Is your website working hard enough for you?
Are you getting the most out of your website? Is your website generating interest and ultimately customers for you? Websites have evolved from purely a source of information into powerful advertising and marketing tools. All too often, when I am researching on the internet, I come across websites which consist of one page and which have no valuable information on them. They could be doing so much more.
Recently I wanted to take my daughter to a craft café in our area. I knew that the town would be very busy on the Saturday, as it was carnival day, so I decided to see if they opened on a Sunday. It has quite an unusual name and I was unsure of the spelling, so I started by searching generally for cafés in my area. I couldn’t find any reference to it. Eventually I found it, after trying a few different attempts at the spelling of its name directly into Google. They shouldn’t have been that difficult for me to find, given the nature of their business.
The website is visually pleasing, which is one factor where so many other websites fall down, and consists of a home page and a contact us page. The home page told me that they are a café where you can also participate in a particular type of craft activity, that they host children’s parties, corporate events and team building events and that it’s fun. There is no useful information there at all. I already know what they do and their name. Indeed, I would not have been able to find the site at all if I hadn’t. I assumed they would cater for children’s parties because of the nature of the craft activity and though I know that Corporate and team building event are far less formal than they used to be and that in fact, some companies take their staff paint balling and assault coursing these days, I still find it hard to imagine that they would make a lot of money from corporate events. I struggle to imagine a purchasing team sat around the table making models from plastercine, or finger painting, which is on a similar level to the kind of craft activity they offer.
The contact us page consists of an address, phone number and an email enquiry form. There are no opening times anywhere, no price guides, sample menus or anything of any use. With some imagination, this website could be full of colourful photographs of children participating in the activity and some valuable marketing text, explaining the roots of the company, their inspiration and ethos and that all important ‘relevant information’. With the right optimisation this website could be appearing at the top of a Google search attracting a steady source of interest and more importantly customers.
Sadly, someone somewhere told them that they must have a website, so they have one, but it’s hard to find and doing nothing for them. It is unfortunately a wasted opportunity, a waste of the money they spent having it developed and the money they continue to pay to have it hosted. I urge anybody who has a website to consider whether it is fulfilling its potential as an advertising and marketing tool and to take steps to make it work for them, if not.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Business Advice, Hints and Tips, IT Advice . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
