Why do you need a website?

So people can find you and buy from you right?

It gives you credibility, shares your expertise and experience, and tells potential clients how you solve their problems (well it should do all those things)

I don’t build websites. I leave that to the experts. But I do project manage many clients’ website builds which takes the burden away from them, allowing them to focus on what they do best.

As a project manager for websites, I see the common mistakes business owners are making that adds time and money to the build process.

Your website is your online sales tool and should work as such. When I work with clients to manage the process, I’m looking at it through a Marketing AND a potential client lens.

You have seconds to grab their attention and show them how you solve their problem before they click on the new choice. Yes, seconds!!

What are the common issues?

1. Have a clear objective. Is it a brochure website or a sales website? Too many people get caught up with making a beautiful website rather than a functional one. Whilst you certainly want to make it look nice and fit your brand, the core objective should be to sell your services.
2. Use a open-sourced platform like WordPress and limit custom coding.  Websites that need custom coding are expensive to build and expensive to maintain. Why? Because you rely on the web developer to make any changes to it which quickly adds up as you should be regularly adding and updating your website. WordPress is the simplest platform to use and it allows you to add and evolve your website to suit the changing needs of your business. I do not recommend Wix, Go Daddy, or any of these so-called free sites. There are often additional costs and guarantee what you really need is not covered on a free plan.
3. Put important info above the fold. What do you see when you go to a website. You see what immediately comes up on your screen without having to scroll. That is what is classed as above the fold.  Remember we are lazy and time-poor so if we have to scroll too far to get the important information you can lose a potential client pretty quickly.
4. Have a lead magnet to capture website traffic (a must). I see this ALL THE TIME. Businesses paying for Facebook ads or Search engine marketing to drive traffic to their website then not capturing visitor data once they get to the website. It is a waste of money to pay for traffic then god forbid, not capture it for future marketing.
5. Remember it will never be perfect or 100% finished. Stop fussing and just go live sooner rather than later. There will always be changes you want to make, spelling mistakes that get missed every though you have read the copy over and over, and a link that doesn’t work. Yes, that is not ideal but thousands of people won’t be flocking to your site the minute you go live.
6. Host it locally (recommend Connectix). Imagine if your website went down and you needed to wait 12-24 hours for someone overseas to get it back online? Nightmare. Make sure you use a reputable company with local servers and you will save yourself a lot of heartaches. (I know from past experience)
7. Don’t get all your staff involved. The more people you get involved the messier your website build gets. Ask 5 people and you will get 5 opinions. Listen to the experts you are working with. Their advice is much more valuable than the team leader or receptionist.
8. Make sure it has Google Analytics and Facebook pixel. It amazes me how new websites don’t have at the very least Google Analytics set up. Why do you need it? It allows you to track and analyse all your website visitors and traffic. It is a must and it costs nothing so there is no reason not to have it installed.
9. Your website should share your brand personality. I have lost count of the number of websites that look the same within an industry. Many lack personality and could just be a copy & paste job and just add a logo and brand colours. Your website is YOUR website. It should reflect your brand and your team’s unique personality. Don’t be a sheep and dare to lead not follow.

If you are considering rebuilding your website in 2021, hopefully, those tips help to make it work for you.