Your website may not feature much in the day-to-day running of your business. Perhaps it was commissioned and built at a time when you felt you should have a web presence and since then there hasn’t been time to revisit your website. Gone are the days when a website was simply a way to get your contact details onto the web, your business website can do so much more for your organisation. You could be missing out on an opportunity to connect with your customers and develop online ways of finding new ones.

The look of your existing website
Does the design of your website now appear dated? If you had your website created more than a few years ago it could be time to think about how the site could be re-designed to appear more relevant and contemporary, especially if the rest of your business uses more up to date marketing materials that don’t match your website. Consider the branding of your organisation and if it projects a strong personality for your organisation that is no longer represented on yor website. It could be a fairly disjointing experience for customers who meet you to visit your website and see something that looks completely different to your business cards or brochure.

Are the photographs and images on your website out of date?  If you have moved office, have a whole new team or have new graphics on your company vehicles this should be on your website to give customers a better idea of who they will be dealing with,where you are located and what your delivery or service vehicles look like.

Does your website use obsolete technology? The way that websites work has changed a lot in the last few years. If your website is made using old technology it may not function as well with search engines and new browsers impairing your chances of being found by customers searching online. If your website does not mix well with the latest browsers then you could find that visitors may abandon your website without reading it, potentially costing you business.

The content on your website
Is the information on your website now out of date? Does it feature employees who are no longer with you, products and services you no longer provide and describe your organisation as it was years ago? It can be hard to contemplate rewriting pages of website text but if the information on your website is out of date it gives visitors the wrong information about you and could put them off getting in touch. It could also encourage people to contact you about services or products you no longer supply wasting time for both of you in the process.

Does your website broadcast information but has no way of  receiving anything back from your visitors? Setting up a contact form on your website will allow customers to email questions directly to you but there are other ways to encourage visitors to get in touch. Writing a blog and hosting it with your website allows you to place articles that will interest customers on line at any time and it also allows them to leave comments and feedback for you. This kind of 2-way interaction could prove useful in developing your services and improving your business processes.

Is your website part of your marketing strategy?
If your website is purely a source of company information and contact details at the moment consider adding  a blog, offering an email newsletter, joining up to  social media websites or providing an e-commerce facility to give your visitors more options for getting in touch and finding out about what you do and who you are. An email newsletter offers articles and information to your customers in return for them parting with their email address. The  regular contact with a customer that an email newsletter gives provides the opportunity to place your name and contact details in front of your customers increasing the chances that they will buy from you when they are ready. Social networking allows you to promote your website, blog and any other activity you may be involved in to interested followers and can be a great way to create a ‘club’ atmosphere among customers by making special offers available exclusively to those followers.

E-commerce takes more time and thought to set up than a standard website but if you have the kind of product than suits being sold online it could provide another stream of revenue that adds to the usual sales channels your organisation uses.

Conclusion
Your website is available for people, potential customers, to view 24/7 so it can play a vital role in informing them about what you do, helping them get in touch and letting you make informal contact with themon a regular basis until they are ready to buy. Access to your website is no longer limited to those working from a desktop computer inside a house or office, wireless technology and smart tmobile phones have brought the internet, and potentially your website, to almost any corner of the planet.

Redesigning your website will allow your organisation to take advantage of the opportunities that the web now offers to businesses of all sizes.

Like this? Try these:
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Don’t be shy, tell your customers what to do!
The unofficial ‘rules’ that make great web pages visitors will want to read

Create Design Studio can help you if you want to make changes to your website. We can help with redesigning it and finding photographs as well as copywriting and proofreading services or helping you to get started with social media marketing. Call David on 01962 737989 today for a free consultation.

Making your website as effective as possible at helping visitors to find what they want  isn’t difficult, here are some points to consider. If they can find what they want then they are more likely to get in touch with you. Take a look at your website and see how many of our tips you have already implemented and if there are some others you could add to your pages.

Visible contact details
You can make life easier for visitors to your website by including your contact details on every page. This doesn’t take up much space and it makes certain that whatever page they land on (if they have found you via a search engine they may not necessarily land on your homepage) they can call or email you when they see the product or service they are interested in, or if they want to ask you a question. Contact details can be included at the top of each page, perhaps close to your logo to reinforce who they are calling. Also place your details at the bottom of the page in the footer so it doesn’t matter if your page scrolls when customers browse your website.

Place links to any social networking accounts that you control to allow customers to contact you in a way that suits them. Your customers may want to find out more about you than what appears on your website and making it easy for them to follow your day-to-day activities on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can help to build their trust in your brand.

Where are you located?
Having a map and address listed for your office reassures web visitors because it shows them you have a real presence, not just a virtual one. It can also be highly relevant if they want to visit you or make a purchase that would need to be collected or courier dispatched as distance from your office could make or break their decision to buy. Your map could be quite a simple drawing representing local main roads and any significant landmarks or you could choose to use a mapping service like the one Google provides.

Your image
Having photographs of you, your staff and your premises helps people to recognise you, making you more ‘real’, and assists customers to find your premises. The photographs you use should be taken with care. Consider if you can see other company premises or signs, rubbish, dilapidated cars and vans that block the view of your building.  Take the photo on a day with reasonable weather and bear in mind a photo taken in sunshine creates a positive image. When taking photographs of people make sure that they appear professional and well-groomed and try to make sure the lighting used is flattering, natural daylight is often better than fluorescent strip lights. Also, what background will appear behind these people? Try to avoid also photographing plug sockets, untidy office interiors and mountains of unfiled paperwork.

Tips for finding stock photographs online.

When they do decide to make contact
Make sure you have a method for collecting contact requests that come in from your website and put someone in charge of responding. If there is a form on the website when customers part with their contact details in order to ask you a question or to request information they will expect a response in return for disclosing their contact information. The opportunity to make contact with a new customer and to make a good forst impression should not be missed.

Your company newsletter
Concentrate on writing your newsletter with the interests of your customers at the front of your mind if you want them to actually read it and recommend it to others. A newsletter full of sales messages and company news that is only of interest to your staff will not encourage customers to eagerly open the next edition when it arrives. It should also be well written and checked for spelling and grammatical errors before being sent. Don’t neglect to include you logo and contact details with your newsletter so customers can use it as a way to contact you if they want to.

Feedback and testimonials
Genuine testimonials on your website are helpful because they build up a useful picture of your services for other customers. Build up a collection of testimonials so that you can regularly change them on the website, have a process in place and put someone in charge of asking every customer if they would provide feedback.

Blog about your business
Like your newsletter, blog about issues that will interest your customers about your products and services and the hot topics in your industry sector. Show your customers that you are an expert in what you do by writing about it and help to build up customer confidence in your ability. A blog can also help your search engine rankings by providing updated content on a regular basis.

Read our Top 10 Blogging Tips

Review your website
Spend time reviewing the pages on your website and check that there are no unfinished pages or pages that could benefit from expanded information or better images to illustrate your products or services. Your customers may need more information before making a purchase and incomplete information and unfinished pages will not help you to win their business.

If you need help to review your website we offer a website MOT

Like this? Try these:

Top ten tips for your e-commerce website
Forget the technology, it’s all about sales and marketing
The unofficial ‘rules’ that make great web pages visitors want to read

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Visit our web design gallery.