Is Your Web Site Losing You Sales?

Back in the 1990’s there was a bit of a frenzy created for companies to build corporate web sites. Web developers had a heyday earning high salaries and charging big dollars for creating the original early internet. Web sites then had little functionality, many being just electronic brochures and primarily because technology had not yet caught up to the needs of commerce in a new internet age.

The digital tools available for web-based business and marketing today have caught up and grown in popularity alongside social media, giving many more affordable and effective options for marketing than a static web brochure.

If your corporate web site has not been updated in a while now is a great time for a review. Ensure it’s displaying quickly and appearing in internet searches. Check all connected e-commerce or plug-ins for proper function and clear it of stale-dated events and information. If you don’t you could be hindering your overall marketing efforts by appearing outdated or lacking in good design and security based on today’s standards.

Few owners and managers last century understood the benefits of having their business online; some saw only the cost involved for this latest fad and chose to have their teen-aged children or other amateurs create a web site suitable for a teenage hobbyist, but not a thriving business. Amazingly, this still happens today.

If you do not have an online presence by way of a professional looking and functioning corporate web site and at least a couple social media platforms you risk being left behind. The younger cohort of consumers in particular will want to check you out online first before stepping foot in your bricks and mortar location. And if your business is entirely online you need to have a very good web presence to survive.

Fortunately, there are a tonne of options today for every business to be able to reach their customers via the internet.

With most social media you are confined to structuring your brand with only what they allow and therefore you should not have only social media for digital marketing.

Although some companies like to sell a “one size fits all” web site, it’s sure to be very cookie-cutter and basic—and that may do as some businesses may not require all the bells and whistles. Assess your individual need or reason for digital media and choose the right design and functionality for your market, products/services and budget.

With most social media you are confined to structuring your brand with only what they allow and therefore you should not have only social media for digital marketing. Even social media companies have a corporate site for a reason. The best results often come from connecting your corporate web site to your social and other digital media to promote your store, special events, marketing activities and business developments in an ongoing manner.

No matter how brilliant your child is at setting up your new smartphone or laptop for you, he or she is unlikely to have the marketing knowledge to properly portray your business with a creative and effective design to attract sales. Although they may be able to develop a web or Facebook page from start to finish, they may not have the knowledge or tools to ensure your site is set up, connected and functions securely to avoid hacking and data theft.

Use your family, friends, staff members’ or your own best marketing knowledge for DIY internet to a point but just like servicing your own car or electronics, consider calling on professionals to create digital marketing that’s right for you and fits your budget.

The great successes you hear about others achieving better online sales are often because of “selling the sizzle, not the steak”. All digital media is perfectly geared to this because of their ability to elicit immediate responses through likes, comments, reviews and social media influencers. Those can more quickly translate into sales because of the “buzz” or sizzle created. Today’s professional marketers know how to create that buzz.

Selling the excitement or buzz is called marketing and yes, sometimes that means teenagers and inexperienced marketers are helping you market your products which is wonderful. But does that make them the right choice for creating a professional web site?

Now, if your teenager is a media marketing genius web developer, please have her or him contact us! We hope to be expanding in the future.