Your business needs a professionally designed website along with your social media

Small business owners know having an online presence, usually on Facebook, is as essential for a company as having an email address. In fact, according to marketing industry website, AdWeek, an impressive 96% of small businesses have a Facebook page. The value must be glaringly obvious to have that level of adoption

Unfortunately, lots of Mom and Pop industries don't understand Internet marketing nearly as well as they understand their own business. They don't realize only having a Facebook page, for example, is not enough; that social media is only one element of a larger online equation. The worst part of this lack of understanding is that it hurts their profits significantly.

What? A Facebook Page Is Not Enough?

The way social media marketing works is sort of like fishing. The social platform, be it a Facebook or Google+ page, a Twitter account or any of the rest, is the flashy lure to get the attention of the customer. It is not the line that reels them in, however. To land that new business, you need a professional website to draw fresh contacts toward. Once they're there, your chance of converting visitors to customers is accomplished with persuasive, sales-friendly content not possible on a single FB page. Using engaging social media in tandem with a great website is the modern way to attract new clientele and keep them on the hook until you can add them to your "net" sales. And the best part is, compared to most other old school marketing options like TV, radio and print ads, a website/social media combination is far less expensive and demonstrably more effective.

Comparing a high-end website to the cheapest radio, print and TV ads available

To learn what a great deal a website can be when compared to the high price of traditional marketing, check out this article. It shows recent advertising rates in actual dollar terms for familiar Alberta-based media which make comparisons a snap. You will see, not only are traditional media initiatives far more expensive than online initiatives, they are also limited by geography and timing. An entire year's website/social media budget costs a great deal less than

• a single TV ad run,
• a once-per-day radio spot or
• limited duration newspaper ad campaign.

 In fact, not only is the website option less expensive than traditional marketing, your entire catalogue of products and services are available to a global audience 24/7, 365 days a year.

But wait! There's more!

Surprisingly, TV, radio and print ads need much luck to find their audience. Prospective customers may not be viewing or listening at the correct time or on the right channel to see the ad. As well, many customers may live outside your chosen medium's broadcast region. Additionally, not everyone takes the newspaper, listens to radio or watches TV anymore. These media have been steadily plummeting in the face of competition from entities such as Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. A website, however, with ongoing social media exposure changes everything. Instead of trying to find new customers, it makes it easy for new customers to find you. And that makes all the difference in the world.

The Moral of the Story

Don't just rely on half a job. To maximize your online marketing efforts a website to anchor your social media outreach is simply smart business. Trusting your Facebook page do more than catch your customers' eyes will lead to disappointing results.