IT’S A FACT…
9 out of 10 small business websites will never be profitable.
90% FAILURE?
Yes.
Why? Because there are fundamental mistakes being made by web designers who do not have a marketing mindset. They don’t know how to SELL.
And Guess What?
Your website SHOULD BE your #1 salesman! It works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You’d think your web designer would know about common website no-no’s, but they don’t! In fact, they’re partly to blame! Most “online consultants” aren’t aware of these everyday blunders either. What am I talking about?
I’m referring to mindset. Most small business “brick ‘n mortar” owners approach a website from a mindset of desperation. They know that it’s important to have their own website. They may even know that more people are now using search engines to find local businesses than use the Yellow Pages™.
So they know they need a website. They rush out and find a web designer who is all too happy to charge them an inflated amount to quickly throw together a web site that may look pretty, but completely fails to leverage their business.
Why? It’s an easy sell for a web designer!
A much better approach is to come up with a plan before you even consider getting a website built. The second thing you should do is seek out small business owners who already have websites and talk to a few of them.
You’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn. They’ll give you an inside perspective of what it’s like to have a website, what works and what doesn’t work. At the very least you’ll learn what to avoid.
At the same time, they may be able to recommend a good graphic designer at a reasonable fee. However, before you hire one, there is something else you should do as well…
Research how search engines index websites! Why is this important? Well most “techie” and “eye-candy” rich websites can’t even be fully read by the search engines. If they can’t read what’s on your site, they certainly won’t know how to rank it for searches!
So, what’s more important to your business success… having a good looking website or getting cash-in-hand visitors to your website? Once you have them, THEN you can start to build that all important relationship with them.. pre-condition them to respond to your offers, look forward to your newsletter, your VIP customer sales, online-only coupons… getting the idea?! As a business person, I’ll take the latter scenario all day long.
The key takeaway here?
Simple. Do your homework. Before rushing out to get a website built, or improving an existing website, understand that a little bit of intelligence goes a long way.
