In skillful hands, the web is one of the greatest marketing tools of all time and yet approximately 95% of the web sites out there are un-visited, under-utilized, and non-productive — we don’t want you to become part of this statistic.
With so many web designers out there it can often be difficult to decide which web designer will actually meet your needs, goals, and expectations. Keep in mind that a web site is just like any other business tool. You “acquire” it and then you “use” it.
For some reason, many small business owners feel the need to have a website without really understanding how one is used and why you should own one.
The reason for this can be traced back to web designers, who themselves, don’t fully understand the purpose and use of a web site and mis-educate prospective buyers.
For many designers, a web site is merely a collection of pretty pages and photographs about a company that hopefully gets seen by someone—in this case it a tremendous waste of money for the owner.
Simply stated, a web site is an advertising and public relations tool that should be used in such a way, as to:
• reach your target audience/market
• position an idea about your company into the mind of your target audience/market
• promote your products and services to that audience/market
• facilitate the exchange of goods and services!
Notice that the above 4 items all have to do with the use of the tool? That’s right, just like a wrench needs to be turned, a web site needs to be “worked and used” in order to bring any type of benefit. A web site sitting out there idly, amongst 4 billion others is not going to help anyone.
So, when you meet with a prospective web designer, see if they mention the above bullets during your meeting. If they are very anxious about building and designing you a “great site” but don’t heavily stress upon the above bullets, then they are simply lacking a fundamental understanding of what a web site is for and how it should be used.
If you would like to find out more about how to use a web site in your business, contact us. We will be more than happy to explain how we can put the above to work for you.
