Recently, I attended two events hosted by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce where I was able to hear my local politicians in person. About two weeks ago I went to a luncheon where the keynote speaker was Michael Brennan, Mayor or Portland, Maine. Then yesterday, I went to their breakfast-time “Eggs & Issues” event where Paul LePage, Governor of Maine was the featured speaker.

In my last post, I wrote about how having up an out-of-date or unprofessional web site can mean many lost opportunities. And I’ve been thinking about the many ways people read data and come to the wrong conclusion about their web site.

1. Your google analytics show that you have little web traffic; therefore you shouldn’t invest in your web site.

Face it, there are some businesses that reap very direct rewards from their web site and for others the connection is less clear.

Right now at Visible Logic we have several web site projects that are near completion. Each one is very close to going live, yet has not gone live because the client is waiting to finalize some piece of content.

Some of these are web sites for new companies who have nothing more than a landing page at their URL right now. Others are for established businesses that have out-of-date and out-of-style web sites live on their domain name.

Your old web site means lost opportunities

I keep wondering how many opportunities have these organizations lost by not updating to their new web site. The new sites are much more professionally designed, optimized for search engines and nearly ready to go.

Think about when a prospect first goes to your web site. Are they researching you and your competitors? Do they know you and therefore type in your domain’s URL, or did they find you through a search such as google?

Make sure that your web site offers something for everyone along the sales cycle.

Web site design for those ready to buy (short sales cycle)

Some businesses have short sales cycles. Online retailers are usually in this category. We go online to shop when we’re ready to buy. A large purchase may take a few visits to gather information, but for small purchases we are often ready as soon as we jump on the computer. It is a matter of finding the right site and then completing the sale.

Hiring a web design firm to build your organization’s web site can be nerve wracking for many small business owners. Unfortunately, stories abound about web sites that took too long to launch, went over budget or just didn’t live up to the expectation of the web design buyer. Imagine this conversation as a way of analogy: “Hey, let’s go grab some lunch.” “Yeah, sandwiches sound good.” “OK. But I want to sit down and have table service, I don’t want to just order at the counter.” “Great. I know a place that’s got sandwiches, soups, salads” It turns out that place is Denny’s. Looking back, everything that was described fits with what Denny’s offered. But I can imagine many people would be disappointed with the experience. The quality of food will be poor, and the ambiance, decor and service will all be lacking. It’s not that Denny’s mislead anyone. Their menu, environment and pricing is out in the open. The  Continue Reading »