Building a website is pretty easy once you know what your brand, know how you want it to flow and the content you want to include. However, simply building a website and leaving it to petrify isn’t good for your business. It also means your website will never fulfill its true potential.
Your website does a lot more than you may think because it…
Lets potential customers know who you are
Your colours and branding should represent your business accurately. This may change over time, so it’s important to update your site to reflect those changes.
Gives you a space to connect with customers
You may have a presence on social media for more instantaneous contact with your customers, but you don’t own those sites. You do, however, own your website. Posting blog articles that show your specialty and expertise are a great way of making sure that people revisit your site for inspiration and advice. That’s where they will then see new offers and decide to work with you. Check out this great article on HuffPost on why you should start your own blog if you don’t already have one on your website.
Screens and filters potential customers
It’s just as important to know who you DON’T want to work with as who you DO want to work with. A well-designed website that truly reflects your values and brand will actually filter out customers who don’t fit with what you do. Saying your target audience is ‘everyone’ is simply not good practice. Focusing in on who you want to work with will give you an edge.
So is your website fulfilling its potential?
The simplest way of checking this is to get a colleague or friend to visit your website and ask them to answer four questions about it:
- What does this website sell?
- Who is the target market for this website?
- What does the brand of this website say to you?
- Was it easy to find what you were looking for?
If their answers don’t match what you are trying to convey then it’s time to have a rethink and spend some time modifying your content and branding. Just like I’ve done this month!
Oh, and if you need any help creating a new website that is easy for you to manage yourself then you know where I am…
P.S. Since I launched my rebranded site I have asked my own ‘tribe’ to let me know what they think. Their comments and suggestions have been really useful in helping me to fix a few errors that I thought only I may have spotted!
