Does Your Website Reflect What Your Business Does?
A website that hasn't been updated since its launch and therefore doesn't reflect your current services is terrible for business.
In business, when you meet potential customers, you introduce not only yourself but also your company. You explain what your company does and your role in the organization.
Naturally, as a web designer, I am professionally curious to look at the websites of the entrepreneurs I meet. Often, I find that how owners present their business in person can sometimes be very different from what they have written on their website.
There doesn't have to be a perfect match. But a website that hasn't been updated since its launch and therefore doesn't reflect your current services is terrible for business. Don't believe that customers won't realize this mismatch. They do. And they are probably confused because they don't know which is true: your verbal presentation of your offering or your written services listed on your website.
Many potential customers will probably overlook this issue and think your website only needs an update. But some clients prefer to go elsewhere for fear that your verbal promises are just deceptive marketing talk and cannot be trusted.
It's unfortunate to lose customers to competitors because they are better than you. Losing them because your website doesn't match your talk is tragic, as this loss would have been entirely avoidable.
Familiarity Builds Trust
Positive experiences build familiarity, and familiarity builds trust. The more potential customers interact with your brand, the more familiar it becomes and the more they trust it. Social media is an excellent way to increase brand familiarity. So, too, are your website, newsletters, and public presentations.
However, for users to interact with you on social media, you have to post valuable content — a lot of valuable content. The more quality content you release, the more reasons you'll give your audience to engage with your posts through likes, comments, and shares. Over time your brand becomes more familiar and trusted because they see it in their daily feed and watch others sharing and liking your content.
9 in 10 People Buy From Brands They Follow on Social Media: If your business is not visible on social media, chances are you will miss a significant opportunity to draw attention to your brand and increase brand awareness and brand loyalty.
You Interact With Customers Through Multiple Channels
Even though you might be very active on social media and post valuable content regularly, you rarely interact with your audience through that channel alone.
Instead, you interact with them through all communication channels simultaneously (multi-channel marketing). These channels include your website, printed fliers, business cards, the slides of your customer presentation, and your email newsletters.
Unfortunately, you don't know which channel your audience prefers. Different customer segments favor different channels. Some prefer your website, others your newsletter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, or TikTok. Which channels you serve depends on the customer segments you focus on.
Whether you communicate with your customers through a few channels or many, they all need to follow your brand guidelines closely and reflect what your company does. Consistency is crucial. So much so that if you change the content of one channel, you must apply this change to all of them at the same time. Strong brands do this exceptionally well — and that's one reason why they are strong.
10 Tips to Succeed in Digital Marketing: With digital marketing, companies no longer have control over who engages with them; in today's digital world, customers decide if, how, and when they want to interact with a brand.
The Bottom Line
Since your company constantly evolves, keeping the content in sync across all media can be challenging. This task can quickly become impossible if you maintain a presence in too many media.
In marketing, therefore, it is sometimes more effective to focus your efforts on a few communication channels and make good use of them instead of spreading your time and money so thin that you do none well.
How Much Maintenance Does Your Website Need? A website with up-to-date and informative content appeals to many visitors. Here are a few things to consider when creating your website maintenance plan.
