Taking Time for Your Business

You spend your time working to make your business successful. You network, work tirelessly with clients, and even spend money to make sure your business has what it needs. But when was the last time you stopped to make sure your business looks its best? Your online presence can greatly impact the number of new clients you get, and if your website is lackluster or doesn’t adequately represent your company, you may be missing out on opportunities to expand your business.

Lately I have been seeing people (myself included!) fall into the trap of focusing so much on the needs of their clients that they have no time to take care of some basic needs of their own business. Take me for example. When we decided to finally take the plunge and start our business last fall, I knew that one way to improve our SEO was to be continually adding informative, relevant content and that a blog is a perfect way to do this. I wrote 2 posts and then I got so busy working with clients and dealing with terrible morning sickness that I didn’t write again for 6 months. Now here I am finally writing again, as well as taking the time to update our portfolio and make a few changes that have been needed on our site. Was it good that I was focusing on our clients? Absolutely. Did anyone know I wasn’t updating our portfolio? Probably not. But I was missing out on a chance to improve our SEO and more importantly the chance to impress potential clients with the newer work that we had been doing for bigger clients.

Here are a few more examples that I have personally witnessed recently:

The realtor who has a site, but doesn’t know what he wants to put on his site and never gets around to deciding. Instead, his site just has a header and lots of blank space. How can you learn about him or the homes he has listed? His site does nothing for him!

A small marketing and advertising agency whose site has just a bullet list of the services they offer – without even a description about each one. No other embellishments or information to sell you on their business. I’m not sure I’d have faith they can help with my marketing when they can’t even market themselves!

The website designer who spends money to send out flyers advertising his business, but when you go to his site his portfolio doesn’t work! You can’t view any of his work to see the designs or quality. Would you trust him to build your site when he can’t make his own site functional?

Even if your focus isn’t on a website, the fact is that people will try to find you through your site. Not all businesses have a brick-and-mortar storefront anymore, and websites are filling that gap. Your site may be the only chance you have to make an impression on someone, so it needs to convey the right feel.

You only have about a minute to make a good impression and help potential customers find what they want before you risk losing them. Does your website stand out and set your business apart as one of the best? Or is it outdated and a bit boring? Does it showcase all that you can do and highlight what it is that makes your company great? Is information easy to find? Is it mobile friendly? Since more people view sites from mobile devices than from desktops or laptops, this is an important feature that can be overlooked and may be a problem if your site is even a few years old. Most importantly, does your site give potential customers a clear course of action and make them want to get started with you right now? If not, maybe it’s time you invested some extra time into your business.

The average person only spends

seconds looking for information on a page before giving up.

I’ll admit it can get frustrating to me as a web designer when someone wants a website but can’t seem to find the time to put together some content. I get that life is busy – believe me, I get it – but sometimes I just want to say “Isn’t spending a few evenings or a weekend to work on this worth it? Think of how it could help your business!”

Of course, some types of businesses require more site maintenance than others. Perhaps your site doesn’t need to be continually updated – but it is still worth the time to periodically review whether it needs a little updating to keep it feeling fresh and current.

In the end, making sure that potential customers have an enjoyable experience and leave with a positive impression is what will help your business grow. Whether it’s a few small changes or a complete redesign, the effort you put in will determine what you get out of it!

What impression are you making?

Making your website – and business – look great

Real Information

Is all the information up to date? Are you providing enough information without overloading your potential customers?

Mobile Friendly

How does your site look on mobile? Mobile devices are the most common way for people to view sites, and mobile friendliness can also affect SEO.

Call to Action

Does your website not only catch people’s interest, but give them a clear course of action? ‘Get started’ or ‘Contact us’ or anything similar should be plain to see to help convert viewers into customers.

General Layout

Is there a good flow that keeps people engaged and makes it easy to find information?

Design & Styling

Does the styling match the feel of your business and present your company in a good light? Does it highlight everything your company can do?

Information