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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

You Know You Need a New Website When…


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·         Knowledgeable buyers will quickly conclude that your site is out of date, meaning your business is not interested in customers or has folded altogether.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.