Pride is vanity, right? Isn’t that a bad thing?

Is it shallow or meaningless to make such an effort and expense ONLY so you can stop apologising for your website, and happily to tell everyone the address?
You probably know where I am going with this. To me, pride and vanity are actually good things (in business). And I don’t mean bragging, or being pushy or salesy.
But it’s not just vanity. It’s reputation. Your website is a reflection of you, and conveys the professionalism of your business. In fact, for many businesses, a poorly designed, non-existent or badly optimized website can mean a real big dent in the online image of a company. Which means a sometimes unquantifiable amount of lost opportunities, customers or prospects.

It’s a feeling

If your site visitors don’t feel comfortable on a website or find what they are looking for, they will blame your company for this, criticise you, and associate you with negative feelings. Unfair, right?
Having a well-designed website is a proof of your ability to stay up to date and attract the right sort of clients. And here are some other reasons to take those steps to improve it
(you may also want to read “Relax – these 4 things are all we need to quote for your new website”)

People come back to you.

But wait, there’s more!
The sales funnel isn’t what it used to be. People come to you from all angles, experiencing you via your content online, videos, images, social media posts.
When it comes to a website, the 3 factors that will make a visitor coming back are:

1. The quality of the content
2. The ease of use
3. How often it’s updated

The “ergonomics” of a website is its ability to make it easy for folks to search for information, to understand a message, to achieve your objectives and to meet user’s expectations and needs a way that is practical and easy.
A good website brings people back by:

1. allowing the visitor to find what they want in 1 or 2 clicks
2. making it clear what your business does, and who your people are
3. answering commonly asked questions
4. being well-designed, attractive and easy to navigate
5. looking good on all the devices commonly used – smart phones, tablets, browsers.
6. having frequently updated content that is interesting and relevant – good for humans and for SEO!

“Everything is measurable”

Unlike to traditional advertising (ads on newspaper, flyers), online communication strategies like PayPerClick and email marketing software, when used cleverly, can create a steady stream of traffic.
Audience, prospects, quotation requests – anything you are looking for from your website quantifiable and measurable. So any business, large or small can measure the performance and returns on investments. If things aren’t satisfying, you can figure out what parameters you have to change – and change them – because good websites are built to be easily changed.
And so,  you may as well make sure your website is in the right state to invite those people in and get them doing what you want them to, on the website.

You will be more productive

Believe it or not, a good website can and should make you and your team more productive.
Some things are so simple, they seem obvious. Like, for example, on the contact form on your site, you can ask extra questions such as “how did you hear about us” and ask people to subscribe to your newsletter.
Improved productivity can happen through a combination of good design, use of images, and well written copy. All to shorten the time people spend explaining things, and move them into more strategic conversations.
As part of the brief we ask questions like:

1. What makes people come to you?
2. What preconceived ideas do they have about people in your industry?
3. What makes you better than others offering the same thing?
4. What questions do people most often ask?
5. What is the main reason they are looking you up?
6. What are the current challenges you have in your marketing and sales cycle?

Once we get this information, and apply it to the way your website communicates, the best things about your business are intelligently and gracefully woven into each page – and this will mean those who come across you are drawn to you like magnets.

We have seen the results

Even though I know all the above, I still feel ridiculously pleased when I hear our clients talk about how things have improved in all sorts of ways for their business, since the launch of their new sites. When we relaunched our own website, we experienced so many good things from it.
So though every business is differentm there is no doubt in my mind it’s got more benefits than you’d ever imagine. I know I am doing good in this world!