Are you better off closing your website down?

At this week’s Bracknell exhibition we met lots of new and well established businesses.  It was great to talk to so many business owners all passionate about what they do.  I was excited about the number of websites we had been asked to review and over the last few days I have been working through the list.

But boy, what a massive disappointment.  In many cases the website was so far removed from the well groomed and enthusiastic business owner that I had met earlier on in the week. 

Ok, so good website design can be subjective. But objectively there are a number of things that are common to all good website designs.

1. A sensible domain name that can be remembered (and spelt!).
2. A website that sits in the middle of the screen and instantly tells the visitor what services/products are on offer.
3. Your website has to be readable. I have seen so many this week with teeny tiny fonts that would make it very hard for many people to read at all.
4. A consistent look and feel.  Menus that move around the site or pages that grow and shrink in width – just don’t look good and indicate a cheap or DIY website.
5. Do not use the hosted wordpress/blog sites for a business.  Secure your own domain, hosting and set up your own wordpress blog.
6. I know it’s not directly related to the website but using free home emails like aol, tesco, yahoo etc is not going to cut it and will put some customers off.

For me, personally, sometimes it is just best to have no website at all.  If you leave your card behind at a networking event and someone visits your website you have no chance to undo any bad impressions they might form.

So do you cringe at the thought of potential clients looking at your website?

If you are running a serious business and expect your clients to spend £50, £60 or £100/hour on your services then you absolutely must have a professional website set up.  You don’t need to spend £1000′s to get up and running, but consider making an investment in getting some professional help.  Don’t kid yourself that your clients won’t notice, care or mind.  Bottom line is they will – nobody wants to spend money on a company that is not professional. And why waste an opportunity to reach out to more people with a professional online presence?

Website Design | 5.03.2010 12:55 | No Comments