Not too long ago a website was just an online version of your company’s brochure. Get your information out there, what you do, what services you offer—that sort of thing. Oh! Be sure and throw in the address and phone number somewhere too.
Once you had it designed and posted, there your site would sit. Online. Your business would grow and change. New products would be added. Still, the site sat there, unchanged. You didn’t have the knowledge to revise it; that took an expensive guy who wrote mysterious code. Five years later and finally you can’t stand it. It’s time to hire someone to put a new online brochure up for you. Time to repeat the process over again.
Things Have Changed
The web is a much more vibrant place than it was even just five years ago. The website is a hub for all of a company’s activities. Through social media, blogging, and hits on Google search; it’s a starting point for being involved with your customers. It’s not all just for fun either. All of this engagement is for a purpose—bringing your customers through your door and having an ongoing relationship with them.
What about content, the information locked away waiting for the next site update? That’s changed too. Websites are now built with the ability for you, the site’s owner, to make those revisions. It isn’t only on the blog page. All the pages of a site can be (and should be) built to be edited and rewritten, adding new photos along the way.
Mobile Is King
Another key difference from five years ago is the explosion of mobile technology. Phones and tablets fill the hands of an ever increasing number of people. (For instance, I own a tablet, a phone, a lap top, and a desk top computer.) Different devices mean different platforms. Different platforms mean your site needs be optimized for each. (“Optimized” is a fancy word for “looks great and functions the best” for the specific device.) “Responsive” is a word being used in the web site industry. Simply put, it’s designing your site to be its best—optimized—on every device.
What Your Site Can (and Should) Be
There is an endless array of functionalities for today’s site. Social media feeds can be built right in. Email contact forms, surveys, informational videos, interactive maps, and new methods for keeping your visitors on your site longer are created every day. For every idea out there, there is someone who can figure out how to make it work, and who is it making it happen.
It’s time to toss the brochure. It’s time to make your site more than a thing that just sits there. It’s time for your site to work for you.
Let’s get this done. Contact us today.