A number of decades ago, when the telephone was the main, and often the only, communication tool in our businesses, we checked our voice messages daily, and with delight. We knew that most of the voice messages we received would be from either customers, friends or family. Sadly, after a time, telemarketers ruined that experience for many of us. Even today, telemarketers can sometimes make us feel reluctant to pick up the phone once we see a non-local or unidentified phone number calling in.
This also happens with email. Today, it is not uncommon for an average business to receive 10 or more unsolicited/spam emails each day. This over-soliciting tactic creates all kind of noises in our inbox which cause us to take longer to filter out unwanted emails and to get back to our customers. Over time, we learn to ignore spammy emails that often have similar subject titles. So, what do these examples have to do with website marketing?
One of the key factors here is that consumers’ behavior changes over time to help them filter and select more suitable information from a cluster of “noises” around them, including those from telephone, email and websites. As thousands of websites join the Internet every day, the “noises” are getting louder; thus, it requires a good effort from a professional web design company to make your website stand out from the crowd.
Business owners who didn’t receive adequate results from their website often were those who believed a cheap website would be “good enough” to deliver their desired results. Since the majority of websites on the Internet are either poorly designed and programmed or are out-of-date, the only way to make your website stand out effectively is to invest in a professional website that is attractive and user friendly to the viewers. Remember, cheap websites will make your online presence blend in with the noises instead of standing out.
The second oversight is the lack of on-site optimization. Cheap website designers often don’t know how or don’t have the time to research and optimize your web pages for better search engine indexing. Search engines are computer robots; therefore, in order for them to read your website and index it under the right categories, each of your webpages should be tagged with keywords related to the products and services you provide.
Without this critical step, your website will become hopelessly invisible to potential clients. As you already know, a majority of customers today are using search engines like Google and Bing to find the providers they need. Without a professional website which incorporates effective on-site search engine optimization (SEO), it will be harder for customers to find you on the search engines they use routinely every day.
Another key factor is effective communication. Our customers’ attention span is often short when they are on their desktop or laptop browsing the Internet, and it gets even shorter when they are on their mobile devices, like tablets or smartphones. Thus, within the first 10 seconds of entering your site, the viewer decides whether your site looks professional and is user friendly enough to stay longer and explore your site. Within the next 20 seconds or less, the viewers should be able to clearly understand what you provide through your key messages.
Professional web designers should take the time to strategically plan the layout of your website so your key messages can communicate to customers quickly and effectively. One thing to keep in mind, no matter how much money you spend to direct potential customers to your website, if this step is not carefully implemented, the return on your investment (ROI) will not reach its maximum.
These are three critical factors that many business owners may not be aware of prior to investing in a website for their business. Here is a recap of my three recommendations to leverage the Internet to your advantage with an effective business website:
First, you should look for a content management system (CMS) website design company that has a good track record in designing websites, tailoring to each type of business.
Second, make sure they will include an on-site optimization service within your web design project.
Third, make sure they can design a mobile-friendly website with your key messages positioned prominently on your landing page.
Once you’ve found a provider who can deliver on these important factors, the results you will see from your website should be very positive. I hope you find this article helpful. If you do, please share it with others whom you think would benefit from it. Thanks!
