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Three types of successful business website
A business website isn’t just a bunch of pages with pretty graphics put on the Internet - though many websites are built that way. Every business website has goals such as to sell something, encourage prospects to engage or to improve customer service/brand. The three types of business websites are:- E-Commerce/Retail (Sell something)
- Lead generation (Encourage prospects to engage)
- Branding (Improve customer service)
When planning your Internet strategy and designing your website you’ll fit into one or all of the above categories based on the goals of your website.
Successful websites follow the same process
Your website is an online marketing tool. When a website is planned, designed and marketed correctly it acts as your online employee and should be making you money or helping your customers.
Though you could get a free website through websitebuilder.co.nz or even pay a programmer thousands to create your website, doing so is like going to your bank manager to get a business loan with no idea of how your business will be successful. If you don’t plan for your website business success then it’s unlikely you’ll succeed. Successful business websites follow the same process:
What happens if you don’t follow the process?
Websites that don’t follow the process can still get sales, contacts and improve customer service/brand but if they follow the process they’ll do even better. Unfortunately, not following the process can also lead to less sales, losing clients and poor service. We see it frequently when we’re asked to assess websites built by other companies that don’t understand the process. Here’s some examples:
- We recently met a Wellington organisation that had paid over $100,000 to get their website built. It lacked most of the functionality they needed such as e-newsletters because the company they used didn’t create an Internet strategy for them that identified their needs and goals. Now they’re having to use other services outside of their website because they can’t afford to add new functionality.
- A Palmerston North business paid over $10,000 to have their website developed by a local software development company that had no experience in Internet strategy or Internet marketing. The business never got contacted by prospects and hasn’t made any sales because the software company hadn’t planned how the website would encourage sales, get found by Google or how it should be marketed.
- An Auckland client was referred to us that had his website built by one company, his search engine optimisation by another and his Internet marketing by yet another company. Because none of the companies liaised with each other he was paying thousands each month but getting no sales and very little support. When we took over we significantly reduced his costs and immediately increased sales because we followed the steps of our website development process.
As you can see a website is more than just a bunch of pages with pretty graphics. Websites that aren’t planned properly can literally waste thousands of dollars and be ineffectual. If you'd like to attend one of our free courses that shows you how to plan your website correctly click here to find out more.
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