Ways to create confidence in prospects online – #1: Have a website and make it good.
This sounds obvious but there are still many people doing business who don’t have a website. There are some who don’t think that their prospects come from web searches, so why would they need one?
The reason is that whether they come from Google or not, prospects will still use Google to research you and your company. That means they will either find your website or they won’t.
If you DO have a website, it had better be good – and confidence inspiring because it will form the basis of their first impression of you (more about that later). If you DON’T have a website, that fact alone will also form the basis of their first impression. That impression will be that you’re either too scared, arrogant or poor to invest in a website.
Unless ‘not having anything to do with computers and the internet’ is clearly part of your USP then NOT having a website in this day and age is going to go against you.
So get one – but keep the following tips in mind:
- DO NOT fall into the trap of ‘doing it yourself’ to save money. Get a professional web designer to do it!
- Learn whatever it is you need to know to be able to make good decisions about hiring the right web designer (no matter how much it scares or confuses you)
- Plan out exactly what you need your site to do for your business and why – with someone who ISN’T your web designer first
- Take that brief to your web designer
And most of all, make sure you have enough control of your content and understanding about how to maintain your site so you don’t have to run to your designer every five minutes to make changes. People who end up over-dependent on their web designer after their site has gone live usually end up with bad feelings both ways.
A good designer will create a site that will address your basic business aims while empowering YOU to keep it going on a daily basis – and you’ll both be clear and happy about the contract between you going forward.
