Covid-19 Pandemic has had a massive and lasting effect on many things, including businesses. Many businesses weren’t ready for the change. As many entrepreneurs and small businesses had invested little or no time and money in creating a solid digital identity. Businesses treat their website as some kind of a static brochure. A lot of the time, there is no way to actually do business through the website.

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Umm.. Hello? This is 2021 - not 1921! Most of us spend most of the day connected to the internet, browsing websites, apps, media, content and what not. If you are not present online, then surely your competitors are, and that means you are losing out.

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The Future of Business is Digital

HubSpot, a B2B marketing automation platform, aggregated data from its customer base of more than 70,000 companies. The results show growing numbers of website traffic percentages in 2020 compared to 2019.

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This trend isn’t going to slow down or change anytime soon. A recent survey from vcita found that 33% of Small and Medium Businesses began offering their services online for the first time during the pandemic. Out of which 60% of businesses also reported that online appointments now make up almost half or more of their total number of appointments.

For anyone not wanting to shut their doors to business, the change was almost natural. Service businesses which require an initial discovery meeting or any kind of engagement, can easily set up the meeting on any of the video-communication services.

But going digital is more than just setting up meetings on Zoom and having a static brochure that you call a website. How do customers find you on the internet? How do they perceive your business online? Are they attracted to it? Can they even conduct business with you on your website? Check out How to tell if your business needs a new website.

Building trust and authority through your website

Many businesses like to have a ‘formal’ identity online. They use enterprise jargon all over their website with fancy mission and vision statements, to impress their visitors. If you too are doing this, let me tell you, no one is getting impressed. Rather, just bouncing off your website. Humans don’t like superficial or fake things. Even though you are communicating your business’s value on the internet, you need to build real connections with your customers. 
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1. Think of all the reasons people are visiting your site. Your website needs to address all those customer needs. Hint: Surely no one came to your website to read your mission/vision statement. Provide useful information that your customers actually need such as the services you provide, your portfolio or previous engagements or contact information.
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2. Build trust and see the magic. Anyone willing to do business with you needs to trust you. No one will be willing to pay you up front for your services if they don’t trust you. But how to build someone’s trust without even meeting them? Your website can do this for you. Your audience should figure out from your homepage, that your services are for him/her. If you truly understand your customers' pains and needs, and the content on your website connects with their frustrations, congratulations you have started to build trust. Client testimonials and portfolios also helps in building trust. People trust what they see and if they see good testimonials and great projects, it surely helps in building trust. 
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3. Establish yourself as an AUTHORITY! For service business owners to show their expertise, they need to provide valuable content to their customers. Something your user can access easily, such as a video on Youtube, a podcast, free guide or blog articles. Here you can show your knowledge and expertise on the subject matter, and your customers can get to know you and whether you know what you’re talking about. If you manage to build trust, and set yourself up as an authority on the subject matter, you’ll never have to worry about getting clients or growing your business.

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Make it easy for customers to do business with you

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Convenience is the name of the game in the 21st century. Are you making it convenient for your customers to do business with you? If not, guess where they are headed? To your competitors, of course. A website is not a digital brochure nor just a marketing tool. It is a sales tool, if done right. According to Lead Forensics, 94% of the buyer’s journey occurs online before they speak to a sales rep, so it’s important for your website to serve that vital sales role. 
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Your website needs to answer questions that people might usually ask from sales representatives. To make your website a successful sales tool you need to answer the following questions:
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1. What is your offering? Is your offering thoroughly explained on your site or are you again just using jargon to ‘impress’ your customers. They don’t want to hear your extensive vocabulary rather what services do you offer, what outcomes they can expect and in how much time or money. Period.
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2. Who is it for? If you are a service business owner, the content on your website needs to clearly define who your target market is. This attracts your ideal clients and gets rid of the rest. This will also clearly distinguish you from the competition if you serve a specific market and offer specific services.
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3. How to buy your services? Not having any Call to Action buttons or having static contact information is too boring and unattractive. No one wants to email you to inquire how to get your services. You need to make it easy for them to contact you and buy your services. There are many ways to go about this. If you require or offer a discovery meeting, you can integrate Calendly to your website so your customer can book an appointment with you. If you require payment upfront, you can integrate payment gateways that are supported in your country. If technology doesn’t scare you, then having chat bots on your website is also a great option. 

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Time To Go All-In On Your Website‍

Sure pandemics such as the Covid-19 are unusual. But 2020 was the year of change, it questioned how we conducted business. If you rely on a brick and mortar store or client visits then you are in serious trouble if for some reason you are forced to close the doors to your shop.

With a website, however, you can continue with “business as usual.” Your clients will still be able to reach you, and you can still provide the services they’re looking for.  If you are not experienced in designing or developing a website. It is far better to outsource it to an experienced person. Check out my article on 4 signs that your business needs a new website. Great websites may be expensive and cost around anywhere from $3k - $15k. But it helps in unlocking great hidden business potential. You are not just targeting your local area now, but people from the entire world. 

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