Upgrade your website before 2021
Make sure that the people who really need you can find your services easily where they are looking for help: online.
With more people than ever looking for solutions online due to increased restrictions and concerns about COVID 19, now is the perfect time to upgrade or improve your business website.
Why should I upgrade my website before 2021?
While 2020 has been a tough year for a lot of small businesses, there has also a rush of previously offline businesses finding new profitable avenues in online world. People are looking to stay safe and finding solutions online has become the best option for many.
What upgrades does my website need?
Make a good impression
Your website does need to be beautiful. And no, I don’t just say that because I’m a web designer! People trust sites that look polished and professional.
They also prefer to continue looking at something if it is pleasing to the eye. While there is a lot of subjectivity around what is “beautiful”, there are many best-practices for graphic and web design that help your customers feel at ease and speak to our broad sense of what is nice to look at.
By creating a beautiful, clear online home for your business you can quickly illustrate to your potential clients that you have the answer they are looking for. Once they know that you can help them, you gain their trust and are one step closer to working with them directly.
It’s also worth noting that your website REALLY needs to be responsive, meaning it looks good on both desktop and mobile devices. Your potential clients may very well be looking for your answers on their phones. So make sure that your business website looks good on mobile, and you’ve already won their trust over all of those less-than professional websites that break when viewed on smaller screens.
Reassure your potential clients that they are in the right place
People spend about 3 seconds on average looking at a website before deciding if it answers the question they were looking to solve. That’s not a lot of time!
Your messaging needs to be crystal clear. There shouldn’t be any doubt in your potential customer’s mind what it is that you are offering. Your potential clients need to be 100% sure that you can help THEM.
This is where good copywriting can help. Crafting the right structure for your website and finding the perfect words to speak to your customers really can make all the difference, especially in those first 3 seconds.
How do I upgrade my website?
There are so many ways you can upgrade your website!
Here are 5 ideas to get you started:
Working on your SEO to improve your chances of showing up on search engines
Re-writing your website text can do wonders to speak to your ideal clients
Refreshing your images to show off your services
Redesigning your website for better accessibility (think improving the contrast of your text so that it is easy to read or making sure your text is broken up with sub-headings to make it easy to read)
Working with a professional web designer to give your website a bigger-scale redesign and really set you apart as a top-tier service
Will really people care if I upgrade my website?
I won’t make any promises here but yes, they most likely will care! They will care because your services will be more appealing and approachable with a new digital framework around them. They will care because you will better serving your clients with a clearer, updated website.
Your happy customers will also be thrilled to see you taking care of your business and could very well spark some loving recommendations.
What if I don’t have a website yet?
Well, now is the perfect time to create one!
If you are just getting started, using a simple website builder like Squarespace can be an easy solution. The nice thing about Squarespace is that it can grow with your business. You can add a blog, an online store and when you are ready, a designer can create a fully custom design for you without having to change platforms.
If your business requires a more complex or more professional digital home right from the start, then hiring a web designer to create a custom WebFlow site for you is a great option. WebFlow has a fantastic design system, so anything is possible in terms of the look and functionality of your site, and the client interface is super simple for you to use when you want to add or update any information.
It is a larger investment to work with a web designer, but it can help propel you forwards at a much faster pace and you’ll quickly see your investment back.
