Every business owner in the Caribbean needs a great website. No matter how small your business is, or even if you cater to a local audience, your website should be on an international standard. Why? In the era where 81% of persons search online before buying a product, having a website is a must if you want to rise above your competitors, elevate your brand, and most of all, attract customers. Are you looking to create a website, or to evaluate your own? How can you know what a good website is? Are you looking to invest in a website or website redesign? If so, this article is for you. You don’t have to be a multinational company like Digicel, Sandals, or Sagicor to have a great website. You don’t need an entire department of web developers hired from an international agency.
As a business owner, what you need to know is the difference between an okay website and a GREAT website ‒ and choose not to settle for less!
All websites are not created equal.
There is a huge difference between an amazing website and an average website, and that huge difference is the return on investment you receive.
Having a great website matters. Here are 5 reasons why:
1. GREAT Websites Build Your Brand’s Credibility
With government-mandated lockdowns and curfews in Jamaica due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of persons have found themselves staying at home. As a result, for many, the first impression they will have of your business is online. Most Jamaicans have an idea of what a proper website looks like, and they are holding you up to their standards. Now more than ever is the time to invest in web development. According to a report done on web credibility by Stanford University, 75% of persons base a company’s credibility on its website design. If someone based your company’s credibility on your website, what would they say right now? And what would you want them to say? Konnexx, a popular Caribbean telecommunications company that has worked with multinational companies such as Digicel and Flow, reached out for a website redesign to fit the look that captured the professional, international feel of their brand. Compare the following webpages before and after their web redesign.
Who would you contact first?
The company experienced a major turnaround in their brand recognition and have a website they are proud of, and they have the returns to show it!
The first impression a user has of your website, and ultimately of your brand is 94% design related.
Having a stunning and eye-catching homepage with easy-to-use navigation can leave your website and ultimately your brand, in the user’s mind.
Secondly, an amazing website design can lead your customers to have a good impression of you, even before they interact with any member of your team.
As a marketing agency, we have seen the turn-around that a great website can have on the viewpoint of customers.
Few businesses in Jamaica see the importance of a stunning website, you are not one of them.
Build a website that rises above your competitors and catches the crowd!
ADDITIONAL TIP: A great website spreads like wildfire, and increases the likelihood of the persons visiting your website to share it with others.
2. Have a 24-Hour Employee
“88% of online visitors/ consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience.”
Do you want to know the difference between an okay website and a great website? A great website works for you, around the clock, and can pay for itself. Great websites can also have practical and useful additions, such as an automated agent, quick responses to customers’ messages, and even calculators and tools that make it your hardest working employee.
If created properly, an amazing website can showcase and sell your products, answer your customers’ burning questions and gather leads from prospective customers, even at 3 am in the morning!
Did you know? 6 out of 10 consumers said they would consider speaking to an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand.
Users coming on to your website can receive all the benefits online without having to call or speak to anyone, and still leave feeling satisfied and happy!
“The quality of our website is better than great and we couldn’t be happier. The most amazing thing is how close we are to our customers, Their concerns come straight to our phones and we can answer them in a time of need” --Brandon McKoy, Pinglinks Cellular
A great example of this is the electronics company, Pinglinks, based in Kingston and has small outlets in gas stations and supermarkets all across Jamaica.
For a store with so many locations, communication is important! Pinglinks installed an online chat feature to its website that channels customers’ messages directly to their sales team’s mobile phones.
A GREAT Website works for you, the better the website, the greater the benefits!
3. Autonomously Gather and Generate Leads
“A great site will produce dramatically better results than a good site, which may translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars over time.”- Andy Crestodina, Orbit Marketing
Why not turn your website from around-the-clock employee to around-the-clock sales agent?
No matter the time or location, your website is selling your brand to prospective customers. How great do you want your sales to be?
A study done by Forrester Research shows that an amazing user experience on a website can increase conversions by approximately 400%, 4x what a regular salesman can do.
As more businesses start to realize the return on investment of providing a great website experience, it is starting to become less of a competitive advantage and more of a bottom line. A good example is Xsomo International Ltd., a tech-savvy Jamaican printing company based in Kingston who reached out to us to create a landing page(webpage) for their consumer product.
Their leads increased dramatically, they were able to expand their customer base in the course of just three months!
The better your website, the greater your returns!
4. Increase your Brand’s Recognition through SEO
A well-designed website is made with a great feature that cannot be missed - it is optimized for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
What is SEO and why does it matter?
SEO is the process of maximizing the number of visitors and the quality of visitors to your website by pushing your website to the top of the search engine’s results.
Why does it matter?
81% of shoppers search online for a product/service before buying it.
SEO puts your website and your business to the top of search results for consumers interested in what you have to offer, which could ultimately lead to a purchase.
Jamaica Inn, a luxury hotel in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, is a great example of letting your customers find you through SEO.
Instead of redesigning their main website, we created a website campaign that consisted of landing pages targeted towards their most popular services such as their wedding packages and spa retreat.
Keywords related to their target audience’s most popular searches were embedded throughout the page, so that someone searching for words related to their package such as “beach wedding” or “Jamaican hotels” would see their name pop up in the search description. Even this article, it is optimized for SEO. How? Look closely and you will find keywords related to "Kingston" and "Jamaica", ensuring it reaches our local audience.
Great website design will have features to push your website to the top, and ensure that your prospective customers come to you.
5. Sell your Products Online
With so many persons wanting to stay at home, it’s hard not to see the value of an online store.
The pandemic has made Amazon skyrocket in value, and shipping services have seen a massive increase in customers.
For many Jamaicans, myself included, if you are thinking of getting a product online, international stores are normally what comes to mind.
This normally means shipping services, fees in USD, and long waiting times, a hassle for most.
If you are a Jamaican business, do your customers a favour and put your products online!
Attaching an online shop to your website is an easy feat for seasoned web developers, and allows you to gain returns directly from your website as well as care for your customers’ needs.
A great example of this is Odyssey by Yendi, a mainly online based Jamaican clothes store. Customers are able to order online and have products shipped directly to their doors, even internationally.
Some other great examples are online delivery sites such as Cutdiline or 7Krave.
Businesses have been making the switch to expand on the growing online market, do not be left behind!
CASE STUDY: GOING FROM A GOOD WEBSITE TO A GREAT WEBSITE
Don’t just take our word for it, check out the stats below of a client, Gateway Co-operative Credit Union Ltd. that redesigned their website, and the results:
They received over 1000 warm leads or prospective customers after the redesign of their new website and had over 200 member sign-ups, earning significant revenue.
In addition, their new integrated chatbot helped answer over 3000 messages and aided in earning them a spot on the top 10 websites showcased on Wix CORVID out of millions of sites.
A great website matters.
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