What Is A Good Website?
When I started in digital media 20 years ago, we started our sales meetings explaining what the internet was and what opportunities it presented to businesses. These were not small businesses. They included Nabisco Foods, Canadian Tire, MacLean Hunter and even Massey Hall/Roy Thomson Hall. Again, this was 20 years ago. Those brands all have their own sophisticated digital teams and ever-evolving digital properties (maybe not all, but some).
What about small businesses? What were they doing online 20 years ago? Nothing. Why would they? We were still asking the question of how long would this “internet” thing last?
Today we have seen the shift for small- and medium-sized businesses in realizing that a website is a fundamental marketing asset. The challenge, however, is that the development of a website has become a simple checkbox on the marketing to-do list, and the strategy that should go into the website is lost. It usually goes like this:
- Website – check
- Email newsletters – check
- Facebook page – check
- Twitter account – maybe later
- Linked In company page – what for?
- PPC/display ad campaign – would love to but…
- Automated marketing emails – what’s that?
- And of course the central CRM – huh?
Let’s go back to “what makes a good website?”:
A website is a living entity. It should change over time, growing, becoming more wise and sophisticated, and adapting to changing objectives as the business itself evolves. So, start small. Define your initial objectives and create a website to meet those objectives.
This is our “good website” checklist:
- Defined customer journey, with clear calls-to-action (CTAs)
- Professional design, which is mobile friendly
- Basic SEO (this does not need to be expensive!)
- Social links and sharing options
- Constantly updated content
- CRM- enabled
This checklist does not require a big budget, nor does it require all of the bells and whistles. Start with the basics, but make sure it is professional and engaging. Find a partner that understands marketing, as well as technology, to get you the marketing results you want and the reliability that you need.
Once the basics are in place, be sure not to put a permanent check on the checklist for “website”. In order to continually bring in new customers, and engage existing ones, enhance the content and features of your site as frequently as possible.
To find out more about what your website objectives should be, and how to develop it, contact us .
Do you have any questions on the above, or would you like to share your experience? Just email ideas@mawazo.ca or call +1 (833) 503-0807.
At Mawazo Marketing we work with owners of B2B companies who want to accelerate their business. We help them with a concrete digital growth plan, a website that saves operational cost, and a digital marketing system that generates leads. For qualifying clients we offer a 5x ROI guarantee: if we don't reach the objective, then we pay back the difference. Book a Free Strategy Session to find out more.
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