Your website then and now.

Years ago when the web was taking off and many businesses were creating their first websites there was a lot of talk about establishing a “web presence.” The idea was that businesses were gathering in this new space and you needed to be there, too. Many people thought of the internet as a virtual town square or shopping mall. For the most part, just showing up was considered good enough. The typical website was little more than a brochure.

Because a website was thought of as a glorified brochure, you might have familiarized potential customers with your business in person or on the telephone and then referred them to your website for more information. The website served its purpose if it merely helped to establish credibility.

Even if you haven’t been paying a lot of attention to your website, your prospective customers assume that what they find there is your best effort.

Fast forward to the present, where a completely different paradigm exists. Today your website is often the location of your business’s first interaction with a potential customer. Rather than engaging in a personal conversation with you, your customers conduct research and make purchasing decisions based on what they find online. This means your website is a critical part of the sales process. Even if you haven’t been paying a lot of attention to your website, your prospective customers assume that what they find there is your best effort.

This is just one reason why it is crucial for your website to accurately represent your uniqueness and to make potential customers feel good about doing business with you. In the past, you could connect personally through a warm smile or a friendly voice. Today, many of your potential customers want to keep personal interaction to a minimum. They would rather look at your website first and then decide whether or not to increase their level of engagement with you.

Does your website connect with busy people who want to keep personal contact to a minimum?

Can you depend on your website to bring in new business?

For most of us, there is tremendous opportunity to strengthen our businesses simply by making our websites more accessible and useful to our ideal customers. They are out there searching for us. We need to demonstrate that we can help them.

I enjoy helping my clients figure out how to do this. Clients have said that after working with me the web (and their place in it) finally starts making sense. Call or email to find out how we can work together to make your website not just a brochure, but a relevant and useful tool that attracts your ideal customers.