Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’
When it Come to Website Design, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
When it comes designing websites, small businesses are many times victim to the old saying that states “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Unlike large corporations with large in-house website design and Internet marketing departments, small businesses are left to their own ill-equipped devices or left in the hands of an outsourced website design firm.
It generally takes a third party to point out a website’s physical and esthetic flaws. Sometimes it takes a few hundred of your dearest friends and colleagues to convince you that your website is ugly. An ugly website can come in many shapes and sizes. It may have a horrendous color scheme, a nasty logo, outdated architecture, inappropriate images, spelling errors, or it just might be difficult to navigate and locate information. Regardless, these ugly ducklings exist and they seem to be growing and living well past their intended lifecycle.
As a small business owner or C-level executive, listen to those around you and seek outsiders’ opinions. If someone you know and trust or even a prospective customer tells you your website has “issues”, it probably does need a refresh or a complete overhaul. Seek outside help and seek it quickly, before you are labeled one of the ugly ones. This isn’t the playground and you won’t hear your girlfriends whispering behind your back. All you’ll know is you are receiving little traffic, few conversions, or virtually zero website leads or sales.
Internet Marketing Consultant or Website Designer?
Is an Internet marketing consultant really necessary or do I just need a good website designer? This question is asked by a lot of small business owners who are contemplating a new website or the redesign to an existing website. While I’d love to provide a simple answer that yes, a website designer is the only real services needed, I’d be lying.
From my own firsthand experience, I can tell you, a lot of hard work goes into promoting a website and reaching that coveted page one search ranking of Google. It doesn’t happen overnight and it is not something that just happens. Top search engine ranking requires optimizing each website page and promoting those pages off site via the Internet. While designing a visually pleasing website is important, designing one that can be easily searched and one that is supported by a solid online marketing campaign is critical.
If you ask your new or potential service provider a few questions or listen to the questions he or she asks you, you will quickly see the level of their expertise. A true Internet consultant will begin with your overall marketing objectives, your offering, and your target market. A website designer will ask what you’d like on your website. A quality Internet marketer will create a website that is visually effective and that directly supports all of your marketing efforts.
Your website is an ongoing and never ending campaign. Just like more traditional marketing efforts, you cannot expect to create a campaign and have the campaign manage itself. It will not happen. It needs a solid foundation and constant nurturing to make it a success.
Do I Really Need a Website?
Unless you live in a cave and sell your products and services to other cave dwellers, you need a website. As my friend once said, “I have to have a website because everyone else has one.” He is right. While he may not be the most technology focused person I know, he is a small business owner and he sells products and services to every day people. Since most of his B2C (business to consumer) prospects use the Internet to research their future purchases, the company must have a website for prospective customers to review information about his company and product offering.
If you are a small business, how grand does the website need to be? In actuality, the average small business does not need an overly elaborate website. For businesses that do not sell their actual products via the Internet, like home builders, dentists, or accountants, a good website needs to provide enough information to obtain a phone call or a in personal visit. The website needs to make the visitor feel comfortable and drive further interest. It needs to convert the website visitor to a lead. This could be done in five pages or twenty. It depends on the nature of the business and the product.
The important task is to develop something. Additional pages or content can be added as needed.
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