9 out of 10 small business websites will never be profitable.
Why? There are some fundamental mistakes being committed, simply because no one knows better!
You’d think your web designer would know about these website no-no’s… but they don’t! In fact, they’re party to blame! Most “online consultants” aren’t aware of these everyday blunders either. What am I talking about?
I’m refering 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 businesses than the yellow pages.
And they know they need a website as well. So they rush out and find a web designer who is all too happy to charge them an inflated figure to quickly throw together a web site that may look pretty, but completely fails to enhance their business.
Why? It’s an easy sell for these web designers!
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 techy and eye-candy rich websites can’t even be read by the search engines. If they can’t read your site, they can’t rank it for searches!
What’s more important… beauty or getting visitors to your site, and pre-conditioning them to respond to your products and services? As a business person, I’ll take the latter any day.
The key takeaway from this article is 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.