NEED TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS? NEED MORE EMPLOYEES? MAYBE IT’S TIME TO GET ONBOARD WITH ONLINE

Associates

The world is changing, and we must change with it.

It’s not news that people spend a considerable amount of time on the internet and digital media, and this has only increased since the pandemic. In 2021, Canadians spent an average of 326 minutes (five hours and 26 minutes) with digital media every day. This figure is expected to increase to 333 minutes by 2024

“BUT MY COMPANY DOESN’T HAVE A WEBSITE.”

Considering the amount of time people spend online, a website is no longer an option. Indeed, with potential employees and customers increasing their online usage, it’s essential for companies to have a digital presence—especially a website. Here are some benefits of having a website:

• 24/7 presence: Your website is always easily accessible to your target audiences. Even during non-business hours, potential employees and customers can access your website and get the necessary information. Even if you aren’t selling online, you’re giving people the information they need to know if they want to do business with you.

• Trust: People tend to believe what they see. They cannot always visit your brick-andmortar store, but they can visit your website.

• Most times, potential employees search for your brand online before sending in their resumes.

• Sharing your existing customer’s testimonials, reviews, awards, etc. on your website increases trust among target audiences.

• Brand awareness: Many consumers rely on the internet to research their purchasing decisions before making their choice. Your website acts as a platform to educate people about your business, products and services whenever they need it, helping to move them along their journey until they choose to buy from you.

• Customer support: Through FAQs (frequently asked questions) on your website, you can answer your customers’ questions even before they call or visit your store. You can also integrate your website with Google Maps so people can find you more easily.

• Visibility: A physical store will usually be known by customers within a particular radius of its location—everyone in the neighbourhood knows about the store. However, when it comes to a business with an online presence, the visibility or the reach has no bound—suddenly you are showing up as a location for everyone in the city, and awareness just keeps growing from there.

• Enables you to access the power of digital marketing: A website will also help you target existing customers, prospects, and potential employees more efficiently by connecting it to your digital marketing efforts. This might include sending emails, buying digital advertising and social media, all linking back to your website and allowing you to interact with leads on the channels they use most.

• Web analytics: “Web analytics” is a formal term for “how well is my website doing what I think it’s doing? All website programs have reporting that will help you analyze the online traffic that comes to your website. You can find out how many potential customers and users visited your webpage, and what they were looking at. It also tells us where most potential customers come from, what they were doing on your webpage and how much time they spent there, etc. By monitoring how potential customers interact with your website online, you can pay attention to those parts of your website to increase your conversions (i.e. sales).

Advertising and engagement efforts will direct prospective employees to the website’s “Build Your Career” page and can filter and search for jobs and opportunities through Provinces and Cities/towns region so people can explore opportunities in their communities— or wherever they’d like to live:

A website is no longer intimidating to create and manage; with tools like WordPress, Squarespace and Wix, it’s easy to create and manage a simple website.

In the month coming, WRLA will be organizing a webinar on creating a “free” webpage and how to build a “Careers” page. WRLA is proud to count several e-commerce providers as members, and one of their website or ecommerce packages might be just what you’re looking for to get online and start supercharging your sales.

Our marketing and communications partner, Prospectus Associates, is also putting together a Digital Media Strategy Toolkit and a Job Posting Strategy Toolkit for members.

The timing is not coincidental. As you may or may not know, WRLA is all hands on deck right now with a new campaign, called “Let’s Go Build.” This initiative is designed to raise awareness of our industry and share the incredible diversity of available career options. The campaign will raise awareness through a dedicated campaign website, WRLA’s social media platforms, online and offline advertising, etc.

The “Let’s Go Build” website will feature photos and videos from WRLA members across Canada. It will tell the stories of our industry, and, most importantly, it will feature a careers page that people can use to apply for jobs in our industry right away! This careers page will feature links to the “help wanted” sections of our members’ own websites—just like your new “Careers” page on your new website!

They’ll then be linked back to the members’ own websites and job openings pages: