Is Your Website a Bit Lazy and Laying Down on the Job?

Your website has one of the most important, multi-faceted, dynamic roles in your business.

It provides an inside look into what your company’s all about to multiple audiences, including:

• Potential leads
• Current clients
• Future employees
• Suppliers
• Competitors

Now those are five very different audiences, looking for very different things, right?

If your website is laying down on its job, holes are going to start appearing in your business.

You’ll start losing leads that would have been perfect to work with. Your hard-earned credibility will be no more, and your current clients might decide to start using a new firm that looks and sounds better than yours.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong once your website starts failing you – but how do you know if it's neglecting its job before everything goes downhill?

Here are the main tasks your website should be responsible for – for each point, think about how your current website measures up. If it’s not ticking the right boxes, it’s time to reassess its position in the company.

Does it confirm your credibility for those hot leads coming in?

Your website has a bunch of different jobs to do – but ‘salesperson’ is probably the most important. If it’s not done right, you could be losing out on so much.

Think about this. Somebody refers you to a potential client with a pretty solid pitch.

That potential client is interested in finding out more about you – so they head off home and go straight to Google.

They search for your company name to get more info – because you can’t be as perfect as their friend made you out to be.

What do they find?

Information about the amazing, kick-ass firm that you are today and all your 5-star reviews from impressive clients? Or an outdated site that’s 5 years old with a bunch of broken images and a video that looks like it was filmed in 1996?

Ouch.

No matter how much you achieve offline, prospective clients will have no idea how awesome you are if you don’t translate that success onto your site.

Keep your website updated with the latest and greatest from your company. Your leads want to see the best you can offer, and if your site only has examples of work on it from five or so years ago, they’re not going to get a glimpse of what you really offer.

You gotta keep your website in tip-top shape, and this means updating your content: your website copy, your images, your videos, and your portfolio. All of this serves as proof to your potential leads that you are what you say you are.

The more proof you have of your amazing work, the more likely they’ll follow through and become your next client.

Does it showcase your capabilities?

Your website doesn’t just have to convert warm leads by confirming your reputation. It also needs to showcase your full capabilities for current and future clients.

Say a client is considering sending you over a very good looking RFP, which would be perfect for you (and your bank balance) – but before they do, they take a quick look at your website to make sure you offer one of the core services they need.

Will they be pleasantly surprised by the outstanding capabilities that they didn’t know you had?

Will this spark the idea that they absolutely need you for their new project – and a few others too?

Or is your service list seriously outdated, listing obsolete technology or techniques?

Answering important questions about your capabilities to prospects researching you is one job your website should definitely be doing for you.

Does your website attract new prospects?

There are thousands of potential clients who have no idea that you exist yet.

They don’t have any referrals to go off, so they don’t know about your amazing reputation.

They have no opinions of you, and they don’t even know what kind of products or services you offer.

All they know is that they’ve got a problem and Google is going to help them find somebody to solve it.

Will they be able to find you with a simple search for your services on Google?

If they type in search phrases related to your industry and skill set, will your company come up?

Or will they be directed straight into your competitors’ sales funnel?

Your website needs to be ranked on Google for relevant keywords, so those potential prospects will be able to find you easily. You can improve your site’s rankings by improving and updating the content and your SEO (search engine optimization).

If your performance on Google leaves something to be desired, you can find out about some of the devastating SEO issues that cause your website to be invisible to Google and how to fix them on our blog.

So, let’s say your SEO is fine, and your website ranks quite high, what will your prospect find once they get to your website?

They’re looking for somebody who’s credible online – somebody who looks professional and trustworthy. Does your website give off this vibe? Is it clear, compelling, and designed to attract high-quality leads?

Or, is your website less than unimpressive?

If your website doesn’t immediately reassure your prospect that they’re in the right place for their problem, then it’s not doing its job. Your potential clients come to your website looking to find answers to their problems.

Your visitors want to feel comfortable and reassured on your website. They want to know that they’re in good hands when they hire you.

Does your website attract skilled employees?

Your website’s job isn’t just to attract clients and persuade them to work with you. It’s also there to entice staff to come and work for you.

Highly skilled, motivated staff can be hard to come by, and they’ll always have a lot of options to choose from.

Whether you post a job ad, or a candidate comes across your company while researching companies to work for, before a potential new hire considers applying to work for you, they’re going to check out your website.

They’ll Google you and check out your about section to get a feel for what working for you is like.

Does the way you present your company online make them want to work for you? Or do they put you in the meh category?

Your website should appeal to job seekers, showing them what your company stands for and how great you are to work for.

So, how does your website measure up? Is it an amazing employee, or does it need firing?

Here at Branding & Beyond, we help our clients get the most out of their websites – and get it earning its keep.

We’re here to help you implement a solid brand foundation, as well as a brilliant marketing plan to support it, that will continue to deliver for years to come.

Let’s make sure your website is doing its job right together – get in touch.