posted by Anna Fleet on July 7th, 2010
Your website will give many of your customers their very first impression of your small business or non-profit. And even though you might maintain a Twitter or Facebook account, these social networking tools will still drive potential traffic to your website.
But what if your customers don’t trust your website?
Small Business Trends recently featured an article listing the 11 Reasons Customers Don’t Trust Your Website. Is your company website guilty of any of the following online errors?
Your website is too technical: Be honest, does your site read like a brochure? Is it engaging? Conversational?
Typos are no-nos: Spelling mistakes and bad grammar shine an unprofessional light on your entire company, products and services. Typos leave customers thinking, “What if this company takes as much care with their customers as they do with their website?” Yuck!
Outdated content and web design: If your site is drastically outdated, it won’t be valuable to customers nor meet industry expectations. Basically, your company will look lazy or like it’s no longer business.
Navigation issues: Visitors will get frustrated and leave your site (no matter how good your product is) if your site isn’t user-friendly. What good is a site for visitors if they can’t find what they’re looking for?
Leave out buzzwords: If you’re playing ‘business buzzword bingo’, which means you’re using phrases like “innovative thinkers”, “outside the box” and “game-changing product” in your web copy), your customers will feel like their being played. Your product or service should speak for itself with clear and conversational content.
Where’s the ‘About’ page? A page dedicated to the face behind your company will help build trust with your customers. An ‘About’ page should speak about you (your professional background and why you started your business).
These are just 6 reasons why customers might mistrust your website. Click here to find out if your guilty of any of the full 11 reasons why your website might not be trusted.
Tags: facebook for small business marketing, twitter for small business, user friendly web design, web marketing strategy, website optimization, website tips for non-profits, website tips for small business
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posted by Anna Fleet on May 17th, 2010
You’re a small not-for-profit doing fantastic things for the local community. Or maybe you run a small business that sells a fantastic, earth-friendly product or service. Regardless of what you’re marketing, if you have a website, I’m sure you’re hoping that it will help expand your customer base and get word out about your life-changing venture.
No matter if you’ve already got yourself a clever product name, a shiny new logo, an amusing tagline—does your website look outdated? Are you too busy to write a new blog post every week?
Well then, bottom line, your website is saying all that needs to be said about that inspiring service or green product of yours:
If your website is sadly dated = your product and company are old and lame.
If your navigation buttons don’t work = people assume your products don’t work either.
If your blog was last updated 4 months back = your portraying a lazy image to customers.
Shoppers can’t find your products page, cart button, shipping info = you don’t sell online.
Your landing pages aren’t optimized = you don’t offer the info visitors are looking for.
You don’t have an “About” page = your company isn’t trustworthy.
As business owners, we often forget that our websites make a powerful impression on our online visitors. Your site should be thought of as your first impression to the public (and that includes potential customers, distributors, partners, or stakeholders online). Your website is your first handshake, initial impression and business card…it’s your first shot and it communicates everything about the credibility of your product, service, brand, and company.
If you’re a small business or not-for-profit in the Waterloo Region, find out how a sleek, user-friendly web design can fit into your tight budgets, and add to your success and potential growth.
Tags: not-for-profit, SEO, small business, web design, web marketing, website optimization
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One Calendar with Social Networking Powers
