I have a question for you: What do prospective clients think, when they visit your website or blog?
[You do know they check you out online, before they decide to get in touch with you, right?]
Just as you check out a potential provider’s website, so do your prospective clients. What they find will either position you in their mind as a professional they feel they can trust… or plant toxic, seeds of doubt in their mind.
Even low traffic sites are checked by prospective clients
Many small businesses make the mistake of thinking that the only people who check their websites out, are those who tell them they found them via the website. For many small business owners this is a tiny percentage of the leads they get, so they assume their site isn’t helping or hurting their business.
What they seem unaware of, is that the people who hear about them via; referrals, word of mouth, email marketing, advertising, social networks etc., also check their website out, before deciding whether to get in touch or not!
Here’s the thing:
- We wouldn’t eat at a restaurant, which had dirty tables.
- We wouldn’t hire a fitness instructor who was out of shape.
- We wouldn’t by a car, which looked like a wreck.
In the same way, we can’t expect a prospective client to believe we are professional if we operate behind a cheap looking website. A badly designed, dated or poorly-written website says 2 things about us.
- We think it’s fine to operate behind an unprofessional website.
- We can’t afford anything better.
Both of those messages are extremely toxic. Combine them and you end up with a message that causes enormous damage to your business and your reputation!
The kicker here, is that websites today need not be expensive. An entry level, professional website will cost you hundreds not thousands.
That’s a tiny price to pay, to stop turning away all those prospective client inquiries. Right?
Tip: Read this – Is your website ready for the fastest growing group of Internet users?