5 Traditional industries that can benefit from an online presence!

These days being active online is essential for online businesses, no long can a business continue to generate new audiences and attract new leads through traditional methods such as flyers, newspaper ads and through the phone book.

Even the most traditional of industries need an online presence, from banking and property businesses to hotels and restaurants, these days without having a digital presence it’s more difficult than ever to fully establish your business. Here’s 5 traditional industries that can benefit hugely from an online presence.

Estate Agents 

Gone are the days of looking in the paper or in the window of an estate agents to find a property, these days those looking to buy or rent are doing so online. People want to be able to search through properties in their own time from the comfort of there home, allowing them to search at their own pace in a quick and convenient manner. 

Despite being a relatively traditional industry, there’s no reason for estate agents not to take their business online, offering ways to view the property, find out more, arrange a viewing and even offering features such as maps or mortgage calculators can be effective ways of offering customers an insight they might be unlikely to get through traditional means.  

Food 

These days many people will choose to visit a restaurants website or social media before they consider booking a table or choosing to eat there. Whilst many businesses in the food industry still rely on word of mouth to get found, there are a number of reasons to consider taking your business online.

Through your website and social media you can show off photos of the food you have on offer, let potential customers look at your menu, have an online booking system, feature your address and contact information and could even let your customers read reviews of your restaurant, letting them get a clear view of what they can expect from your business.

Hotel Industry 

With businesses such as Airbnb continuing to grow it’s important that hotels keep up with these advances in technology and consumer behaviour. No longer do people want to spend hours looking through brochures, these days people want to conveniently browse through hotels and rooms online on a range of devices. 

Showing your rooms, your location and offering a simple online booking system are key elements visitors look for when looking for a place to stay, if your customers can’t get a clear view of what they can expect it’s unlikely they’ll choose to stay in your hotel. Optimising your website to be modern, swift and functional is a great way to bring a very traditional industry into 2016.

Banking 

Banking has changed significantly in the last few years, with most now offering online and mobile banking options, the increase in mobile payment systems and with the appearance of a number of digital banks, there’s no reason for banks not to embrace technology.

With customers wanting to check their funds when they want from their mobiles and tablets, the days of traditional banking are over, the idea of waiting for a bank statement or visiting a cashpoint to check their balances is now outdated and inconvenient and no longer ties into the modern way of life.  

Retail

Despite the high street still surviving, if this year has proved anything it’s that even the biggest and most established stores aren’t safe if they don’t have a modern and relevant online presence. With more people than ever shopping online, if you’re looking to keep generating sales and increase your reach then taking your shop online is the way forward. Offering customers a way to easily browse your products at their own pace is likely to increase conversions and you may even find more people choose to visit your brick and mortar store through visiting your website.

Offering contact information, customer service information and most importantly a fully optimised checkout system, you’re giving customers the chance to buy in their own time, meaning they can purchase from you at any time of the day, any day a week unlike with a traditional brick and mortar store which is only open certain hours. 

At this point it should be easy to see that even traditional businesses have no reason to avoid going online, with a world of opportunities from your website, social media and even pay per click advertising available online there are a number of ways you can bring your business into the modern world in a create and functional way. Is it time that your business reaps the rewards of having an online presence.