Many businesses still consider the concept of paying for a professional site to be more of a luxury rather than an investment. However, with the consistent increase of importance placed on a professional site from the consumer, this sentiment is quickly changing. As it turns out, what businesses of all sizes are finding out is, that while there is an initial investment cost in having a professional site, they actually end up saving money in the long run. This is due to three factors: easier and cheaper marketing, A broader audience, and User Interaction (how people use the internet). All of these are interconnected, but we will touch on each and explain how together they ultimately save businesses money.
Easier and Cheaper Marketing
When it comes to marketing and creating ads, the internet is one of the cheapest platforms you can use, and in many cases even free. Whether it\’s Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media platform, nothing is stopping you from posting your content. While the initial creation of the website may have a cost, once the website is done, it\’s completely yours. You can create whatever content you want and post it on your site, and if it\’s a professionally done site, it will already be linked to all your social media platforms. This means when the content is posted on your site, it will automatically be posted on all of your other digital marketing spaces as well. And it\’s free!
There is also an option to pay to advertise your marketing campaigns, and the benefit of doing it digitally is that you can specifically target your \”target audience\”. Facebook, Google Ads, and the other media outlets allow you to select key words, interests, locations, and age groups, allowing you to target exactly who you want your content to reach. Beyond that, these digital platforms allow you to set a budget. So, you can set exactly how much money you want to spend per week or month, and will give you an estimate of how many people your content is likely to reach. Now if you compare these benefits along with the low cost to say a newspaper ad or a billboard, it almost seems like common sense.
Lastly, what these digital platforms offer that make them so beneficial and cost effective is that you are able to track which marketing campaigns are working, and which ones are not. Through digital analytics you\’re able to see who\’s visiting your site, when, for how long, what pages they looked at, the list goes on and on. The point is since you are able to easily track the success of your marketing campaigns, you are given an invaluable insight into your target audience, and you can then adjust your business strategy accordingly.
A Broader Audience
As mentioned above, when you advertise on a digital platform, you are not only able to post as much content as you want, sometimes even for free, but you are also able to specify exactly who you want to target. While this point alone is a huge seller, it is further strengthened when you take into consideration the size of the audience you are reaching. If you post an ad in the newspaper, you are limited to the people who buy newspapers. If you have a billboard on a highway, you are limited to the people who drive on that road. If you sponsor an event, you are limited to the people who go to that event. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is on the internet. When you post your content, or buy a Google add, the audience you can reach is not even comparable. Say you post an advertisement that is predicted to reach 10,000 people. Even if you only have 5% click on your content and view your site, that is still 500 people. Sales ultimately is a numbers game, so it just makes sense that the larger and more targeted your market, the better your business will do.
This relates to a professional site because when someone interacts with your digital marketing campaign, they are then directed to your website. All the marketing in the world won\’t help you if the content it leads to looks unprofessional. It doesn\’t matter how good the advertisement, if a customer visits your site and it looks bad, they will leave. That\’s the downside to the larger market. When businesses are able to reach everyone, that means everyone also has more options. Therefore, as a business it is critical to make a good first impression. The bright side is that this is a pretty easy and affordable investment to make. And Once it\’s done, it\’s done. The larger market is all yours, and the price per customer reached is lower than any other comparable marketing technique.
User Interaction
(How People Use the Internet)
The last way an investment in a professional website ultimately save your business money is seen when we take a look at how consumers use the internet. We live in a age where people are able to share their experiences and the things they like online. While this can be scary, it provides a unique opportunity for businesses that take advantage of it. What it provides is a form of compounding and free marketing from the best source of all, the consumers themselves.
Let\’s say Connie Customer visits your site and has a good experience. She sees your advertisement and is interested, so she clicks the link and is taken to the site. It\’s pleasing to look at, she finds what she wants, and buys a product. The product finally arrives and she likes it. In a previous time, maybe she tells a couple friends about it, it\’s word of mouth. This is not the case anymore. Now Connie has the ability to share your advertisement on social media, so now everyone Connie knows can see that she liked your product. It\’s a user sponsored free advertisement. In terms of saving money this is about as good as it gets.
The only catch to this is, is that the customer does have to have a good experience. This means that your website has to look professional. It has to be easy to navigate, has to make people want to buy your product, and, as obvious as it may seem, it needs to be easy and straight forward for customers to actually do so. That\’s why a professional website is an investment. It does initially cost to upgrade to a professional site, but once it\’s done, the opportunities it provides are unprecedented. It not only allows you to reach a much larger targeted audience, but to reach them cheaply, sometimes even for free, resulting in your business saving money. This obviously is what we all want, but beyond that it makes life easier for the customers, and provides them with a good user experience, which ultimately is what\’s most important. When you care about your customers they notice, they are more likely to return and share the experience they had with you, and it all starts with the first impression you make when they visit your website.
