Does my business need a professionally designed website?

If you want to portray your business in the best possible light, if you want to promote your products or services effectively and confidently and you want to engage your customers with accurate and relevant information, then, the answer is simply yes!

A professionally designed website is a great marketing tool and will build strong customer relationships, building confidence of your services to clients new and old, advertising your business 24/7, and generating you new business, a cost effective alternative to conventional advertising in print.

To help you make the right choice I have put together a few key points below.

 

what value has a website?

  • A website will expose you company to new business opportunities
  • It can quickly inform your customers of new products or services
  • Reach a specifically targeted audience
  • Can help reduce your marketing costs
  • Engender confidence in your business offerings
  • Allow your customers to engage with you easier

what kind of website would i need?

  • A brochure style site that can showcase your products & services
  • An Content Managed System (CMS) that allows you to control the content
  • An online shop that allows you to sell directly to your customers
  • A blog site again you are in control

With all content managed sites you will need to be able to update the content, which, with systems like WordPress is simple enough.

Do you want to be ranked high on search engines?

Websites need time to develop a relationship with Google. it is more important to get your content right, well developed websites and content can generate better results in the main, So I would recommend you read these few pointers:

  • Avoid low cost budget packages, your likely to achieve little and appear less professional.
  • Don’t expect immediate results, your site will need to build confidence with Google
  • You can always use paid advertising to expedite results
  • A website is a long term investment, and the web doesn’t offer any short cuts
  • Content is definitely King! well written web copy is essential to the overall success of a site
  • and, don’t fall for the ‘Guaranteed number one in Google’ claims, even Google can’t offer you that.

Be prepared to put some effort in

Content managed sites will require you to take ownership of the content, if not the site will become stale in the eyes of search engines, although not difficult to update, it will consume your time, time that may be better afforded elsewhere. I can advise you on content creation, allowing you to use your time more effectively.

Nowadays professionally designed websites are a larger investment as more businesses understand how beneficial they can be, so, I would also recommend you…

  • Seek professional advice from more than one source, this will help you gain a realistic budget
  • Make sure you see previously developed websites from a proposed supplier
  • Start small, get a professional site & monitor the results, see how it performs, then if needed develop further.