Something that I think all of my customers have in common is that they have been given bad advice about websites at one time or another, so I thought I’d use my newsletter to give out some advice that might (or might not) fit your business. Here are things I think are really important to successful websites:
- Keep your site fresh and keep it fashionable! Even a new picture on the front or a color change, helps to show people that you are keeping your site up to date.
- Make the site a marketing tool. Think about why you have a site. Is it actually generating anything for you or your customers?
- Set up an e-mail program. This is a fantastic and inexpensive way to keep connected to your customers.
- Create an online reward for prized customers. This doesn’t have to be huge. Just give them something for coming to you.
- Speed loading time. There’s nothing worse than having people give up on you because it takes your site forever to load. Not everyone has a “state of the art” computer. Keep that in mind.
- Align the site to the organization and make sure your site reflects your business and who you are.
- Add testimonials or success stories. I think this is key! People may not believe you’re the best, but if they hear other people say you are, they might take notice!
- Being cutting edge doesn’t always mean cutting edge technology. Cutting edge technology costs money. For the same money, you could do other more cost effective things to generate business like Google Ad Words or supplemental advertising. “Flashy” sites mean the owner spent a lot of money NOT that they necessarily are making a lot of money. If you need to promote that type of image then do it but sometimes simple is best!
- I always tell my customers to start small You can always add on and move to other platforms (for shopping carts) but to put a lot of money in up front just because you think you have to is bad advice and I refuse to give out any of that!
