Spotlight on Websites
Yes, You Need a Website!
I read a couple of free books lately which I'd picked up from a library give-away. The library had been clearing its shelves of books which weren't getting any circulation. The stories were great, but I had a tough time reading them. In one, a big piece of the plot surrounded the installation of a car phone. A car phone! In a climatic scene from the other, the protagonist stood anxiously in front of a fax machine, waiting for critical information. A fax machine!
We can all chuckle together about these literary proofs of how our world is changing, but look around your own office. What dinosaurs are you still using and what modern tools are you resisting? My sin is a great big blotter calendar in the middle of my desk. I live off it. I just haven't managed to embrace the calendar on my phone. No one knows better than me the problems this anachronism poses, but I won't let go. Most of of have something we just can't quite get ready for.
Take websites for instance. In the past few months I have set up a couple of websites for guys who just hadn't gotten around to getting a website. Most of my website business is updating and upgrading sites, but not with these guys. They'd been in business for themselves for decades and had gotten by just fine - so far - but that was changing.
Your Online Business Card
In the good old days, you printed up business cards and handed them out to everyone. When you handed them out, you knew there was a good chance most of them would end up in the trashcan, but a few would end up in a Rolodex or business card file. Eventually you hoped you would get a call and often enough to keep you in business, you did.
Today we still have business cards, but let's face it. What do most of us do when we need something? We don't dig through a pile of business cards looking for one we got last week or last year, we hit the internet. We google what we're looking for, browse a few sites and then we contact the site we like best.
If that's what you do when you need something, why do you think other people do something else? You need to have an online presence. Nothing, not even the best website in the world replaces relationships, but until you get that relationship, a website can be your best friend.
Websites Aren't Magic
While a good website is an important business tool, it's not a magic wand. Everybody has heard of someone who got rich off the internet, but do you actually know anyone who did? It's like viral videos. We see them every day, but so far, for most of us, the world is not sharing our most recent video or meme.
Websites are the same. While there was a time when a website developer had a few tricks up their sleeve and could promise you a first place spot on searches, those days are gone. Search algorithms are developed to be unique to each and every person. So unique that if I look up the same thing on my phone, my laptop and pc, all at the same time, I will probably get three different results pages.
So while there are things that can be done to jazz up your SEO and they will help you show up higher in more searches, no one can build a website that will guarantee a first page rank every time on its own. Where you land on any search depends on what keywords you've chosen, where you are located, how many visitors your site gets, how often you add quality content to your site, how active your social media sites are and on and on and on.
That's why a good website is a tool, not a magic wand. While some people will find you if you set up and maintain your website properly, marketing is still just like it was before. Your success depends on your relationships. People you've done work for, your friends at church, your kid's teacher - the people who will put your name or something like the name of your business in the search bar and look for you. If they can't find you that way, then they will just just whoever they do find.
And that guy you just gave your business card to? Well, he's probably going to go look at your website before he decides whether he's going to call you or not. And the person who got a referral from your last job? Well, they will want to take a look at your website, too. Just like city manager who got your bid or the person who found you on Yelp or pretty much anyone - even the guy who moved in next door.
So, yes, you do need a website and we can help you with that. Just call 214-499-6519 or check us out on our website spotonimages.com.