Many cannabis businesses rely on online directories for traffic and online sales. These directories have many benefits, such as improving your chances of being found by potential clients and exposing yourself to a large audience.
But there are a few disadvantages, such as needing to spend money on a monthly basis if you want higher chances of being found on online directory listings.
This year, take control into your own hands. Instead of paying to be a part of directories, focus on creating a powerful website of your own. The internet is filled with all kinds of people looking for products to enhance their quality of life. You just need to find the best way to get your website in front of the right people.
Remember that the future of cannabis will be in online sales, and as the plant becomes increasingly legalized on a state level, and potentially even legalized on a federal level, there will be an enormous swell in online traffic of people looking to buy marijuana. Make sure that those potential customers stumble upon your website, where a third-party directory will get exactly 0% of your cut.
Be in Control with a Content Management System
With online directory listings, you do not have as much control over your content. Once it is published in a directory, then you cannot update it easily.
Furthermore, you cannot control customer evaluations on directories. As of 2018, 97 percent of consumers read reviews. Even one bad review from a disgruntled individual can place the future of a product line in harm’s way.
But with websites, you can have the freedom to control how you present information about your products, update information easily and establish a wonderful community.
The key to this amount of freedom is in choosing the right content management system (CMS). CMS software allows you to do the following tasks:
- Manage your website’s content by updating information when it becomes outdatedÂ
- Expand your website by adding more pages and other useful features
- Improve security for both you and the consumer’s saved personal information
There is so much more to learn about CMS, but don’t just take these words at face value. One of Onsharp’s clients, All Seasons, requested help in creating a website that is user friendly. We did exactly that by adding useful features onto the website, including an easy-to-use application form and dedicating a page about All Season’s special promotions which, with the proper CMS, our clients can update regularly.
Improve Marketing for your Products
Directories are great when your business is just starting out and you need help marketing your products. But they come with a catch of constant payments, and sometimes the complete lack of the results you were really looking for. This could be a financial risk that works out well, or you may find yourself struggling to get your business off the ground while keeping up with directory fees.
For websites, you have full control over how you market your brand, such as including a page for each of your products. On each page, you can discuss the specifics of your product, such as third-party lab testing results or an ingredients list, and include user reviews that show consumers that your products work as intended.
Countless websites market their products well, including Onsharp’s client, Posi Lock. They approached us with one major goal in mind: To create individual product pages based on their information and eliminate discontinued products. Here’s what we did:
- Built over 200 product pages based on the information provided by Posi Lock
- Visitors can search each product based on relevant puller industry metrics
- Each product’s image and the gallery was updated, including a 360-degree view for each productÂ
- Posi Lock’s website is hosted on a secure server that performs routine security maintenance
The hard work that went into crafting Posi Lock’s website concluded with a user-friendly interface that makes viewing their gear and bearing pullers easy and efficient. These features are perfect for your CBD and marijuana products as well. You can improve brand awareness by creating a page for each of your products. Thus, you will increase consumer awareness, and build trust between your brand and your customers.
Create a Website with your Audience in Mind
Not only can websites provide you with a sense of freedom unavailable with directories, but they can help attract a specific audience as well. Online directories, such as Weedmaps and Leafly, garner people from all walks of life. They may not account for people with specific tastes.
Thus, create a website in which you market your products that are tailor-made for your target audience. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Establish a blog section
- By creating content that interests your core audience, you can show them that you understand them and that your products will satisfy their needs. Blog writing can be focused on problems that your target audience may have, and then you can promote your products as solutions to their inconveniences.
- Design an easy-to-use interface
- Your added features won’t have the intended effect if the website itself crashes constantly or is difficult to operate. Thus, consumers will frequent your website if they can get to where they want without any trouble
For more tips, consider these five must-have features for your cannabis or hemp website that will drive traffic and aid with sales.
Conclusion
By having a website of your own creation, you cut costs, have more freedom, and increase brand awareness and consumer awareness more easily. A website of your creation will market your products better than any online directory.
If you need more help in building your website, then you can always ask for our support from us here at Onsharp. We will make sure that you get all the help you need in building a website that can meet your needs and lead you on your way to success.
FREE WEBINAR: Perfecting Your Dispensary's Website
Learn how to stand out online in a highly-competitive and heavily-regulated industry
