You may have a successful high street or walk-in business in Nigeria, you may find a lot of your customers through recommendations and word of mouth, and you may feel that having a website is an unnecessary expense. However, in order to keep stability in your business and to grow, it’s very important to let you potential customers find you and carry out some research about you. You could be losing potential customers without realising, if you don’t have a website.

How are people searching for businesses online?
The Google search engine is now 20 years old. It’s helped to make companies millions of dollars through driving traffic to their websites. Successful websites make the most of useful search terms such as for example “dry cleaners in Valletta” luring the customers in to the exact service that they’re looking for.

It’s an incredibly easy sell especially in light of the fact that 84% of people have a shopping need at any given moment. On top of standard national shopping, Google has now added map features and lists local businesses and their websites that are close by to mobile users, allowing them to find places they can “pop-in” to and make a purchase.

Vital reasons to have an online presence
If your business relies solely on high-street footfall you will no doubt be conscious of falling visitors to the high street. In order to keep your business busy you will need to find new ways to bring the shop window to your customers, and online is the perfect way to do that. Hence one of the vital reasons to have an online presence is accessibility, that is, by helping customers find you online when they are searching for your products or services.

Using social media is a great start, however offers only limited information, so it’s also very important to have a website that can function in many different ways, including data capture, remarketing, strong calls to action, and plenty of information.

Another reason is that to showcase your products. Your website will be able to evolve over time as you grow your product offering, and are able to add more information to it.

Moreover, an additional advantage is that with an online presence you can invest in building relationships with your customer. Writing a weekly blog helps you cultivate a relationship with your regular customers, as they will see you as a place to visit for advice and entertainment.

Another advantage of having an online presence is marketing your brand. Marketing options include for example pay per click adverts, online loyalty schemes, and also email marketing. The last two are made possible through data capture methods on your website. Online loyalty schemes will further strengthen your relationship with customer. You could also consider using the Facebook Pixel, which can help you create a profile of the type of people visiting your website, and then go out and find more people with similar identities to show your Facebook advertising to.

Reviews are another critical reason why you need an online presence. Potential customers look for such information before they make the final decision to buy. If you have a page showcasing your happy customer reviews, potential customers will feel more at ease trusting your services or products, and will be more inclined to make a purchase or ask for a quote.

Where to start with your online presence
To get started with a website, make sure you’re in contact with a professional development company who can guide you through the process and support you with creative and functional ideas for your type of business. Employ a company that has a good understanding of both traditional and mobile websites.

Just Some Coding have experience in a range of industries and have worked with a number of service and e-commerce brands, and are specialists in mobile and app development. Contact us today to discuss your business needs and to help you develop a website or mobile app for your business.