There are several reasons that you need a website in 2021. The short answer is yes, yes you do.
More and More Business Is Conducted Online
The trend was strong enough prior to COVID-19, but it’s rocketed under the distancing and lockdowns. Online spending in the US grew to over 20% of all retail sales last year, up a whopping 44% from 2019. Obviously, that was under special circumstances, but there will inevitably be a lot of carry-on, because people have begun to think differently about how they shop.
Add to that more people working from home in order to support children who aren’t able to go to school in person, and rising gas prices, and you can see why internet shopping with delivery direct to the purchaser has become more popular. And now that people have become used to shopping that way, they are liable to continue.
Visibility on Search Engines
As more people prefer to shop online when possible, they also become more expert at using search engines such as Google to find what they are looking for. So, having a website that is attractive, well constructed, easy to navigate, and which presents your goods and services in the most attractive light puts you in front of more and more potential customers.
For major purchases, online shoppers will often go to three or more sites to compare and contrast. However, statistics show that those that appear on the first couple of pages for a particular search will receive the overwhelming majority of the clicks. In fact, it is said that 67% of the clicks go to the first five entries listed on the first page of a search. So it’s important to know how to build your site’s layout and content to best attract those clicks. The folks at SunAnt can help you with that.
There’s Going To Be a Big Shakeup
As COVID restrictions lift, the business landscape is going to undergo some major restructuring, both on and off the internet. A lot of brick-and-mortar operations will simply have ceased to exist, though the fall-out will be gradual, with a lot of bottlenecks in the court systems as corporations file for bankruptcy protection and reorganization.
Having your business well situated online will be a key component to being able to take advantage of the shifting markets.
Look at it this way: During the past year, a lot of people who never thought they were going to have to change the way they shopped, particularly but not exclusively middle-aged and above consumers. If they are willing to do that, surely businesses must realize that the future is now.
And Don’t Forget To Make That Site Mobile Accessible!
It’s simply impossible to overstate how important this is. The number of people who use mobile devices to search for information about goods and services has exploded, and the boom shows no sign of slowing down. A good website will be able to present itself in easily navigated ways to people who are accessing the information on mobile devices.
It’s a Brave New World, business-wise. It’s gotten a lot easier to compose and maintain an attractive, informative, and useful website, and it’s a lot more important than ever before. But if you want a hand getting things set up, with building out the back end to accommodate orders, with making sure that you are using best practices for building trust and responding to customers, and even with copy if wordsmithing isn’t your thing, call the pros at SunAnt. They will make it easy for you to position your business online for success down the line. Now is a critical time. Call them today.
