicitors would not generally be similar to that used in a children’s nursery for example. Solicitors are more likely to use subtle colours and easy-to-read traditional fonts, with a formal tone of text. A nursery is likely to use bright primary or bold colours, a playful font and a more relaxed language.
Responsiveness
Websites should be adaptable to any sized device – from a small smart phone to a huge widescreen desktop. Whilst they don’t need to look exactly the same on each device, they should be similar and easy to navigate.
Speed
These days speed should be a consideration when building a website – if a user is having to wait for the content to appear then they may just click away, especially if using mobile data. Fancy animation, large images, bad hosting and loads of functionality on a page can be the cause of slow-loading websites so be mindful when you’re adding these aspects.
It’s also better for the environment for your website to use less resources.
Accessibility & diversity
Accessibility ensures that people with disabilities can still use your website. It’s estimated that 24% of the population of the UK have some kind of disability so that’s a huge amount of people who may not be able to use your website if you don’t make such considerations.
And make sure your website is as diverse as the world is – there is a distinct lack of diverse imagery on the web but it’s not a difficult thing to solve. Some things to think about are;
● Colour schemes and contrast
● The use of colour
● Font size and style
● Image descriptions
● Screen reader navigation
● Visual indicators
● Flashing animations
● Form labels
● Text format
It sounds like a lot but a lot of these aspects can also help your search engine ranking so it’s a win/win situation if you get it right!
Conclusion
In today’s business world, having a strong digital presence is essential. For most businesses, this means having a well-designed, professional website at the heart of their marketing strategy.
All other digital marketing efforts should ultimately drive traffic to your website—if it appears unprofessional or, worse, doesn’t exist, you’re missing valuable opportunities for success.
For more advice, contact your accountant or the organisation that gave you access to BuBul. They may offer help or refer you to someone they trust. If not, email hello@bubulexpert.com telling us what you need advice on, and we’ll connect you with one of our trusted experts*.
*Our experts don’t pay to be on BuBul, and they don’t pay us commission. They will offer you 30 minutes of free advice.