The Importance of Websites for Bay Area Businesses

Do I need a website for my company?

Most of the time, the answer is yes. Most small and medium-sized businesses could benefit from a website as it provides many advantages such as more sales, credibility, control, and more.

At Brimar Marketing Online, we have over 10 years of experience working with businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area to increase their sales through online marketing strategies.

We have decided to put all the knowledge we have accumulated in this post so that you can understand the importance of websites for Bay Area businesses.

Let’s get started.

Do You Need a Website if You Have a Facebook Page?

Having a Facebook page is valuable for connecting with your audience, but it is still recommended to have a website. But why?

While Facebook provides a platform for interacting with your audience, a website offers complete control and customization options.

In addition, Facebook has limitations on the traffic sources you have access to. With a website, you have access to SEO, which can be an excellent source for attracting customers through search engines.

Don’t worry, we are going to dig deeper into these concepts later in this article. Keep reading to learn more.

7 Reasons Why Your Bay Area Business Needs a Website

Here are our top 7 reasons why a website is important for your Bay Area business.

1. Establish Credibility

Today it is common to look for a brand’s name on Google or Bing when you hear from it through word of mouth or social media.

A well-designed and professional website creates a positive first impression and it represents your business’s commitment to professionalism and attention to detail.

Additionally, a website serves as a hub of information, allowing visitors to learn more about the entity behind it. It provides an opportunity to showcase achievements, credentials, testimonials, and case studies.

2. Better Customer Service

A website improves customer service by providing essential information and eliminating the need for customers to call for basic inquiries like location and operating hours.

This also saves time for employees, so they can focus on other important tasks for the business.

3. Access to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A website provides access to search engine optimization (SEO), which offers several benefits. 

SEO helps deliver targeted traffic, meaning that your website will have the ability to attract visitors who are actively searching for products, services, or information in search engines, related to what your website offers.

This targeted traffic has a higher likelihood of conversion, leading to improved business outcomes.

All of these benefits are critical for local businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area since (according to HubSpot) 72% of consumers that performed a local search visited a store within five miles.

4. Complete Control

With a website, the owner has full autonomy over its design, layout, and functionality, enabling complete customization to align with specific branding or business needs. 

So, unlike social media platforms, which provide limited options, a website offers the flexibility to create a unique and tailored online presence.

Also, website owners have complete control over the content they publish without any restrictions or algorithmic limitations imposed by external platforms. This ensures the ability to share information, products, or services without censorship or content filtering.

But that’s not all.

If you only use platforms like Instagram or Facebook to provide your services or sell your products, you are taking a great risk of losing sales since you don’t know when the platforms can be shut down or temporarily unavailable.

For example, in 2021, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went down for hours (Wikipedia), affecting millions of businesses worldwide.

5. Access to Paid Search

A website provides access to Paid Search, a marketing initiative where companies pay to advertise their products or services on search engines or websites.

Paid search offers many benefits.

Firstly, it provides robust tracking capabilities, allowing businesses to measure the success of their campaigns, track user clicks, and gain insights for optimizing future strategies. 

This data-driven approach enables businesses to refine their keywords, ad content, and landing pages to maximize conversions.

Paid Search also offers audience targeting options, allowing businesses to narrow down their target audience based on demographics such as age, gender, and location. 

This precision targeting helps create specific and tailored ads that resonate with the intended audience, increasing the chances of conversion.

In highly competitive markets, where SEO can be too difficult and expensive, paid search guarantees a prominent presence and increased brand visibility without too much effort.

6. Showcase Your Products and Services

By displaying attractive images, companies can give potential customers an idea of what to expect from their products, services, and even their establishment.

For example, if you sell physical products such as food, you can offer images of your dishes.

If you sell electronic devices, you can provide several pictures of the device, its parts, features, and even people using it. 

This way, it is easier for users to imagine themselves using your product.

In addition, a website’s design and featured images can go beyond simply displaying the products themselves. It can be used to evoke the atmosphere of your local business.

This is especially advantageous for brands that rely heavily on the “feel” of their establishment.

7. Affordable and Easy to Manage

Advancements in technology and web development have made website management more affordable and easier compared to the past.

Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress simplify content updates, so you don’t need advanced coding skills anymore to update the content on your website.

If you don’t want to spend time learning how to manage your website by yourself, but you work with a web designer, you can ask them to teach you how to make small modifications or add more content.

At Brimar Online Marketing, we offer basic training on how to manage your website once we’ve built it, so you won’t have any problems in the future when you want to add a new post or a few images.

Additionally, web hosting is really affordable if you don’t have a website that brings millions of visitors each month, making it very convenient for small businesses.

Reasons Why Your Bay Area Business Doesn’t Need a Website

For most companies, having a website is a great idea, however, not all of them will get the full benefits. Here are a couple of reasons why you may not need a website for your business.

1. You’re Not Looking to Grow

The main reason for businesses to have a website is to attract more customers. If you are not looking to generate more sales because you are already bringing enough customers from other channels, then perhaps having a website is not necessary.

However, keep in mind that this might change in the future, and creating a website as soon as possible can help speed things up when you are reading to serve more customers.

2. You Are Targeting an Audience That Doesn’t Use the Internet

If your target audience predominantly consists of individuals who do not use the internet or have limited access to it, the effectiveness of having a website may be diminished. 

In such cases, it would be a good idea to consider allocating your resources toward other marketing or communication channels that are more likely to reach and engage with your target audience effectively.

It’s important to note that while some people may not use the internet, the majority of the global population does have access to online platforms. Therefore, not having a website can potentially limit the reach and growth opportunities for your business.

Here’s an overview of internet use from April 2023 by datareportal.com.

The Bottom Line: The Importance of Websites for Bay Area Businesses

Having a website is of utmost importance to most Bay Area businesses. It serves as a powerful tool to establish credibility and provide valuable information to potential customers.

In addition, a website opens the door to online marketing channels such as SEO and Paid Search, which are very effective channels for attracting new customers online in the short and long term.

Finally, one of the most important reasons to have a website is the fact that you have full control over it, and regardless of whether other platforms such as Facebook or Instagram unexpectedly stop working, your website will stay up and running!

About Brimar Online Marketing

Brimar Online Marketing is a web design company offering services to businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Our Bay Area web design services include custom WordPress websites, website redesign, e-commerce web design, and website update and maintenance.

With over 10 years of experience in the business, we are able to deliver a website for your business fast and efficiently!

Contact us or give us a call at (415) 286 8852 to get a FREE website consultation.