When any of Slinky Web Design’s professional team is speaking to prospective clients in Brisbane a question that often gets asked is ‘Why are websites so important these days?’. It is a valid question because websites have been around since the earliest days of the internet, so why would they be any more important to a business in Brisbane today, than they were then?
Whilst we will cover many of the benefits that a well-designed website can generate for your business, they do not speak to the way in which a website plays a much bigger role in the success or otherwise of a business, so let us examine that.
The first reason is obviously the expansion of the internet, not just in terms of geography but in terms of speed and most importantly, with the numbers of people who use it, which include a widening in the demographics of internet users. Whilst all that was happening at a reasonable pace anyway, the events that enveloped the world in 2020 accelerated that.
With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting just about every town and city across the world, including Brisbane, when people went into lockdowns they found themselves cut off from family and friends. The main way in which they were able to stay in touch was via the internet using platforms like Zoom and Skype.
This phenomenon meant that many people, including those such as the elderly found themselves using and relying on the internet like never before, or even for the first time. This reliance has not only meant a huge increase in internet use but now it is a habit, even when the world is finally back to normality, the use of the internet and the importance of websites will be higher than ever.
Another point we must mention is that over the past two or three decades, the use of mobile phones and handheld devices has moved from them being the expensive toy of rich businesspeople to something which virtually everyone uses. Such is our dependency on them that you will no doubt have witnessed someone have something akin to a panic attack when they realise they have forgotten theirs.
Today, mobile phones are used for a lot more than just calling and we are close to the point that anything which can be done on a PC or laptop can also be done on a mobile device. This includes searching for products and services, researching a company, filling in ‘Contact Us’ forms, and ultimately making purchases, any, or all of which, would benefit most Brisbane businesses, including yours.
To give you simple illustration of how far the shift from desktop to mobile has gone, statistics for the whole of 2020 shows that 53.5% of internet usage was done via a mobile device or tablet, with 46.5% of internet usage via a desktop computer.
