NOW is the time to sort out that website!

How to take your business from trying to survive to managing to thrive

At the moment, there is great uncertainty in the economy due to the effects of Covid-19 but one thing we can be certain about is that the pandemic has made changes to the way we work and buy services.

When we started designing websites 22 years ago back in 1998 (yes - that long ago!), we used to tell clients that the world was moving online and that resources such as Yellow Pages and paper directories were going to be a thing of the past. That happened of course and now 22 years seems like a VERY long time! In the last 6 months, the number of people that use the internet to find the services they require has grown at an incredible rate. While the way we all work, shop and go about our daily routines has changed in ways no-one could ever have imagined (even the aprompt crystal ball we keep in the office didn’t see it coming!).

We know of one customer that immediately moved their offline advertising earlier this year to digital marketing, realising that advertising on billboards and other places such as on vehicles was going to have a much-reduced impact while people around the world are having to stay at home during the pandemic. For them, this was a wise decision that has paid off.

If you are ‘sitting it out’ waiting for things to get better, or assuming that life and the way we do business will soon return to the way it was in 2019 then this could be a huge risk and one that we don’t believe is a wise move.

A new era might mean a new website

Customers who urgently need your services (whether you are a plumber, electrician, or car mechanic) are much more likely to go with whoever they can find and get hold of quickly, and easily.

If your website comes up in Google search for the keywords you want people to find you for and is easy to view on a mobile phone with your contact details clearly visible, then you will get the business. If it isn’t meeting that criteria but your competitors are, then you will lose the business. It’s that simple.

Withing our website design company we help our customers to get their business websites found on Google, and we advise customers to have a call to action including contact details that can be found on every page a customer might visit. Website coding and browsers now allow visitors to be able to click on a telephone number and make the call if visiting your site from a mobile phone. Getting in touch doesn’t get much easier than that!

For many customers, it’s important that they trust a brand before they buy and part of building trust is having a website that’s professional, secure and has social-proof elements such as testimonials. If there is any doubt over the credibility of a business because of a poor website then the customer will immediately go elsewhere.

Still waiting for things to improve…?

We understand that for many businesses’ times are challenging, but reducing marketing budget and becoming less discoverable for customers is only going to make things worse for you.

Making sure, however, that your website is optimised to attract customers while your competitors are holding back could take your business from trying to survive to managing to thrive. There are so many ways your website can attract customers and we're here to help you from start to finish.

• Find out if your website has the Halo Effect and is it converting customers?
• Here's how to get a new website

Adapt your business, starting with your website

Charles Darwin was quoted as saying “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”.

We believe that it’s also important for businesses to adapt and evolve if they want to survive.

Companies that were once great such as Blockbuster, Polaroid and Nokia have either gone out of business or been significantly reduced by competitors such as Netflix, Google and Apple who have adapted to new and challenging situations.

We were astonished recently to discover that the Dragonfly is considered one of the longest surviving insects (thought to be around 300 million years in existence) because it has adapted and evolved.

Is your business and website set up to be a dragonfly or a dodo? A Blockbuster or a Netflix?

If you would like to know more about how our website design company can help you with your website and other marketing activities, not just to survive but to grow and be profitable in the long-term, then get in touch with our website designers for a chat.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!