If the old adage that “perception is reality” is true, then your website is even more important than you might think. It often acts as the first point of contact between you and your audience, so the opinion they build as they browse through your pages will colour their perception about your business for the rest of their relationship with you.
If you’re wondering what your website really says about your business, here’s your answer.
What Your Website Says About Your Business
1) Organisation
Organisation matters, both on a macro and on a micro level. If your website includes a lot of pages, and none of them are easy to reach via your site’s navigation, it will reflect as negatively on your business as disorganised content on a single page.
Either way, your audience will perceive your website – and, as a result, your business – as disorganised. As a result, they may be more hesitant to engage with you for fear that they either won’t easily find what they’re looking for or you might lose their information.
2) Static vs. Dynamic
As early as your homepage, your audience will begin to make judgement calls about how well you’re keeping up with updating your site.
A completely static website, with content that does not change from day to day or week to week, may lead customers to believe that you simply don’t care enough about your online presence (and your audience) to deliver regular fresh content. On the other hand, a dynamic site that includes regular new news or blog posts along with a dynamic social media feed will colour your business as responsive and engaging.
3) Helpful vs. Uncaring
Similarly, your audience will also navigate to your site seeking to find an answer over how well you play with your potential and current customers. How well does your business do in answering questions or solving problems for their customers?
Including case studies and testimonials can showcase just how focused you are on helping your audience. A site that is solely focused on promotional ‘push’ content, on the other hand, may come off as self-centred and uncaring.
4) Responsiveness
How well does your business respond to the changing needs of your audience? Potential customers may make that judgement call as early as navigating to your home page on their mobile device.
If they encounter a site that is only optimised for desktop computers and difficult to read on smart phones or tablets, they may draw the conclusion that you either don’t care or don’t have the expertise to adjust to your customers’ needs. A responsive site not only improves user experience, but also the perception that this user experience actually matters to you.
5) Subject Expertise
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your website should convey the fact that you are an expert in your field. Through both visuals and text, your audience should leave the site convinced that if they decide to become your customers, they will have made the right choice and be in good hands.
Conveying expertise is possible in a variety of ways. Walk the fine line between common vernacular and jargon, while publishing content that shows you keep up-to-date with your industry. In addition, showcase the success you have had with past customers in your target industry to further underline the fact that when it comes to your target audience, you know what you’re doing.
Your website is crucial to your business success in a variety of ways. But above all, it acts as a major influencer on your audience’s perception about the personality and expertise of your business.
To get help in designing a website that positions you as an expert and desirable company in your field, contact us.
Further Reading
What is Podcasting? 7 Ways Podcasting Can Benefit Your Business
8 Ways to Create Powerful Website Infographics
Top 10 Ideas to Promote Your Website Offline
How to Promote Your Website on Facebook and Drive Traffic
How to Best Optimise Your Website for a Google Featured Snippet
