Try to remember the last time you needed something… If you’re like me or many other millions of people around the world, the first thing you do is probably go to Google and start typing. For me my last big purchase was my lodging in Costa Rica a few weeks back. This is a little story of how a good website can make or break you…read closely if you want your business to succeed.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and just say it, “THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN TODAY’S BUSINESS CLIMATE IS YOUR WEBSITE.” Obviously, I mean this… Businesses both new and old underestimate the way the internet has changed the way people perceive and eventually pick businesses they deal with. There is nothing more important than having a clean, updated (not updated in 2004), informative, and polished website. It doesn’t matter if you have been around for 50 years or 5… If you want to keep getting new clients you need to keep your website updated with a new design that follows current web design standards.
This leads me back to my example. As I was scouring Google with my Firefox browser (if you use IE please leave now…ha just kidding. Just download Firefox already…) I was opening tabs left and right. I must have had 25 tabs open all displaying the different pages of hotels, houses, and places to stay in Costa Rica. Next I’ll show you how I browsed them and eventually picked the ones we were going to stay at…
- I closed sites that obviously had no effort put into them. These sites were unpleasing to the eye, outdated, or just didn’t function properly.
- I closed sites that looked like they were built by the owner or were templates…this shows to me two things; One: the owner doesn’t want to spend the money, which means the owner isn’t making much money, which means the place probably looks like their janky website. Two: the owner think his or her place isn’t unique enough to have a beautiful custom site built.
- I browsed through to the remaining sites (only about 6) and picked 2 based on their photos, reviews, and prices.
My example attempts to show you how much of the world surfs the internet. They want to see a custom site, they want to see professional photos, they want to see the effort put into the site because it directly reflects how much effort you put into your business and making your customers happy.
This is GREAT news for small businesses. If small businesses have better websites than some of their bigger competitors they have a much higher chance to get noticed and be competitive.
You can contact firms such as WebWorks & Graphics, who specialize in high-end custom website development, to help you make the most of your web presence.
With a little bit of effort you can see the results.
