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TPE, PME: Why create your website ?
05 Feb

TPE, PME: Why create your website ?

A website has many advantages for an SME or a small business. It is essential if it wishes to develop its sales internationally.

Why create a website when you are an SME? There is no single reason. It all depends on your needs. These vary from one company to another, whether it is a communication agency or a bakery. For local shops, it is not necessarily necessary to have a website. Obviously useless to capture a customer to have a digital showcase, when you are the baker or butcher of the neighborhood. Customers walk past the shops daily. But even for local shops, things quickly become more subtle. A restaurant will benefit from staging its atmosphere and its menu; a beauty institute to sell the quality of its care, and its decor ... 
In most cases, and for larger SMEs, having a web interface has advantages. Better visibility, more potential customers, international opportunities ... 71% of French companies having invested in an online presence do not regret it, according to a barometer conducted by the Opinion Way Institute in October 2014. It must be said that half of them - 49% - report achieving at least 10% of their turnover online.

A reassuring website

For many potential customers, the website is a guarantee of confidence. He reassures. The customers say to themselves: if this professional has a site, if he has a storefront, it is because he is serious. This is the main interest of a website: it will reassure on the quality of services and products provided.

And that's not all. A web interface also allows professionals to display their skills, to show they are up to date on the latest issues, to distribute a newsletter ... A whole range of instruments that will awaken the interest of customers, with in fine the possibility of making its site a marketing tool. Provided, of course, to use it. The site must live; update it, send push mails, etc. Small things that take time when combined with a professional activity. 
The number one advantage of a website remains - of course - the expansion of the customer base. Although referenced, a site can bring tens, hundreds of new customers. Question of reflexes. A client who is looking for a lawyer near his home will find him on the internet, someone who is talked about a company will go to find information on the internet, etc. In these conditions, having a website becomes an advantage without common measure. Some professionals say that their site earns them, as customers, a hundredfold of what it costs them. That means, you will never know which of your customers come from the internet. But be in some, they are real. And many.

The international boom

Last benefit of a web interface: international expansion. 70% of companies with an online presence believe that it allows them to sell more easily outside their borders. Simple impression or tangible reality? At a time when the number of surfer exceeds 3 billion people, having a website can only help companies to internationalize - and export.

Because it is internationally that customers need the most reinsurance. Before any purchase, customers will find out who the professional is: what are his references, where are his premises, maybe even what he looks like. SMEs always leave with a disadvantage facing large international groups, known worldwide. A website allows them to fill (a little) this delay.

Source : www.challenges.fr