Your website is part of a crucial vetting process that happens when someone is researching their needs. They’re subconsciously deciding whether what they see lines up with their expectations for someone who does what you do, and if they were referred to you specifically, if that experience is aligned with what they were told. If the experience a prospect has on your website isn’t aligned with their expectations, they’re quick to move on.
The Content Conundrum
Many times, business owners will think that someone will “give them grace” or “call them anyway” if their website is minimally produced. They’ll think that a lack of content creates curiosity, and curiosity leads to calls, which leads to conversions.
But the reality is that prospects are looking for someone who they’re already confident about before they ever make a connection, and if they’re not confident that you can do what they need you to, they’ll go find someone else.
So that train of thought: lack of content = curiosity = calls = conversions… derails before step two.
What’s worse is that as the business owner, it’s hard to know that’s ever happening unless you’re diligent about looking at your traffic reports and analytics.
So what I advocate for with clients, is to build out your site for different usability styles, devices, and clarity. Not to be afraid of a little repetition, and definitely not to be afraid of a lot of content that’s thoughtfully organized. You never know which piece of storytelling will be the thing that gets the prospects fully into your pipeline.
Why do I need a website if I have a social media profile?
Your website is intended to be so much more robust than what you can share and highlight on social media. It’s the primary place online that tells the whole story, and it’s an asset you as a business owner actually control – whereas a social media profile could disappear without notice.
Even though they’re easy to change, many people feel like a website carries permanence. Something on a website feels more true, more consistent, it’s something that’s not quick to disappear in a feed. That’s why consumer behavior shows us that folks will go to a website to search out or verify prices before they’ll go through your social channel.
What platform is best for my website?
That question is highly dependent on what you need and how involved you want to be in keeping it current. The three big contenders in website development platforms right now are WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace. There are others like Showit, Weebly, Shopify, Figma, and even Canva available too.
WordPress is by far the most robust and customizable platform available. However with those robust capabilities come the requirement to understand how to put them together, and therefore it’s not typically as user-friendly for editing in the long-run. However if you need more advanced options like a membership system, or you want total control, it is likely the best option. Building a site on WordPress does require you to have an external hosting platform and an external domain management system.
Wix is the best middle-ground in my opinion. It is a highly capable and robust platform, but it’s also very user-friendly for the average business owner. It has a lot of expansive features available and included in the base packages that are more intuitive to set-up without a lot of extra development knowledge. Wix has the capability to be an all-in-one platform, too, as it’s self-hosted and domains are available through their system.
Squarespace is the most user-friendly platform, even at a beginner level, but it has a lot of limitations in customization. While you absolutely can create something custom on Squarespace, a lot of intuitive choices can be clunky, hard-to-find, or non-existent, like the ability to completely customize colors on each page without using a pre-set theme. Squarespace is also an all-in-one platform like Wix.
What should I put on my website?
In short, everything should go on your website.
Who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and how they can get it are the easiest categories to think about when building out the content. But your website can also be a resource and a tool where you can host content you create (blogs), lead magnets, freebies, and things that you have clients access regularly like intake forms. It can also be a place to direct them to access their third-party accounts or to schedule a meeting.
Your services should also be on your website – whether or not you include prices varies from owner to owner. Your bio, your team, your values, your history, about your brand, news and awards, testimonials – they’re all great assets that will help take someone from a curious observer to someone you actually get a chance to sell to and support.
How often should I update my website?
My recommendation for updating your website is to change something about it at least once a quarter, but better is once a month. Showing activity and changes on your site is important to search engines – it shows that the business is still “alive” and they use that data as part of the decision of who to show in search results.
A change doesn’t have to be something structural – it can be adding a new page of content, or a new blog. It can be updating your team or your portfolio, adding a sale to a service, or highlighting a new freebie that’s available.
What is the website development process like with Jemoy Creative?
I follow a multi-step process when working on a website.
It starts with an intensive discovery phase – I need to learn what you need, what you want your website to do for you, and what features will make it the best resource possible. I also need to know who the ideal market for your business is, what success looks like in terms of usability (what should the call to action be?), and the types of content we’ll be including.
In the next step, I’ll work on building the site, which is double-layered. The first layer is the structure – how it works, how it’s laid out, the unique features and processes that need to be installed to achieve your goals. The second layer is the style and content – where there should be buttons, branding, headlines, pictures, etc. These two layers get tied together holistically and organically through the process into a comprehensive user experience.
Next, we’ll collaborate to ensure that the site not only serves your business and meets your goals, but that you like it! We’ll make revisions as needed until everything is where it belongs.
Finally, I’ll go through the content-finalized site and optimize it for different device sizes, ensuring that no matter what size screen someone is looking at your site on, it looks and functions exactly how we’d expect. As I do this, I’ll look at things with a critical eye and test every button, form, and unique feature. The last piece is installing critical SEO essentials, like title tags, meta descriptions, and alt tags.
At this point, the site is ready to launch!