Website shame is a real thing. You’ve experienced it yourself or you may be experiencing it now. You’re not alone. Most small businesses go through it at some point, including our own.
What’s website shame? Have you been handed a card with a scratched out website? Have you ever been handed a card by a business owner who tells you to give them a call “…but don’t look at my website. The information is wrong.” or, “…don’t look at my website, the pictures haven’t been updated in ten years!”
That’s website shame.
When we decide we want people to avoid our website.
Why is website shame a problem?
Most small business owners build their businesses on word of mouth. In simpler times, we built our businesses on our good reputation. That’s all that was needed. A good deck guy or lawn care provider could flourish by *word of mouth alone and their marketing budget consisted of a stack of business cards. That’s no longer the case.
*We explored this topic in an earlier blog about referrals
In addition, you have no idea how many word of mouth customers you’re losing because of this. There’s no way to measure this. There’s also no way to measure the effects of it for the long term.
Look at it this way. If each customer you gain and do a great job for will account for 5 or 6 future customers because of their recommendations, how many of those additional customers have you lost? How can we measure that? The answer is we can’t.
What we can do is ensure we have a great website in place to convert as many potential word of mouth customers as possible and stop losing to our competition.
How can I get rid of my website shame?
Well that’s a loaded question, isn’t it?
There are a three ways to get rid of your website shame. You can ignore it. You can do it yourself. You can hire someone to take care of it for you.
Ignore it
For some people this is a legitimate answer. Some say they’re too busy and there is no value in spending the time to take care of it. Others are at the end of their career and don’t need to worry about it.
You’re never too busy. What if you were busier? What if your calendar was so booked that people were fighting to get on it? What if your calendar was so booked that people were fighting to get on it and willing to pay anything you asked for the privilege?
Unless you’re in the ‘ready to retire’ group ignoring it is a poor decision.
Do it yourself
Why are you reading this? How has DIY worked out for you so far? Isn’t DIY what got most of you here in the first place?
Look, this isn’t rocket science but there is an art to it. If you have the time to grow your business and learn the website development and coding, SEO, digital marketing, content writing and the website design business, I want one of those little clear pills you got from Bradley Cooper too.
The truth is, you’re too busy to do this and do it well. Your company’s future depends on this. Why wouldn’t you want it to be the best it can be?
Hire a Website Design Agency
If you want this done professionally, expeditiously and correctly you’re going to have to hire someone to do it. The website design agency you choose should have the tools and the skills to create an aesthetically pleasing website but also have the ability to write content that will convert word of mouth referrals to paying customers.
Maybe you’re reading this because you’ve had a company that can create beautiful websites working for you. The designs they showed you while courting your business were beautiful. In fact, your website looks great but no one is buying from you. The problem is, no one has ever bought anything because a website looked good. Ever.
It’s the content that sells not the look. If your chosen website design agency are just designers then you’re not getting the full package. Look for companies that can handle all three components: website design, website content, and website development.
Alright, alright. You knew the shameless plug was coming…!
I happen to know of a company that can handle all three aspects of creating a website.
Hold on… I’m trying to find their card on my desk.
Under my post-it tray…no.
Under my desk blotter…no.
AHA! top draw…no.
I’ll have to go by memory…I think the name of the company is Stafford Technologies.
Kidding aside, if you want a website that tells people what problem you solve, who you solve it for and how you solve it, give us a call at (540) 699-3286.
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