Website Design Is Just The Beginning.
Now that that old yellow directory has died off, the design of your website, or websites, has become crucial.
Why?
Because it’s what a potential new customer sees and experiences before they even pick up the telephone to call you. You may well have a Facebook page but the first thing a client will do on your Facebook page is click the link to take a look at your website.
And then…
Your website needs to be found. When a potential new client uses Google to find “Your Service + Your Location” you need to show up and show up high. It’s not a co-incidence that the same businesses appear on Google’s search results pages time after time. It’s been engineered that way by some very clever people.
That’s why you should initially work on two key areas;
Online Presentation & Performance.
“Because First Impressions Count, Right?”
Dead right.
That’s why you have to wait 5 seconds before you can ‘Skip ad’ on YouTube: The advertiser is given 5 seconds to keep you watching – the most important 5 seconds of the clip.
TIP ! If you’re going to pay to advertise on YouTube, you don’t pay for any of your video ads when the viewer clicks ‘Skip ad’: So make sure your company name/logo and contact are featured within those first 5 seconds…
So why is presentation important ?
In order to answer this, you must take your business head off and become the consumer, the customer, the person with a vision and an expectation of what you want.
Think back:
How many truly outstanding experiences have you had when buying something ? Or researching a purchase ? When have you seen the WOW factor ? And how often have you not bothered with a supplier/shop because they don’t look ‘up to scratch’ ?
Now look:
Purchasing decisions are often made before the customer has even spoken with the supplier. The logical thought process of a buyer is influenced by something that looks the part, if they believe that you are the right people to call then they will call – just make sure the phone gets answered. Equally, if your front door is murky, dirty, neglected, run down etc…….no one’s going to knock on it. What do we mean ‘front door’ ?
Exactly that; Your website, TV ad, video, Facebook page, Twitter feed – everything that a potential client sees before actually dealing with you needs to be up to scratch, it needs to look the part. And for what it’s worth, if you don’t have a website then you don’t exist.
How does your business look ?
Two dinner plates – but which is presented better?
“Winning Isn’t Everything.”
Really ?
In the 2015 UK General Election (where winning really was everything) the main political parties spent the following amounts on marketing just to get your vote.
- Conservative £15.6 million (£1.2 million on Facebook / £312,000 on Google)
- Labour £12 million (£16k on Facebook / £371 on Google)
In fact, all parties combined spent £37.2 million on marketing (source)(social spend source).
Hmmmmmm, and the result ?
- Conservative
- Labour
Funny, that.
So why is performance important ?
Again, you must take your business head off and become the consumer – once you’ve made a decision to purchase (choice or necessity), where do you look ? The Yellow Pages generation has dwindled and it’s so easy now to reach for your phone and conduct a web search. Your search is normally prompted – by a TV or radio ad, an experience, an idea or a conversation. Type it in, click search and you have a range of solutions. Simple.
Put your business head back on.
You need to be among that range of solutions. Period.
Your competitors are already there
Seriously. Go to Google now and search for your business type in your area and you will definitely see a list of your competition. Every time that search happens one of them will get the enquiry. If you are not performing well in the search engines then you will not get any of those enquiries.
Here’s the deal:
Having a great looking website is the starting point. Getting it found quickly in the search engines is the next step. Tying it up with your social media presence comes into it (you do have a social media presence, right?), as does a collaboration with your YouTube channel. Bringing your digital strategy up to date is critical in today’s user and consumer driven market.
None of it is difficult, nor does it have to be expensive. But it does take time and effort.
Of course if you really want to put in the effort but just don’t have the time, then that’s where we come in. Get in touch, we might not be right for you but it’ll be worth a free chat.
