While many people may think the answers are technical like choosing layout, colors, fonts and logos, what I’m talking about comes before any of that.
I find most people I know (as well as myself) want to get the most out of their time, given that we have finite minutes in our day to get the most results we can.
Yet when talking to clients about getting a website I usually spend a lot of it talking to them about the things that they don’t need in order to make it effective for their business. It’s not their fault or for lack of intelligence – in fact the business owners I speak to are very smart – it’s just that they don’t know where to start. And those who have web sites that they want to rework this is evident.
In fact, most of the time when we are re-working someone’s website I find we’re taking it from being overly complicated to more streamlined because they never answered a few questions at the beginning of the process that would have helped leverage their time, money and effort more efficiently.
The types of questions that I ask are “what are the messages you most want your visitors to get about you so they can figure out whether or not it makes sense to contact you?”
There is of course, a lot more to consider but this is a very good beginning point. If a visitor can’t get a clear sense of the core message of a company quickly, they will most likely move on to somewhere else – whether they were a good prospective customer or not.
I think one of the most valuable things someone can do is spend time, either while initially building or redoing their Internet presence, in getting that figured out. The rewards are potentially huge.
Please contact us to find out how we can help you get the most out of your online presence.
