I’ve seen it far too often; a newbie joins a network group and say they haven’t got a website, only to be advised to speak to “X”, quite often by the person who is hosting the meeting and therefore in a position of implied authority and experience.
It’s sad to say, but there are too many businesses outthere networking with little experience and although some have a desire to help others, relaxing with adult colouring books does not make you a web designer.
As a result of this, I am finding a handful of businesses, a couple of whom I get on well with, who have begun to recognise that their website is not as well positioned in a variety of ways, from bad SEO to someone not thinking about layout on a mobile. I’ve seen companies being charged for weekly blogs that have clearly been completely written by AI (type the question in, get the answer, copy and paste onto client’s website, press the button to upload – job done in less than three minutes.). I’ve seen old fashioned layouts and bad palette colour choices (who uses orange and pink next to mauve?)
Your website is your calling card to the world and first impressions count, especially when the digital world allows people to move on to a competitor with one click. Your web designer has got to be experienced in layout and design to keep people interested in navigating your site and seeing what you have to offer which hopefully then leads to them calling you to discuss your services or place an order.
You also need to work with a web company that understands the importance of their role in your digital presence; it’s an ongoing process. You can’t teach that to someone and you are very unlikely to get that level of performance from a website company that won’t answer your questions and constantly tells you that you are wrong when you try to raise an issue. The result is conflict and you will end up feeling stressed and anxious, especially in the early stages of your business when sales are slow.
My suggestion to anyone looking at starting a new website or those who are in need of a site refresh, do speak to at least a couple of web people and more importantly look at the work they have done for previous clients. If possible, contact those clients yourself and speak to them about their experience with the web company. If they like the service they are getting/got, they will be more than happy to tell you about it.
I’ll close here by saying a huge thank you to https://www.chrisorah.com/; your support not only in building this community but continuing to support it pro bono means so much – you are the best Chris ! Looking forward to our next cuppa and catch up 🙂
