Thanks to Covid-19, the transition to digital has skyrocketed and the need for a strong web presence has never been greater!

The pandemic has forced many businesses to go online who didn’t previously even have a website.

You likely already know that the majority of potential new customers and leads to your business will first look online to find the local services they need or a problem they need solving. 

Having a mobile friendly and SEO optimized website is essential for your business!  Is your website mobile friendly?  More than 60% of Google searches are on mobile…and growing.

In fact, the statistics are quite staggering … 97% of people who needed to find a local business for their needs first initiated some sort of search online!

Business Credibility

Investing in your website’s design is a must. If you don’t, you run the risk of losing credibility, while, at the same time, losing customers.

Internet users make judgments about a company’s credibility based on its website design. First impressions do matter!  However looks aren’t everything.  Consumers also demand a great deal of functionality from a company website.

If you’re not getting the website results you want, it’s likely that it’s not responsive, accessible, fully optimized and fast-loading (if it takes longer than 2-3 seconds to load, your visitors could be bouncing off your site and going to your competitor!).

Your website must be easy to navigate with quick answers to your visitors’ questions.

In today’s world, people have very short attention spans so you have less than 5 seconds in which to capture their interest. A clear call to action telling visitors where to go to buy, fill out a form, or whatever action you would like them to perform, is a critical aspect of making sure your website is successful.

Websites need to be refreshed at least every 4 years as customer expectations, businesses and technology change.

Website Security

It also needs to be secure. A great many websites do not have an SSL certificate.  This is particularly critical for ecommerce sites as it adds a layer of encryption between the visitor’s browser and your website so their confidential data is protected and secure.

You can tell if a website has SSL as there is a padlock to the left of the URL and the URL starts with https instead of http. I’m stressing the importance of this for ALL websites as Google Chrome shows a warning that the site is not secure. This can cost you customers and is a simple fix. You just need to ask your hosting company to activate SSL on your website.    

Over two years into the pandemic, it’s been a roller coaster ride for local businesses and we’ve seen a great many changes in the way products and services are marketed.

It is no longer appropriate or appreciated to be overly salesy or promotional. Rather we must focus on building and nurturing relationships over time and offer help and show caring where we can. This will not only build trust in your company and a long term relationship with your customers but it will also bring referrals.

Digital marketing is vital to the success of all businesses, from small to large!