If you have started a new business or are considering starting one, you may not think that you have the time or money to have a website. At MIBS, we understand the constraints of a new business owner and have designed a system to create affordable websites that can be easily maintained.
How important is a website to a new business? According to a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article:
- 97% of consumers search online for products and services.
- 88% have been influenced by an online review
- 91% have visited the business because of an online experience
While these are pretty convincing numbers, only 51% of small businesses have a website. That provides a tremendous competitive advantage for the companies that have websites.
However, just having a website does not guarantee success. You need to have the right website. The Post-Gazette article went on to point out that:
- 70% of small business websites have no call to action
- 27% do not have a phone number
- 82% do not have social media accounts
Most problematic is the fact that even though 96% of consumers researched a product or service on their phone, only 6.7% of small business websites are mobile compatible. Can your new business maximize its potential if your website frustrates 93.3% of your customers?
Considering all of these statistics and the opportunities they present, again we ask, why do only 51% of small businesses have a website? Most often the reasons are money, time and frustration.
As a business owner myself working with several new businesses, I realized the frustration that comes from creating a new website. I tried to make one myself and that ended up being a complete waste of time. I worked with web designers that did not listen or who had no concept of deadline, budget, communication or customer service. That is why I started my own website development company.
Just as your new business will have competitors, our business has competitors as well. There are a lot of web developers to choose from. There are large national companies that advertise cheap website development that is local. Ironically, they are not cheap, nor are they local. There are plenty of web designers who claim to be the best website developers offering great web design but yet their products are not responsive or user-friendly. These experiences can be expensive in terms of time and money because they do not listen, do not understand your business and delay the income that the internet can provide you.
We differentiate ourselves by offering the following:
- Local: Our entire team is located in the Pittsburgh area.
- Ala-Carte Pricing: Our customers pay for exactly what they need. We do not force people into product tiers.
- Responsive Web Design: We focus on responsive web design 100% of the time.
- Open-Source Platform: Our custom WordPress websites are designed using software that offers free updates.
- Custom Design: Every website we design is custom. We do not have templates that we force our customers into.
- Training: The great website we design should be your great website to update and maintain as you want. We train our customers to complete all of the content and photo updates that they want.
- Communication: We communicate with customer throughout the design/development process.
- Turn-Around Time: We understand how important your website is and how precious your time is. Whether it is a new website development project or a website redesign, we meet all expected deadlines.
We can also assist with advanced website functionality such as online ordering, E-commerce, custom web design, complex contact forms or a thorough website redesign.
Just as building your new business will not automatically bring people in the door, building your website will not automatically bring web visitors. We work with companies to implement social media strategies, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising also known as Google AdWords to increase the amount of web visitors.
Having a website without investing in SEO is like having a new business without having a phone.
Once there are zillions (an approximation) of people visiting your site, we implement reporting such as Google Analytics to determine where the visitors are coming from, what they like, what they don’t like and how entice more of them to take a call to action. We can also create added features such as infographics and custom graphics to maximize the user experience and promote shares and forwards of links.
Your new business needs all of the exposure that it can receive and nothing provides exposure like a great responsive website. Partnering with MIBS will provide your new business with the best website design and maximize the revenue generated through an optimized online presence.
About MIBS:
MIBS is the best website development company in the Pittsburgh area. We currently have staff in Cranberry Township, Butler and New Castle and are looking to add more staff in other parts of the city. Thankfully, we all have cars and valid driver’s licenses, so if you are not specifically in one of those areas, we can still work with you.
Are you still reading this? Wow.
As a reward for scrolling to the bottom of the page, here is a list of the 20 essential elements that optimize a new business’s website:
- Appropriate Domain Name
- Responsible Hosting Company
- Thorough Keyword Analysis
- User Friendly Navigation
- Easily Updateable & Relevant Content
- Responsive Website Design
- Relevant Page URL’s
- Helpful 404 Page
- On-Site Search Function
- User & XML Site MapsRobots.txt File
- Relevant Anchor, Alt, Meta & Title Tags
- Custom Favicon
- Internal & External Links
- Search Engine Optimization Efforts
- Submission to Search Engines
- Google Analytics
- Social Media Links
- Optimize Site for Speed
- Be Accessible & Consistent
Even though we are the best web designers on Earth (at least that is what most of our relatives say), you might decide to work with someone else. If you do work with someone else, please use the list above as a checklist to ensure your website is getting the attention and features it deserves. Consider this a public service. But, when it comes time for your website redesign, give us a call. We do not hold grudges.