Your website is like the car you had back in high school. Everyone would ask you to drive places, but it was so full of trash you felt ashamed to have anybody in it.

Are you ashamed to send your customers to your website? Do pages send users to nowhere? Are your links broken? Do you have a marquee going across the top? Is it constructed using tables?

If yes, then you should be ashamed. It’s astonishing how many people recognize the importance of having a website but couldn’t care any less about what kind of message it is sending.

When customers enter your store, do you talk to them with two cans connected by a string? Probably not. Then why make your customers feel that way when they want to engage with you online?

Maintenance takes time?

Don’t be too hard on yourself, though. You probably don’t have the time to maintain a website. Let me stop you there. That’s just an excuse. If you don’t have the time to update and maintain your website then you didn’t have the time to build your website, and probably jumped in too soon.

Part of the process of constructing a website is developing a plan to keep it up to date. Part of the process… of constructing a website… is developing a plan to keep it up to date. When you have a well developed plan your website then goes from a website to a business tool.

Expensive?

“Having a website is expensive,” is just another excuse, but you’re right, it is. That is because a well done website, with a solid plan in place, is worth the money. A poorly done website with no plan in place will eventually cost you more money. Generally this comes in the form of losing customers. Typically, owners don’t realize this because they never really see these customers until they buy something.

Don’t Know How to Do It

You need a domain name and web hosting, don’t you? Most people have no idea how that works.

The good news is it’s simple. There are hosting companies like Bluehost that take your hand and guide you all the way to a functional and great looking website.

What is Your Message?

Sit back for one moment and analyze what online message you are sending to potential customers. What message are you telling people who are just window shopping at your store? Do both those messages align? A user will judge the credibility of your company within the first second of using your website. If your online message is poor then you just lost them as a customer and all it took was one second.

What is Your Website Conveying?

People don’t want to talk to anybody anymore. We enjoy our personal space and we take our sweet time coming to a decision. The analogy I use is when I go jean shopping. More often than not, when a store representative asks if I need any help I say no. I say no because I know what I am looking for and when I find it then I will engage with a representative.

I judge jeans stores I buy from by their appearance. Something that is inviting or looks nice will generally get me shopping. Do another audit of your website. How are you communicating to the people who are just “shopping,” the people who don’t want to talk to you just yet? Are you making it as easy as possible for them to get what they want?

Websites can be expensive and they definitely take time. There’s really no way around that. Investing in the time and the strategy from the very beginning though will save you more money when you realize, it’s been 6 months, and your online presence is still relevant.

Take the time put in the investment and you won’t have a website, you will have a business tool.