What your website can reveal about your company?

Your website may not be properly reflecting your company’s brand, image or message. In some cases, it may project an unflattering view of your company and not at all how you would like it perceived. In some extreme instances, it may even be losing you business.

Here’s a quick quiz to help you determine exactly how dated your website really is. Pull up your site right now and try to match it to one of the sites below.  Does your website look anything like one of the following?

Your website match and its “real” age

Archaic (built between 2000 - 2004)

Generally an “archaic” website is one with:

  • very basic amateurish design
  • perhaps designed in Photoshop by a family member, friend or newbie developer
  • basic 4 or 5 pages at most e.g. About Us, Who We Are, What We Do, Contact Us etc.
  • very little content

Overall reveal: Unprofessional website that reflects poorly on your company brand and image.
What it may say to visitors: Not progressive, old school, possibly a very small business.
The fall-out: Visitors may be left with a negative impression of your company.

Medieval (between 2005 – 2009)

medievalThese are generally:

  • heavy image driven, perhaps using Flash
  • 7 or 8 pages
  • low quality content
  • not updated since released

Overall reveal: Very basic website that does not effectively reflect company brand/image.
What it may say to visitors: Basically your website does not inspire confidence in your company and what it may have to offer.
The fall-out: The quality of your company, product, service etc. is undermined. Business will go to your competition and you don’t want that, now do you?

Contemporary (2010  -  2012)

contemporaryThese website are:

  • attractive, appealing design
  • possibly built using popular CMS sites like Wordpress or Joomla
  • 12 - 15 pages
  • content is usually done in-house, not adequately geared to target market
  • may or may not be optimized for search engines
  • probably includes Google Analytics
  • not regularly updated

Overall reveal: Nice looking but still a brochure-driven site that does not adequately add to your company brand, or help market your business effectively.
What it may say to visitors: Visitors will make assumptions about your brand that may not be what you want.  This will probably result in unwanted enquiries from prospects outside your target market.
The fall-out: Loss of potential business from web

21st Century (2013  -  2014)

21century2What they include:

  • excellent design, modern and attractive, and most importantly, mobile-friendly
  • 20 - 30 pages
  • content geared to target market, specifically to your buyer-personas
  • includes blogs, email subscription options, informative e-papers, CTA - call to action (a low risk offer) etc.
  • optimized for search engines
  • many visual elements e.g. photos, product shots, videos, webinars etc.
  • landing pages with A/B testing included
  • integrated with marketing automation software that includes powerful analytics e.g. Hubspot, Marketo etc.
  • connected to CRM software e.g. Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics etc.
  • credibility-building features such as client testimonials and case studies

Overall reveal: Dynamic and beautifully designed site that is visually stunning. This modern website optimally reflects your company culture and brand.
What it may say to visitors: Your site provides visitors with what they want.  It’s highly interactive, fun to navigate, and information is easy to access. Your site exceeds expectations.
The overall impression of your company is highly favourable as visits are a positive experience, which builds trust and contributes to brand loyalty.
The fall-out: No fall-out! Your website is an effective extension of your company’s brand and perfectly represents the image you want to project. It effectively turns leads into customers for your business. Your site works successfully as part of your marketing toolkit and generates business for your company.

Quiz results
If your website looks like #1 or #2, don’t despair! This is merely a guide and there’s lots you can do to improve your site.
If your website looks like #3 you’re not in too bad a shape and some professional tweaking will do the trick to get your website really performing.
If your site looks like #4 - Congratulations, you’re doing everything right!

strategies to improve website results

About Author

Comments

Add Comment