I am very passionate about web design. I think most small business owners spend way too much on their web design and get way too little from their website. Let’s talk about the three most important things to consider when building a website for your company.
#1 – You make the key decisions for your website design and use.
I realize that you will hire a web designer to make your vision come to life. Transaction Expert has a great web designer on staff to help you, but you cannot completely delegate this task. If you want to build your local brand, you must be involved in the process of building your website. No one knows your customers like you do; no one knows better than you what content will be best received; and no one else knows what your brand should look like online the way you do. So be involved in every step of the web design.
#2 – The purpose of your website is to generate leads and make you money, not to look pretty.
If your brand stands for quality or professionalism, you will obviously need a website that reflects this. However, the appearance of your website, especially the home page, is not the key factor in web design. You want to create a website that will generate interest in your business. And you want to lead potential customers through a set of simple action steps to either purchase your products and service online or contact you to complete the purchase.
#3 – A static website will do very little to grow your business.
A website shouldn’t be a set of static web pages that sit online and never change. If you want to draw customers to your physical location, you must be able to drive them to your online location with lots and lots of great, targeted content. When I was growing up my Dad would always tell me, “The job isn’t done until you clean up.” In business today, I would say that no sale, contest, promotion, event or launch is complete until you have updated your website. If you have a big sale, you better be taking some pictures of customers and planning your blog article to re-cap the day. Make sure you have a catchy title with key words for which your customers will be searching. Web design is about creating an information hub where customers come every week to see what is new at your place of business or where potential customers are won over by the great information you provide. The ideal is for potential customers to start building a relationship with your brand long before you meet them in person or they decide to use your services.
If you are interested in a practical web design that will drive business and help you grow, contact us. We will connect you with our web designer who builds just the kind of website you need.
James Shepherd
