Does your business need a website?

We bet you do. Otherwise why would you be visiting our site? We understand the reasons why you might have resisted building one for your business: “I’m just not that tech savvy”, “they cost too much”, “I don’t don’t how”, or the infamous “I have enough business and I don’t need one”. Yea right. The reality is, you don’t need to be very tech savvy, getting a professional website for your business can be cheap and easy, and to make it even simpler for you – not having a website is costing you time and money while your competitors grow.

Did you know that 81% of people research a business or service on the internet prior to making a purchase decision just like you are. That’s 25.92 million people searching for businesses online. Yet, 46% of business owners listed “Business currently doesn’t need one” as their #1 reason for not having a website. We’re not statisticians, but we can see that there’s a glaring disconnect here.

Many small business owners say they don’t have the skills, the time, or the money to build a website. But a surprising number say that they don’t need a website in the first place, either because it’s not required or because they use social media instead. That idea has changed quickly though, especially as covid-19 makes in-person business more difficult with social distancing and forced closures. According to one survey, almost 30% of small businesses plan to use a website for the first time in 2020.

A website should not just draw attention. The role of a website is to attract and engage the user, as well as communicate your brand and raise awareness about a product or service. Targeting your audience is more than just getting inside the customers head. It’s getting inside their hearts. The right strategy can do that.

Bottom line-Your website design isn’t about you. It’s about your customers.

DEFINING WHAT YOU NEED:

1. What are your business objectives?
2. Do you require a website redesign or a new site?
3. Do you have keyword rich content that can meet your online objectives?
4. What types of features and functionality do you require? For example, a blog, ecommerce, videos, membership forum, etc.
5. Do you want people to find you when they search for the product or service types/categories that you sell? Or do you just need them to find you when they search for your company name?
6. Will your site be viewed primarily by mobile phones?
7. Will you be making changes to your website on a regular basis?
8. Will you need someone to maintain your website on an ongoing basis?

This kind of analysis will help you and your service provider to design the right website and online program you need to meet your business objectives.

1. Having your own website will help you attract new customers to your business and make you more money.

Your website can work for you 24/7/365 days a year even when you’re not. A business website acts as your “always-on” business advocate during and outside of office hours.

Websites help you convert web surfers into customers, because most people still do their own research and stack you against your competitors.

63 percent of consumers primarily use a company’s website to find and engage with businesses.

Most of the web designs our clients have built are typically 4-12 pages in length. These pages that are critical to the conversion point, moving the user down the sales funnel from the awareness stage (Homepage, Blog, Resources), to interest (About Us, Services/ Products) to consideration (Case Studies/ Projects, Why Us?, Clients/ Reviews), and then the (Contact Us), and in the case of ecommerce (Cart Checkout).

2.  A website add instant credibility to your business.

Today’s consumer is skeptical; in fact, the majority of people stated that they won’t trust a business without a website. Having a good website instantly boosts your credibility as a legitimate business.

People are more likely to do business with a company they trust, and a website is the first place they go to check for credentials, reviews, and awards.

First impressions count, and websites allow you to make a very strong, positive impression with a well designed introduction for your business.

A website can help showcase your expertise and better position your business. A website can be your number one tool for standing out in a crowd.

 A website also shows that you are open for business during a time when there is a lot of uncertainty. 

“Google only loves you when everyone else loves you first.” –Wendy Piersall, Author, Blogger and Artist

3.  It’s not as hard, or as expensive, as you think.

You don’t need to be tech savvy to get a website. We have a simple signup process which make the process quick and painless for you.

It can be extremely cost effective. Websites offer a better return on investment than any other form of advertising. If you’re planning to market your business, a website should be your first priority. SEO and PPC advertising can follow to help you get traffic but the website comes first.

*If you need SEO or PPC advertising our sister company Digital Papercuts can provide that for you.

Over time the relatively low investment of getting a website for your business will pay dividends by driving you new customers and building your brand. Plus, it’s a legitimate business expense and a tax write off.

4.  Having a website will end up saving you time.

Whether you’re trading emails with customers and prospects, taking calls, or sending out proposals – communicating with your contacts takes time. Your website can save you that time by providing answers to common customer questions and inquiries. What does this mean for you? You can spend your time doing more valuable things.

5. Position yourself and stay in control of your brand.

A website acts as a platform for your messaging and shapes the online perception of your business in a way that your social media channels cannot provide.

The platform allows you to position yourself in the market to get the exact type of customers you’re looking for. Impress your customers with a beautiful website. Get designs tailored for your industry and all the features you need.

Many business owners have been reviewed online, sometimes unknowingly and/or negatively. How does this affect you? 79% of users who read online reviews, believe them. Combat that negativity by posting your own positive testimonials. We also suggest a good reputation management software called Repwarn if this is a ongoing concern of yours.

How Much Does a Website Cost?

A website can cost anywhere from free to upwards of 100 grand. 

For example, if you choose to DIY with a platform like Groovepages you can create a site for free. Their free version does have some restrictions such as not being able to have your own domain but you don’t have to pay for hosting or a domain. If you want your own domain and a lot of bells and whistles than their paid option is also great. And, if you’d lie us to build a site for you on their platform we’ll be glad to set one up for you. Most business websites are set up on WordPress, but Groove is a new platform and is really cutting edge when compared to WordPress. No matter if you want a Groovepage or WordPress website we can create a professional website design tailored for your business needs.

If you are a start-up, small or mid-sized business owner, you may be struggling to understand what you should be paying for a new website.  Depending on who you ask or where you search and what you need, there is a wide range of price variations attached to the creation of your online presence.

Do not let a price tag deter you from creating a website. If you’re a one-man operation with zero budget, at least get a basic website from Groove that you can jazz up later when you have a better cash flow.

Here’s what goes into the cost of a website:

• Hosting –  This is the service or company providing space on the internet for your website. Hosting providers include GoDaddy, Namecheap, and others. Groovepafes provides free hosting for life but if you want a wordpress site we recommend you use Namecheap because of their great support after your first year, the first year of hosting is included in our WordPress web packages.
• Domain name – This is shown as www.yourcompany.com, and is usually a yearly payment. Prices vary but $10-$20 is pretty typical.
• Plugins and extensions – Typically, the more plugins you want, the more expensive a website gets although there are a lot of free plug ins you can use.
• Complexity of design – The more customized your website is, the more expensive it is.

WordPress or Groovepages

We have already talked about Groovepages a little but yu really do need to understand the difference between it and WordPress as the platform for your business.

WordPress is the most popular website builder on the planet currently. 30% of business use WordPress, Wix and the likes make less than 1%.  Groovepages is brand new and just out of beta in July of 2020. WordPress is open source, which means no one owns WordPress (free software). It has a massive theme (design) and plugin (functionality) ecosystem. The major downside we see with wordpress is that is essentially a legacy system now and can be somewhat costly if you want it to perform at high speeds, unlike Groovepges which is built with mobile first technology and is lightning fast. Website speed is a key Google ranking factor and should be considered when building your site.

GroovePages is built on a progressive Javascript framework called VUE.JS, which makes the page builder faster and more responsive. GroovePages’s technology enables code to load at the browser level and sends fewer requests to the database. This means your page loads much faster, which is as mentioned is one of the ranking factors for Google. In case you are wondering, other page builders use like wordpress use Bootstrap, which is a fine and working framework, however, this is already an old technology.

Don’t worry if that is over your head, both WordPress and Groovepages are really user friendly.

WordPress uses plug ins, many free but some premium ones do come at a cost to develop different web applications. If you have used funnels before, you will know that integrating different applications (from different companies) can sometimes be cumbersome and difficult. You will be left hanging when no party wants to admit that the issue is theirs – and you will not be able to figure out what went wrong. With GroovePages, it is fully integrated with mail (GrooveMail), affiliate (GrooveSell), and many more applications as it unravels. This means there is no need for you to work on integrating different apps with GrooveApps – it is everything under one umbrella.

Ecommerce Website Design

Many of our clients are Shopify, Dropshipping stores or Ecommerce stores. We believe that the most innovative and world-changing ideas start with small businesses and entrepreneurs. But they need to be able to compete on an equal footing to get their ideas out there. An Ecommerce website design is successful when it offers great user experience and converts visitors into buyers. Our websites are mobile responsive, SEO optimised, customer focused and built to last. So if you are looking to succeed online, then our Ecommerce Website Websites are or you.

An eComm website requires more features than a basic website, such as higher security, secure payment and guest checkouts features. Our websites are built with the best eCommerce platforms in the market – WordPress, Woocommerce & Shopify. Developing a website is easy, but making it business-compatible is not always an easy job. 

For Shopify store owners we are very excited that Groovepages will have a Shopify plug in later this year.

If you know what e-commerce solution you are looking to use or if you are you looking for recommendations let us know. Do you have a content management system in mind, such as Groove, Shopify or WordPress? If you want to incorporate a CRM such as HubSpot or an email marketing service such as MailChimp, be sure to include that here. If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry, we have you covered.

Conclusion

In the online world, first impressions are vital and an outstanding web design is the key to success. Users enjoy visiting sites that are aesthetically appealing and easy to navigate.

We design your website to entice your online visitors to take an action. Our team is ready to help optimize your site and boost your conversion rates, providing a successful a long-term effect Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) strategy for your business.

Our strategy team works closely with clients in the initial discovery phase to understand your target customer and to create a unique and innovative web user experience that converts visitors into leads.

Our developers create interactive web experiences using the latest technologies, ensuring they display well on mobile, desktop and tablets.

Our website design projects are for businesses that expect a high-end outcome. The end result is a website that is well integrated between sales and marketing, has the appropriate branding voice, is optimized for Google search, and is designed to stand out from the competition with a high-end unique design while being easy to update on the back-end.

Having a responsive web design that looks good on every device is critical. If your website lacks a responsive design, you’ll damage your brand, get less traffic and ultimately, lose leads.

We’ll make sure your website looks fantastic on each platform by using elegant layouts and responsive design. We’ll customize each layout, test every element, and make sure everything is perfect before launch day.

Effective web design and having a pretty looking site with a few HD pics are not one and the same. We design for the user while having a business objective in mind. 

Your website can be as powerful a branding experience as a storefront, and for many businesses it the primary way of engaging with customers. The right website design not only presents a professional appearance, but also attracts and retains customers at all levels of your sales funnel.

Our website designs leverage Groovepages and the WordPress platform to integrate and enhance important aspects of your company like customer data management, lead generation, booking systems, product inventories, and more.

The end result is more traffic, more leads, and more website conversions. Our goal on every project is to provide a final product that both the client, and the design team, can be proud of.

WordPress is all we used to do and we know it well. But now we also can offer Groovepages because we feel like it could well be a superior platform to host and build your website on. Ultimately we will recommend the one that we feel is best for your business but the choice is always yours. Unlike other website design companies we give you a choice.

We make website management easy and enjoyable by developing custom WordPress interfaces, custom roles, and tailored setting pages.

The end result? You have a WordPress website that you actually enjoy managing.

Let our team help your site make an outstanding first impression that performs fast, has SEO built in and has a great user experience. When it comes to website design, we can build pretty much anything. We always start with: Why? and use the answer to drive real growth and meaningful transformation for your business.

Our philosophy is simple – Fantastic websites at affordable Prices.