A website is not a “magic wand” for business

Having a website does not equal traffic, it does not mean more enquiries and it does not mean more business!

Its a popular misconception, likely to be held by those new or not experienced on the Internet, that by simply having a website you will have lots of visitors and instantly be topping the Google search engine.

This is not the case.

A few quick points to remember:

• It can take several weeks for Google and other search engines  to crawl your site (if if you submit your site to them)
• Every website is competing for search engine ratings
• Existing websites, like your competitors, are very much on the search engine radar… don’t expect to compete with them straight away
• Poorly designed websites are less receptive to search engines
• Web designers are not marketing managers

Websites are great.  It is relatively small investment to market yourself to a potential global market.  However websites take time and effort to work.  The job of the designer is to design and style a website that works both aesthetically for your audience and technically for visitors and search engines.

My own view is that designers should help and support preparing content, but they aren’t there to write copy for you.   We don’t know your business, but we know the web.

This isn’t being defensive but hopefully shedding some light on the challenges for both designer and business owner in putting a site together…. that the business owner avoids the trap of thinking that website = profit.  A client will often commission a website, not edit it for months/years… and then wonder why its not working for them.

So a few questions to ask yourself… not just at the start of commissioning a website, but regularly throughout the year and beyond…

• Why are people visiting your website?  Why should they come back – what are you offering that causes them to bookmark or return?  List these reasons and review them regularly.
• A website is a tool, its not a solution.  If you think of a website as a shop, you dont just open the doors and expect profit… it takes time, ongoing work, management and effort.  You really will get out what you put in.
• If your website operates in isolation to the rest of the Internet you wont be found.  Hunt out local business listings, insert your website into your Yell entry, join forums and contribute to your marketplace… promote your domain at every opportunity
• Revisit the reasons why you have your website.  Does it still send the same messages you want?
• Is it up to date?  Are the images still relevant, have your services changes, have your business priorities changed?  Don’t put off these vital site updates.  Google values new content and site updates.
• Keeping content dynamic – use blogs if you can, regularly content… keep it alive.
• If you have a blog use it!  Such a great tool, make sure you take time out to write posts.  It doesn’t take much time but by not posting you are turning visitors off… why should they spend time on your site if you havent looked at it in 6months.  If in doubt, remove the blog.
• Measure traffic – Google Analytics is your best friend.  Analytics is a free tool from Google, a wealth of information that can help tailor, streamline and inform you on what visitors are interested in and what they want to get out of your website.  It provides the all important information on keywords – the words people are using to find your site.
• Consider Google Adwords – an affordable and effective way of targeting visitors by having your short ad appear next to related Google searches
• Do not ignore traditional forms of marketing.  Flyers, business cards, word of mouth, posters, newspaper ads… do whatever it takes to get your website address in front of people.

I’ll stop there.  This short list is just off the top of my head – its by no means exhaustive and I could go on and on.

Just remember that websites take work, and once it is launched forget about it at your peril… make the most of your investment and make it work for you.