The importance of websites cannot be undermined in an era where people refer to the internet for almost all aspects of their lives. With a website to increase your credibility, visibility, and reach, you can create a strong online presence that will drive you closer to potential customers, business opportunities, and growth. Nowadays, having a great website is more important than ever. In fact,97% of people use the internet to learn more about businesses, while62%of them disregard those without visibility online. So, without a website to showcase your brand's products and services, you might find yourself losing your business in a short while. That said, here are six reasons why your business needs a website:

Six reasons why a website is important

If you don't have a website, you're missing out on a key opportunity to promote your business. Creating a website allows you to do the following:

1. Reach a Wider Audience

Did you know that without a website, you're only accessing7% of your market? Yup, that's right. Just a meager 7%. And that's because 93% ofpurchasing decisions start with a search. Mainly because not all customersknow the brands that carry the type of product or service they need. Moreover, people have other buying considerations to think about, which leads themto hit up the search engine to see what their options are and identify which one suits their needs. So, without a website, how can you present yourself as the best choice for them? With a brick-and-mortar store, your customer base is limited to those close enough to visit your business in person. But with a website, your customers can come from anywhere around the world. This allows you to sell your products and services to a much wider audience.

2. Capitalize on your 24/7 accessibility

Aside from helping you establish your online presence, a website also keeps you accessible 24/7.Even while you're fast asleep, your business can still be of help to your audience as they can

• Come to your website and order from you even if they actually live in a totally different time zone
• Read what you have to say on your blogs and treat you as their go-to business for the information they need

In effect, even if these people don't buy anything from you on the get-go, they'll

• Remember your name
• Understand what you do, and
• Be more likely to do business with you in the future

That said, it's no surprise why organizational studies have always depictedaccessibilityas one of the customers' primary considerations for purchasing from companies.

3. Increase your credibility as a business

A beautiful website builds a feeling of reliability, credibility, and trustworthiness. These values demonstrate to your customers that you are a safe business to transact with. In effect, this makes it easier for you

• Generate more leads
• Sell your products and services
• Attract more visitors

As your website is frequently the first point of contact for potential customers, it is considered highly critical to offer credibility right off the bat. To do this, you can

• Create relevant and meaningful content that would guide and educate  readers on meaningful topics 
• Upload testimonials and significant case studies to showcase expertise and foster trust, knowing that 85% of customers trust online reviews like the way they trust personal referrals
• Make a contact form along with other contact details to initiate multiple forms of communication

4. Offer 24/7 Support

One of a brand's most challenging task is to provide continuous customer service. However,9 out of 10 Americansconsider customer service as a primary factor in choosing the brands they do business with. So, companies need to find a way to offer quick and cost-effective customer service. This increasesthe significance of websites more evident as customer assistance can then be offered through websites in various ways:

• Using chatbots to answer common questions with prewritten responses and notifying customers of crucial details like promos, sign-up processes, freebies, and many more
• Writing FAQs where customers can read pertinent information related to the most commonly asked questions by those who visited the site 
• Build a forum where users can ask questions and receive answers from others
• Upload online documented resources that clients can refer to once problems arise

5. Increase organic traffic, leads, and sales

86% of customers use the internet to find local businesses, which is why your website should appear when someone searches for products and services online. To make the most out of this opportunity:

• Use SEO strategies to optimize your website for search engines
• Write a call-to-action on your blogs and site pages that would lead customers to a landing page with elements focused on conversion and improved user experience

6. Optimize customer experience

Creating a website is like giving yourself the opportunity to outshine your competitors. Although potential leads won't get a hold of your products and services yet, you can still give them a taste of what it's like to be your customer. Other than making your website beautiful, you can begin shaping your potential customers' experience by:

Increasing your website's loading speed

A slow loading speed can create disastrous repercussions on user experience. To emphasize:

• A website that loads in a mere second has 3x more conversion than one that takes 5. This loading speed produces 5x more conversions than a site that loads in 10 seconds.
• 70% of customers indicate that the speed of a page affects their buying decision.
• With every extra second of load time, websites' conversion rates decrease by an average of 4.42%.

Don't forget to include a complete catalogue of your products, rates, and services too. That way, customers can quickly choose what they want and order it immediately.

Make site navigation as smooth and easy as possible

In a survey conducted by HubSpot,76% of customersagreed that one of the most crucial aspects of a website's design is when the website makes it easy for them to find what they want. This means that your ease of use significantly influences how wonderful a customer experience can be. Hence, customers should have no trouble navigating your website and accessing everything they need.

Streamline your checkout procedures

Nobody wants to waste time waiting for a payment to be completed when they can easily go to another website that provides hassle-free transactions.In fact, according to a research conducted byBaymard, 97% of the 4,384 respondents cited 5 web-design related aspects as reasons for cart abandonment:

• 9%: Insufficient payment methods
• 13%: Website crashes
• 16%: Total cost wasn't shown or calculated
• 17%: Lengthy and complex checkout process
• 18%: Site seemed untrustworthy with credit card information
• 24%: The website required the user to create an account

To avoid this from happening, you can:

• Offer multiple payment options
• Conduct website testing to identify issues and solve them
• Show the cost of every item in the cart and indicate total price
• Make the checkout process simpler, perhaps in 3 easy steps
• Use professional colors, fonts, and other design aspects to develop feelings of legitimacy and trust
• Allow site visitors to purchase as guests and ask them to sign up after the completion of the process 

Create a website today

Overall, a website is a powerful marketing tool that can help you

• Reach a wider audience
• Capitalize on accessibility
• Increase your credibility as a business
• Offer 24/7 support
• Increase organic traffic, sales, and leads
• Optimize customer experience 

So if you don't have a website yet, now is the time to create one. It could be the best decision you ever make for your business. Because with all the benefits that a website can offer, having one is indeed essential for promoting your business today. Build your website in a few easy steps with us. Sign up with Cuppa today.

Interested in building your own website? Join the Cuppa early access.