The internet is stealing the show as the prime platform for doing business. Only a few short years ago, this was not the case. However, it is now fairly common for consumers to order goods and services directly from the internet. In the past, consumers tended to order online only from those businesses they already knew in the offline world, for example, as a result of having visited their physical stores or business premises. This has now changed, and shoppers routinely place orders from businesses that they have seen only on the internet.
A lot of this has to do with trust. Thanks to robust online security measures, consumers are now more at ease with buying from the internet. There is also the added benefit of convenience: the ability to purchase – in a secure online environment – with only a few clicks of the mouse. In addition, thanks to a multitude of apps, and optimized websites, it has become incredibly easy to shop online using a smartphone. All of these factors have led to the surge in the volume of online business.
Every year, United Parcel Service (UPS) conducys a survey known as the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study. The 2016 study surveyed 5,000 shoppers across the United States. The Study found that, for the first time ever, the percentage of purchases made over the internet exceeded the percentage of purchases made in physical stores and businesses. The shoppers surveyed reported that they had made 51% of their purchases using the internet. (In the previous year’s Study, the percentage of online purchases reported was 48%.)
This is truly remarkable, and, in my view, indicates very strongly the direction in which things will progress over the next few years. (If you would like to read the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study, click here.)
What this means for you as an entrepreneur is that you cannot afford not to have an e-commerce website. So, not only do you need to have a website, you also need to be able to transact business using your website. Your website must be set up to welcome your potential customers, to present you and your products and services in the most attractive way, and then to enable your customers to buy from you.
If you do not have a website, you are closing yourself off from a huge portion of your potential market. If online business continues to exceed offline business, you will end up targeting only a small segment of the market. You could be seriously outpaced by your competitors who have set up shop online.
By the same token, if you do have a website, it must be truly fit for purpose. More on that below.
Of course there are technical aspects involved in setting up a website (such as finding a good web hosting service, etc), but that is only a small part of the story. The real question is this: what impact will you make with your website?
Your website is your ultimate marketing tool. If organized well, it will have an amazing impact on your potential customers, leading to higher sales, and serious business success. On the other hand, a poorly organized website will not only fail to make sales, but could even drive away potential customers.
So what makes a successful website? By successful, I mean that the website must work for you and for your business. Your ultimate aim is to fulfill your client’s needs, and your website should assist you fully to do that. If your website is doing its job properly, it should achieve the following things:
- It should find and attract potential clients.
- It should convince your visitors to buy from you.
- It should then make it easy for them to hire you or buy from you.
If your website is not doing these three things, or is not doing them very well, you will need to address this.
In an upcoming blog post, I will discuss these three things in some more detail. I will explain to you exactly why they are important, and how you can go about achieving them.