6 Tips for Building a New Website

{by Andy} - November 10, 2011

Rule #1: Remember, your website is basically a digital salesperson for your company. Take great care for the way it looks, what it says, how it says it, and how it behaves for this is often the first (and only) exposure to your company. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Never.

Rule #2: Most business owners are NOT a great representative of their best prospect. Often people get wrapped up speaking about their product as if they’re talking to a fellow colleague or a competitor. You must understand what you’re client is looking for and build your site to address this need. Understanding this will drastically affects how a site is structured and navigated.

Rule #3: Just because you build it, doesn’t mean people will find it. Be proactive with your online marketing efforts otherwise your nice, new site will never be seen by your customers.

Rule #4: There is never just one right way. When seeking strategies for online marketing, get at least three opinions. It still is the Wild Wild West out there with constantly emerging technologies. When constructing a website for our clients, we always reach out to multiple entities for recommendations to make sure we’re not missing any opportunities. And we do this BEFORE we start building the site. Certain online strategies require specific functionality and coding for the best support, and it’s always best to plan for those in advance rather than retrofit.

Rule #5: Keep it stupid simple. With so many things competing for your client’s eyes online, keep their experience with your site short and sweet. You really want to just entice them to pick up the phone and call you or be receptive when you reach out to them. People often try to say way too much on their sites and this often encourages the prospect to feel like they can decide if they want to engage with you or not based on your site alone.

Rule #6: Leverage third party endorsements where ever you can. Google understands people are trying to cheat the organic rankings through keyword, meta tag and back link manipulations. Because of this they are heavily weighing social comments and discussions on your company and relevant topics. Be sure you’re part of these, acting as an industry leader, and encourage positive communications about your company in any way you can.