Your website is your hardest working employee, so treat it right!
Ok, so you have a website, you built it years ago and haven’t looked at it since. You only built it because you thought you should have one and because your competitors had a website. You haven’t noticed an increase in sales or enquiries from it, so don’t really pay much attention to it, what’s the point?
With a website you reap what you sow! A great website can make a big impact, it is capable of performing the roles of countless employees and when done right, it can be the most cost effective way of growing your business.
Think about it, your website is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and it never takes a holiday! It is capable of dealing with countless customers at the same time and providing you with the full support of a marketing team.
Like a promotional team would direct people to a store, product or service, a website can be search engine optimised to show up when customers search online, giving maximum exposure and high visibility to your business.
A well branded and well planned website can provide customers with a great experience, like a sales team would, giving customers great service, increasing sales and handling orders. A website is an opportunity to tell your story, show your unique values and build long lasting relationships with your customers.
A website collects information about your customers which means that you can adapt and develop the website, think of it as ongoing staff training. How did customers reach the website? What sections do they like on the website? How long do they spend on each page? In an age where there is so much competition, knowing your customers is key to staying ahead in the game.
A website can also save a huge amount of time spent on administration, third party apps can be integrated meaning that your website can speak directly to your booking system, customer database, etc. These integrations can send automatic emails, follow up with customers after the sale, encourage repeat sales. Think of the time saved!
Too often a website is thought of as something to tick off a to do list. A website is not a static reference page, I’m sorry to say that it will never be a finished project! A website should move and grow with your business and current trends.
Spending time and effort keeping your website up to date and relevant will provide your customers with a great experience and will lead to you achieving your goals online. Spending time at the beginning, seeking professional advice when redesigning and planning your new website will make life much easier later on. Maintaining a website with the attention that it needs should not be a headache, simply making sure that content is still correct and proudly showing off your business with new testimonials, images, content and products will give your website the tools it needs to achieve your goals online. Working with a web developer that provides a fully maintained service will mean that making these regular updates will be easy and you can spend time elsewhere on your business…or just put your feet up and relax, knowing that your business is in safe hands!
So to conclude, please show your website some love, its working very hard!