Do business owners understand the true value of their website?
I’m sure you’re wondering what I mean by the true value of a website so let me explain myself. A company’s website is the centerpiece of their marketing as all advertising leads people to the company’s website. If a potential customer gets your name from a friend or sees you mentioned on social media-their first stop is usually your website.
Connection between website and advertising
It’s easy to see the common thread in your marketing is your website and if your website looks unprofessional, lacks content or has bad navigation-it will lower the effectiveness of ALL your advertising. Likewise, if your website is awesome, easy to navigate and has great content, it will improve the effectiveness of your advertising and get you a better return on investment. It’s not rocket science, it’s just common sense.
After having spent many years in the web development industry, I have talked with business owners of all sized businesses, from the 1-man show to companies that employ a large number of people. While the owners have different opinions on marketing and advertising, a surprisingly large number seem to have a huge disconnect when it comes to their website.
Your website is the star of the show
You would think they would spend the majority of their marketing budget on their website as it’s a vital (I would argue ‘most important”) piece of their marketing plan yet this is usually not the case. In fact, most spend an alarmingly little amount of time thinking about their website and direct only a small portion of their marketing budget to their website. What is that about?
This is the disconnect-not understanding the importance of their website and the role it plays in the big picture. Our job is to figure out a way to improve sales, get more quality traffic to your website, etc. Most business owners are too busy running their business that they don’t have the time or energy to do it for themselves.
How should you spend your marketing dollars?
So, now that I have pointed out this disconnect and have done my best to ‘hit you over the head’ so you understand the value of your website, what are you going to do with this information? I recommend you start prioritizing your marketing dollars.
No company has unlimited funds and that’s why you need to look at what’s going to get you the best ROI. After all, no one wants to spend money on something that doesn’t work. Your website is a sure thing. With all roads leading to your website, it’s the one thing that will improve everything else you do, no matter what it is.
Your website deserves more
That’s right-your website not only deserves more of your marketing budget, but it deserves more of your time-but you don’t always have the time. So what do you do? That’s when you need to hire someone to help you.
Paying someone to manage your website would be the best money ever spent as it ultimately increases the performance of all your advertising. Isn’t that the goal? Ensuring the money you spend is increasing sales so your business grows.
In the future I recommend you look at the big picture and start funneling your money to the one thing is know is a sure bet-your website.
