Today is World Wide Web Day – an annual event on which the world celebrates the invention of the world’s first web browser and web page editor – the WorldWideWeb.

Invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and made available to the public in 1991, the browser and the technology that underlaid it led to the development of the internet as we know it today.

The internet has made a colossal impact on the way we communicate, socialise, learn and – most importantly to Heart Internet customers – do business.

As it continues to expand, it’s never been more important for businesses to have an online presence.

So, if you’ve not got your own venture online yet, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on opportunities.

With this in mind, here are five reasons you should get your business online ASAP…

1. The web is where your customers are

If you owned a real-world store, you’d probably prefer it to be located in an area of high footfall, like a high street, because you’d have more chance of attracting potential clients.

The same applies to having an online presence. 95.93% of the UK population is now online, with 46.6 million users accessing the internet daily. If you don’t have a website, you have no way of catching the eye of these people when they’re online. Just as you’d have less chance of attracting customers if your bricks-and-mortar shop was hidden down a side alley a mile away from the main shopping precinct.

2. Websites help build trust

According to a poll carried out by SurveyMonkey, 26% of consumers don’t trust businesses that don’t have websites.

Of course, a website is not a sure-fire sign that a company is legitimate. Scammers can set up websites, too.

However, establishing a website takes time and money and puts nefarious characters at a higher risk of exposure than some offline hustles.

What’s more, bone fide websites contain additional trust signals, like SSL certificates and links to Trustpilot reviews, that can help potential customers gauge the authenticity of your business.

3. Your website can mirror the quality of your business

Most consumers understand that setting up a website takes time, effort and love. So, by building a website, you are implicitly showing them that you care, and that reflects well on your business as a whole.

To make even more of an impression, you can ensure your website is well designed. Creating a website that’s easy to navigate, well laid out, and full of attractive on-brand images and well-written words signals to potential customers that your business pays attention to detail and cares about quality.

4. Consumers are becoming increasingly omnichannel

If you don’t sell online, you might think that you don’t need a website.

However, savvy consumers are becoming increasingly omnichannel and even when they don’t buy online they’ll carry out research online that informs their purchasing decisions.

Google has discovered that 55% of shoppers will visit a brand website during their purchasing journey.

5. Websites can give you insight into what your clients want

The beauty of websites is that you can analyse the traffic on them.

The data you get from your website can help you spot trends and even gaps in your product and service offering, helping you grow as a business.

Three ways to get online with Heart Internet

• WordPress Hosting

If you’ve never heard of WordPress before, it’s a content management system that makes it easy to build a bespoke website.

You start by choosing a theme aka a template for your site, then you can customise it in hundreds of ways, tailoring the navigation, adding media and inputting your own words.

Heart Internet’s WordPress Hosting plans come with WordPress preinstalled, so you can get started on building your site sooner. Plus, they come with perks like free domain names for the first year and free SSL certificates.

• cPanel-managed Web Hosting

Our four Web Hosting plans come with cPanel, which makes web hosting admin easy.

You can access a range of applications like OpenCart and PrestaShop and install them in a single click.

Plus, packages come with features like unlimited bandwidth and free domains for the first year.

• Ecommerce Hosting

Our dedicated Ecommerce plans make it easy to set up an online store.

They come with both WordPress and WooCommerce preinstalled and the best bit about these plans is that they include £4,000 of free WooCommerce extensions, so you can customise your site in all sorts of ways – from adding Royal Mail shipping rates to enabling subscription sales.