1. People tell you they Googled your company
and you start making excuses for your website.
Like a storefront or
brochure, your website showcases your company. Consider:
·
What image does
your website portray?
·
Do competitors’
sites look better?
·
Would you choose
to do business with your company over your competition based on the impression
your website gives?
In just seconds, visitors size
up your site and decide – often permanently – whether your company is any good.
2. Your website openly declares “old school”
or “who cares.”
Does your website feature:
·
A counter showing
how many visitors have been to the site?
·
A note indicating
you “last updated” the site last year or earlier?
·
Frames?
·
Blinking fields?
·
The phrase “best
viewed using Explorer”?
·
Testimonials,
awards, and references that all date before 2000?
·
Big blocks of
text?
·
A wide variety of
fonts, text styles, and designer colors?
·
An email address
using a “free” email service unfortunately known for spam and phishing
messages?
Some of these features can
be acceptable or fun for a personal site. They just don’t communicate
professionalism or a serious commercial enterprise in 2012 and beyond. And if
your site is over four years old, a redesign could work wonders.
3. You’ve changed your
offerings/prices/locations, but the website still shows old info.
When the offering and
price information is wrong:
·
Knowledgeable
buyers will quickly conclude that your site is out of date, meaning your
business is not interested in customers or has folded altogether. Non-current
web pages stand as E-tombstones of failed enterprises.
·
Buyers who
contact you about an offering or price will have to hear “no, we don’t have
that” or “sorry, our website is not right” – exactly the wrong things to say to
an inquiring customer.
When your site’s “contact
information” is wrong, the website is double-daring the customer to do business
with you. Web visitors don’t appreciate the detective challenge – they either
start their interaction with a negative attitude, or they just click to the
next Google search result and move on.
4. Search results list your website on page 5
(even page 2 isn’t good).
Solid website design works
hard to place your website in the earliest search engine results. Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) includes initial analysis, ongoing measurements, and
adjustments to keep your site at or near the top of the pile. Knowing what
search terms connect well with your site’s purpose can help optimize your
placement. If your site is lagging far behind competitors using the preferred
search terms and current design elements, then your site likely needs a
refreshed design.
5. Visitors to your website don’t give you their
contact information.
Collecting client
information equals building a database of prospects. And prospect lists are
gold. To persuade visitors to leave their contact information, your site needs
to:
·
Impress them as a
trustworthy, authoritative, and considerate place.
·
Make it easy to
supply the contact information.
·
Ask for the
contact information while offering something valuable in return.
Modern effective website
design includes features that supply all three of these elements for success.
6. You don’t remember the last time someone said “I
found you on the Internet.”
Oops! Customers can find
you only if the website works effectively. Remember:
·
Some customers
use websites just to locate a business and verify its products and services. They
may buy over the phone or in person, so your site is mostly a “yellow pages”
ad. That’s fine if it works. You need ways to discover whether people visit
your site for those purposes.
·
Giving customers
a reason to visit your site can increase user visits and customer traffic. Airlines,
for example, offer their lowest fares only via Internet. Many businesses have
coupon offers available only on their site. Ideas like these can build user
allegiance, referrals, and increased countable visits to your site.
·
Websites looking
stale, unchanging, or hard to read discourage visitor traffic, causing quick
exits from your site.
·
Mobile friendly
sites make your business happily available to the millions of Internet users on
the go.
A powerful marketing tool
working for you 24/7, your website can be your most rewarding business
generating investment.
7. The web pages’ text wouldn’t pass a spelling or grammar
check.
Come on, whats a few
errers between frends? People are busied, so who stops an worries about it
anyways!!
Did those sentences
distract you or make you wonder? Visitors form impressions about a site based
upon written content – and that includes word choice, grammar, and editorial details.
Great web design includes caring for every detail.
8. You worry that refreshing your site will cost too
much.
When you go on a job
interview, important sales call or romantic date, you dress for success, right?
Your first level web pages convey your image professionally the same way your
clothing and shoes help position you personally. Websites today serve as your
best tailored outfit, your receptionist, and your lead sales person – all in
one digital package. The good news is: refreshing a website may not cost as
much as you fear.
Call the experts at seen BESTWeb Design in Phoenix, Arizona, for a free consultation and we’ll discuss
options that can shine your digital shoes and fit well within your budget.
Take it from the legendary
Disney Institute professionals who steer cartoon characters and theme parks to
stardom: “You need to stay on top of progress, not become a dinosaur that is
hopelessly out of step with the times.” So encourages Lee Cockerell, a top
Disney creative mind, explaining to business people the continuing need to move
ahead in his 2008 book, Creating Magic. At
seenBEST Web Design in Phoenix, Arizona, we press hard to keep our clients’ web
presence top flight, SEO successful, and a source of continuing pride and professionlism.
Call us today @ (480) 256-9010 for a free consultation.