Websites are often something that sits on your to-do-list, waiting to be ticked off.
You spend a few sessions with a web designer or graphic designer, write your copy and get it published. Tah-Dah! It’s live. Your website is complete!
But actually your website work has only just begun. A website is NOT something that just gets ticked off from your marketing list. A website is actually an evolving tool which needs to be nurtured, cared for and grown to keep up with your business.
One of 1-2-1 clients was getting very frustrated with her new website the other week. She had decided to set one up using www.mrsite.com [a great way of getting a very affordable, user-friendly website up and running very quickly]. But after a week of playing around with different templates and writing copy for her 5 pages, she was pulling her hair out.
I shouted “Move away from the website!!!” It was time to take a break and stop trying to make it perfect.
My advice to her was to leave her website alone for a week and then come back to it for an hour or two every week over the next month or so. No more, no less. The site was working, the right pages were up, people where able to book a place on the workshop she was launching – but to keep fiddling to make it perfect before “launching” was just driving her nuts!
You see, a website should never be finished. When you run your own business, you are probably evolving and growing at a rate of knots. You start working with clients you hadn’t thought possible, you create products and partnerships you hadn’t quite planned for. You are being flexible to meet the needs and demands of your clients [or you should be!].
And your website has to reflect this. It’s not a corporate brochure that once printed, has to be thrown out when out of date. It’s moving and evolving marketing tool that you need to be reviewing at least once a month.
Have you finished your website, yet? Good – so you shouldn’t have!
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Good stuff and very true!
It depends on how you use your website, but whatever it is to you – a direct sales tool, part of your marketing strategy, your core retail channel – or more – it should continue to evolve and develop for as long as your business does.
That doesn’t mean it should be in constant flux or look different every day, though – a mistake which is often made. Consistency is essential as is engaging with your audience through the media – not just telling them things, but listening to what they say and how they react as well!
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Hi Karen,
I agree that your website is never finished, as a provider of web based service (on-line booking and SMS appointment reminders for small businesses) I’m continually looking at how I can improve and develop the service. I’ve looking at ‘Get Satisfaction’ at the moment but I’ve found on-line tools like SurveyMonkey very handy in gathering feedback. Hoe do you decide how your website should evolve?
rgds/alex
http://www.BookingTakers.com
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Matt – great point you made. It is too easy to keep “playing” with your website and making changes too quickly – after all, its often a good avoidance from doing your accounts or making a few prospective client calls!!
Alex – Great question “How do you decided how your website should evolve?” At the very beginning it’s worth the time to think how big or small your business is going to be to allow you to choose a web platform that will grow with your biz. But, to be honest, this website is my 3rd candocanbe.com site in 5 years having started with a basic template one, moving to a HTML “Brochure” site and now using WP.
So in answer to your question, if you can know where you business is going and what functionality you will need to support that business growth, that should keep you on the straight & narrow of evolving your website. Hope that helps.
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Yes, absolutely agree. I love returning to mine from time to time, when I’m in the mood to update it, see what I can tweak. It’s a labour of love. Almost like stroking the cats I look after. Hammering it to get it “right” at the beginning becomes such a chore and it really shows.
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