Don’t Take Shortcuts in Your Marketing Journey

Just like your commute, your business journey to success is full of obstacles and different routes to take.

You could choose a low-cost, quick and easy website design for your business, but in the long run, it’ll set you back financially. It’s a similar concept to running a red light—you may get to your destination a few moments faster, but you risk causing an accident or getting a speeding ticket, either of which will set you back far more than if you had waited another couple seconds before proceeding.

Much like the drawbacks of running a red light, taking risky shortcuts with your website will more than likely result in potential harm for your business, and more cost. How your business appears to the public on the web will either deter or draw customers, which will drive you to, or away from, potential business opportunities. Why risk drawing negative publicity with a “cheap and quick” or outdated design? When building and sustaining your business, risks should be minimized, and your best face should be put forward. Your best face relative to your business, is your logo, brand standards and website.

Website design has a large impact on business. Did you know that  of consumers have left a brand’s website and purchased from a competitor due to a poorly personalized experience? Are your website and brand standards up to date, or do their last updates correspond directly with the initial creation of your site? If so, you’re losing nearly half of your business.

Most likely, the first experience and interaction your customers have with you as a business is by seeing your brand through your website. To draw more viewers to your site, and retain them, their user experience needs to be a pleasant, memorable one.

User experience is another road in the journey of design. Before the structure and design of your website was created, was a persona identified? Was the user’s journey considered in the process? Is your website responsive, so it resizes accordingly between mobile and desktop devices? These are key factors in streamlining and providing a smooth user experience on your site.

Understanding your target audience and how they navigate through information will help you to provide attractive design and content options for them. Without understanding your target demographic, your website may be unintentionally frustrating and push users away. Additionally, it may be presenting the information in the wrong format for that demographic – it’s akin to someone asking you for directions and you providing them, but to the wrong location.

After your target audience is captured and your website is designed (or redesigned), there’s still work involved. A website is very similar to a car in the way that it needs check-ups and routine maintenance to ensure everything is operating smoothly and efficiently.

Technology is fast-paced and always growing, with new mobile/tablet/desktop devices launching daily. Internet browsers themselves release updates about every six weeks or so, which can affect the way your website displays imagery and content.

Search engines such as Google release updates much more frequently – nearly daily, and can affect the SEO of your website. This is why it’s a good idea to refresh the content on your site every few months rather than waiting and losing users due to an unoptimized website.

If you have an existing website, when was the last time it was updated? If you don’t have an existing website, what’s holding you back?