What do you want your site to say about your company?
Written 15.04.07 by: Jonathan Briggs
Creating a website is very easy. Creating a good one is a whole different matter. And you need to take a look at how you present your company in other ways before you commission a low cost site. It could do you more harm than good.
The web is becoming an essential part of communications for all major companies and most small ones. It is how customers find you, how you do business electronically and part of your customer service. With a poor site they won’t find you, the quantity and quality of your online business will be disappointing and your customer service will be encouraging customers to explore your competitors. So what are the big mistakes that companies make?
Low expectations
If you don’t expect much from your site and invest accordingly, your predictions will be self-fulfilling. The successful companies are those that match their investment to their expectations. Your competitors are probably already making more online than you are.
Cheap design
Look at your offline marketing. Do you design your own marketing material? Do you print your own brochures and company reports? If the answer is 'no' to both questions then why would you consider the equivalent online? Visitors to your site are as sophisticated as your are and can spot a home-grown design, just as you can.
A recent Consumer WebWatch research report showed that the average consumer paid far more attention to the superficial aspects of a site, such as visual cues, than to its content. Nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes.
Good design creates credibility and trust online. Cheap design cheapens your brand and undoes all of the work that you have put in to developing and marketing your company.
Misunderstanding online customers
The people who find your site online are a different breed. They are information hungry and want to compare prices, products and service before making a purchase. A simple static brochure site is not sufficient any more.
Poor understanding of search engines
Many companies will offer to get you to the top of search engines. Be careful. It is easy to get your company name to come high on the list when you type it into a search engine but that is not what your potential customers are doing. They are searching for the things you do and the products you sell. Getting these to the top of the listings is a wholly different matter.
Misunderstanding the web
Some of the ‘clever’ guys in our industry have persuaded clients that the web is a bit like television and created sites full of animation, video and advertising. In fact our industry is really about return on investment and that means sales and service. If your site isn’t generating the sorts of money you hoped for or helping you build those long term relationships with your customers then maybe its time to take another look at your site.
The next phase of your business online is to define your objectives, commit a realistic budget and find a partner who will help deliver measurable results. Let us come and show you what we can do.
For more articles on ecommerce business and technology check out www.jonathanbriggs.com