Do you ‘really’ need a website? — Seriously, do you?

Once upon a time, there was an era where websites simply did not exist. Yet, despite this fact, retailers and companies did just fine going about their business… Today, if your company doesn’t have a website – there’s panic in the air. Is doing business that much different than 20 years ago when the word ‘web’ only referred to what a spider shoots out?

Short answer — Yes.

What’s worse than not having a website ‘live’ is having a website ‘dead’ (useless to its visitor).  Your site need not be constantly reinvented or replaced  (as this becomes expensive), but rather, your website should be intentional and have real purpose to exist.

Some things to consider when developing your website:

• Forget about the bells and whistles — focus on the purpose. Understand that your website is not an electronic brochure, but rather a representation of your brand. Eye candy for the sake of it, only leads to distraction and empty pockets (for you).
• Interactivity does not mean you click on hyperlinks that take you to other pages or bloating your site with Flash animation. To be interactive, the site must respond to a need or provide a solution to the visitor. If information or resources are not actionable immediately during that visit — the website is useless.
• S.E.O. (Search Engine Optimized) is a popular term used during website development. The problem with SEO is that most developers and clients do not take the process or maintenance seriously. Every aspect of your site should be ‘search’ compliant. This means no ‘FLASH’ … yes, we said it. No flash.

Customers use their desktop or mobile phones to search ‘online’ for retail information as well as other content to satisfy their ever growing need to know more. When a customer visits your site, what will they find? What exactly is on your website?

Our guess is that your current site contains up to 90% outdated information. If this is the your situation, then here’s a must-do suggestion — take down your website! Don’t worry if you have to do this. It won’t be the end of the world … besides, you have us to help you put together a new one.

Contact us for more information regarding website design, development and implementation strategies. Learn how to distribute information,enhance customer experience, make sales and most importantly — enhance brand equity.