B Websites Blog » Are you serious about your business?

Are you serious about your business?

I was surprised yesterday to meet so many business owners at Woking Means Business Exhibition, who openly admitted that they had either made their website themselves or had a brother/friend/niece/nephew make it for them. Others confessed that their website was not really want they wanted or not quite right but that they didn’t have the budget for a fancy new one.

Well, for most the first impression lasts. Perhaps you spend time and effort in driving the right car, using the correct telephone voice, honing your business skills and wearing the right suit and shoes – so why leave your website festering, getting more and more out of date?

Does this frustrate me?

You bet it does! When you meet someone in person you can interact with them and help sell your services to them by tailoring and adjusting the conversation that you have with them. If somehow you managed to get off on the wrong foot then you still have a chance to gradulaly win people over with your charm and knowledge of your products and services. Your website does not have this chance! It sits there 24 hours a day every day. You do not have the opportunity to talk to each visitor and adjust their view of your website (and hence your business). You have to get it spot on – straight away.

These are some of the things I was told yesterday

“I have a website that I designed myself and it was easy.”
Well yes, it is easy to get a website up on the internet but it is not easy to get it right. We use at least three different experts to get our websites right. We have the project manager who investigates competitor websites, does market research and gathers your requirements. A graphic designer creates all the fancy graphics and then finally the developer who converts everything into a fully functional website.

“I don’t need a website because all my work is from referrals or from word of mouth.”
Well would you like some more work? And perhaps when you leave your business card on a referrals table would it be nice to include a professional email address myname@mycompanyname.co.uk and the www.mycompany.co.uk address so that your potential client could find out more information about you and your services?

‘”I do plan on getting a website once I have drummed up some more business.”
Ok – great and it should be at the top of your list. I agree that this is a bit like chicken and the egg – but given that you could invest as little as £250 to get a professional and fully functional website from our www.budgetwebsites.co.uk service there really is no excuse.

“My clients are older so I don’t need one.”
Have you heard of the silver surfer? Computers are cheap, easy to use and accessible to most. For such a small investment why take the risk and assume that your clients won’t expect to be able to find you on the internet? Plus many older people do take advice on making purchases from their family and perhaps their son might have checked out your competitors’ websites and recommended that his Dad use them instead of you because they look more professional.

“I am sharing a website with my friend.”
Well this is just plain crazy! A website should be dedicated to one business. You simply can’t share a website with another business – it will confuse your visitors and also confuse Google.

If you have an old, diy or out of date website then please consider just doing me one favour?

Please add Google analytics to your website – www.google.com/analytics. If you need help doing this then I will be more than happy to help. By installing this tool you will find out some information about your website visitors.

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