Simply having a website up means nothing today.

In the past I wrote about how I come across businesses everyday who have ineffective websites. I often refer to those sites as electronic business cards because they really do nothing to attract site visitors, engage them or give the site visitor a reason to return again. Most of the time knowing the exact URL is the only way someone will come to one of these sites.

Here is an example of a "business card website". Years ago a business owner came to me for a website. The owner complained about the costs for maintaining a site but agreed to get one. That line of thinking flowed right into what I expected. He did not spend any money to promote the site, advertise, update content or do anything to improve the ability to be found on search engines as time went on. After a few years he closed the business and re-opened under a different name. At that point I was asked to make some minor changes to the site mostly because of the name change.

Fast forward a couple more years and the site was down. The domain and hosting were expired. Months later, I got a phone call from this business owner. He asked if I could send him the files used to create the website. He tells me that his brother is going to re-create the site and will "handle it". The first question out of my mouth (and I already know the answer but I have to ask) is whether his brother is a professional designer, programmer or works in a place that can execute and maintain websites? No. That is all I get as a response. I ask because I wonder if the brother is either a competitor or someone I that I can create a strategic partnership with or maybe a potential business partner. I am always looking to expand and I like to keep doors open. The one word reply made me guess that none of the above applied. I did not ask any further questions. When I hear someone say that their website was created by a family member, friend or themselves I always wonder if that individual is appropriate for the job.

In the example above the client did not maintain the site in the past. It appears that he will not do so in the future since he is not using an a pro. He is cutting costs and saving money to ensure that the site will not generate more traffic or interest in his business. So what about costs and budget? I expect to hear the excuse, "I do not have the money for that". We are not talking about a lot of money here. At a minimum you can do something like cut back on a couple dinners at a restaurant or just figure out where to cut costs in the business (a good thing to do anyhow). If you want to grow your business you need to budget accordingly. A professional web or creative marketing pro can also recommend cutting back in areas that are not as effective to invest where it matters most. Anyone creating and maintaining your website should know more than just the technical skills to produce a website. You need to be well versed in design, advertising, marketing and business trends as well as understand SEO (search engine optimization), social media, website interaction, communicating and blogging, and capturing data from site visitors. They should also have experience working with copywriters, illustrators, photographers and selecting appropriate stock images.

I offer a free website evaluation and look at your marketing as a whole. Contact me today and find out how easy it is to maintain and operate an effective online presence.

Is your business held hostage by a web designer or programmer?

Here's a true story that shows how important it is to have access to your own website so YOU can update or modify content yourself. Obviously there are many things that a professional Web Designer, Web Programmer or Web Master can do that are of great value and should not be handled by the business/web site owner. I also want to stress that many professionals out there would not put any client in a position such as the one I am about to describe. I made names anonymous but the email in quotes below is exactly what I received from my wife.

Email:
"(a friend) recommended a Thai place that she ate at last week so we decided to order in.  We go to the website to look at the menu and find that the lunch specials are $7.95 and include a salad and appetizer.  I put in the order for two lunch specials and I'm told that the total price is $20.58.  I ask how that can be since the specials are $7.95 each.  The response I got was that the prices changed, they called their web people to make the change but it hadn't been done yet.  I told them that they should honor the prices on the website and they told me no and again said that they are waiting for their web people to update the website.  We canceled the order. It's not our problem that they increased their prices but their web people didn't update the site in a timely fashion.  They should honor the prices on the website until the changes are made.  That's just really bad business. If they were able to update their own changes, they wouldn't have to deal with this issue."

My wife also sent me a link to the restaurant's website and mentioned that it had a lot of flash which annoyed her. I took a look and did not see any disclaimer or verbiage such as "prices subject to change" or similar. I did notice that it was a beautiful design but slow. All that flash made the site have not enough content that could be read for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes and would be ineffective on some mobile devices, tablets, etc.
 
If the owner of the web site is large enough to have an in-house department or employee(s) dedicated to website maintenance this issue is not likely to happen. Most of my clients however are small or medium sized businesses and would never come across a situation like this for two reasons. If they asked me to make this type of update I would find out what the time frame is and then I would either do it myself right away or get help. Most likely my client would simply call the toll-free number and speak to a Customer Support Expert in site editing or content management. This Customer Support Expert would walk the web site owner (or anyone who has the log-in information) and show or help them make the content edits, site corrections, update images, etc. The experts are available 24 hours a day and are included with the low monthly web site maintenance cost.

Some of my clients are comfortable enough to do something like this alone. They do rely on the different experts for very specific things that the website and business need. For example we have experts for Website edits, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), basic site maintenance, E-commerce, Social Media, E-Newsletters, Contact Management and even Experts for Data Management. It is extremely important to maintain the site yourself with these experts not only for situations such as the one described in this blog posting but for the obvious reason that a web site is never finished and needs content updated regularly to keep the site relevant for SEO and to give site visitors a reason to come back to visit your web site over and over.

If you would like a FREE Presentation (no cost or obligation) call us for details. In the presentation we show you that our (new or re-designed) websites come with many tools included as part of your monthly maintenance along with toll-free access to the Customer Support Experts. You'll see how easy it is to manage, update, market and promote your site as well as communicate and interact with web site visitors so you may increase business and reduce operating costs. Call today and see if you qualify for a free presentation! (551) 265-8762.