When you require some information about a business, organisation, product or service, chances are that your first port of call is a website.
Here, wherever you are, or whatever the time of day, you can (hopefully) find the information that you are looking for. We’ve said it before, but as a business or organisation your website is your shop window, but a very powerful one. Your website allows your customer or potential customer to dip their toe into your world, to experience your brand at a time and in a place that suits them. Through your website, you are able to communicate with a potential customer at any point during the 24 hours in a day, even when you are sleeping!
It’s fair to say that the first visit to your website is important. It sets out your stall to a potential customer and can be the defining moment of whether this person turns into an actual customer and decides to pursue something with you or not.
So, imagine how someone will feel if they visit your site and they are greeted with out of date information, or functionality that doesn’t work properly, or it simply doesn’t feel like they thought it would. Worst of all, it doesn’t contain the information they are looking for… The end result? Disappointment for them and a missed opportunity for you.
Your website should be thought of as the right arm of your organisation. It should deliver the informational and functional needs of your customer, as well as immerse them into your world, driving some emotional intrigue and attachment to you from the outset.
Keeping on top of your website can feel like a big task, especially if you are a small business, so we’ve pulled together some important areas for you to think about. Grab a cuppa, open your website and review the following:
Are your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed?! By this we mean is everything as it should be? Are you displaying the most up to date information on your website? This includes contact numbers, email addresses, your physical business address, hours of business, any prices/costs. Are you up to date on blog entries, news articles and images? Are all your links working? These may feel like small things but they are a big deal to a potential customer.
Do you have a story? The best websites give the customer a peek into the heart of the organisation. Storytelling is a great way to do this and can bring to life all sorts of areas in an interesting and engaging way, resonating deeply with the potential customer. We’ve dedicated an earlier blog to storytelling on the web, so click here to find out more: The art of the yarn.
The bigger picture. Have you thought about the role your website plays – could it play a greater role within your business perhaps taking the load off some manual tasks? Technology is constantly evolving and your website may be able to do a whole lot more than you might think. We solve many unique challenges for our clients through using technology to optimise the role that their websites play and drive efficiency back into their core operations.
How’s it looking? Does the design and feel of your website still reflect who you are as an organisation? Sometimes we evolve offline and leave our website behind. Remember the reference to the 24 hour shop window at the beginning of this article - your website may be the very first contact a potential customer has with you so you need to make sure that you are looking your best from every angle.
A safe space? How’s your online security? Boring as this may sound, this is a crucial area which needs a robust process and regular reviews. We’ve written lots about this in the past: Why you absolutely need to worry about website security and you can find a handy security checklist here: 5 simple top tips to make your website more secure
We hope this has given you some useful advice and sparked some areas to think about? We are Olamalu, a team of technology experts dedicated to helping clients to squeeze the very best from their websites. We design and build technical solutions to help organisations present their best selves to the outside world and to help them to run more effectively and efficiently on the inside. www.olamalu.com