Don’t Be a Ghost on the Internet
On Nova Scotia’s South Shore, I see a lot of small businesses that operate with a Facebook page and Google Busiess Profile as the only way to reach them online.
Sure, there’s ways to use those Facebook and Google profiles to get basic information about your small business out there—hours, location, maybe a phone number for reservations or bookings. But Facebook, especially, is not always easy to navigate.
When your small business marketing strategy doesn’t include a website—even a basic one—it causes 5 major problems.
1) It’s not always easy to find information about your business or how to get in touch. This can also make a customer’s experience of your business an unpleasant one.
2) You’re missing a chance to tell your business’ story and engage potential customers.
3) Customers will wonder, “If they don’t care about their image, will they care about me, as a customer?” I’m sure that you’re very welcoming in person. But this is your first opportunity to show hospitality to your potential customers!
4) You lose an important opportunity to convert people who are interested in your business into paying customers. Web sales, e-commerce, online booking, lead forms, lead magnets—hosting any of these on your website allows you to collect email addresses from customers and potential customers. Email marketing has a 35:1 ROI. Do you want to miss out on that?
5) You lose an important opportunity to collect demographic data about your website visitors that you could use to re-target them or people like them. If your website has first-party cookies, you can collect fantastic data that allows you to create super targeted Google, Facebook and Instagram ads that convert.
Of course, there’s a cost in both time and energy to creating a website for a small business. But I recommend Squarespace the best tool to start with for small business owners, like myself, who don’t really know how to code. It only costs about $220-$250 a year. I guarantee that subscription will pay for itself over the course of the year.
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