The mechanics of building a website is a boring topic for a conversation. Choose your platform based on your skill set: Squarespace for the non-developer, Wordpress for the person who’s comfortable learning a little HTML. You’ll fill in a lot of fields. You’ll search the relevant help. Trial and error until you’re happy. Everything can be edited, the beauty of the internet (versus print media.) Before even getting into mechanics, you need to ask if you even need a website. Some businesses are better off simply using Google My Business and social media. If you can’t update a website then you probably shouldn’t have one.
It’s a circle, on a plane, oh wait it’s a hero image! Does a larger-than-screen image dominating the entire “first look” a visitor gets of your website really draw them in? How long will someone wait for the loading circle to give way to the giant image or video?
Who are you talking to? You can’t craft a message unless you know who’s going to read it. While audience demographics are a good starting point, you’ll have a clearer picture if you build profiles with real life humans — either people you know or people you research on Facebook. It’s not creeping if you call it market research!
No one wants to wait for your website to load. And Google doesn’t want to send people to slow websites. Prioritize performance over pretty. Or join the bloated pigs at the slop bucket.
Why are you here? Who are you? What are your goals? Where are your customers? When and how can you possibly do it all? Answer all of life’s mysteries with your Marketing Plan! Or at least get thinking about the key questions.
The internet is not a Power Point presentation. Please stop all annoying animations. No, I will not submit my email address because you took over my screen. You want my info? Ask nicely.
There’s a reason Facebook is so popular. It’s the faces. We may be staring at screens as we connect over the internet, but we’re humans staring at screens where we want to see other humans. Whether Facebook, your website, or the front door of your business, it’s important to be human. This does not mean you need to litter your website or social media with selfies (though smiling faces do equal likes.) Being human on the web means writing with voice, highlighting the people behind the company, making visitors feel welcome.
What does SEO stand for? Search Engine Optimization. What does SEO mean? Do what Google says. SEO is not magic. Nor is it something you should have to hire someone to do as a separate function. If your web developer designs a site without SEO in mind, they are a hack. I realize I’m insulting people I’ve worked with here, but the reality is a website exists to provide relevant, current information. That’s what Google wants to find. That’s what Google wants to show people looking for said relevant, current information.
