Time To Revamp Or Upgrade Your Website?
23rd October 2018Time to revamp or upgrade your website? Answer these 5 questions to find out.
Your website is key. You might be wondering why an accountant has written a blog about your website. Well, let me explain. Yes we are an accountancy firm. Yes we offer the usual accountancy services that you might expect, eg: bookkeeping, VAT and tax returns. But so does every accountant. At Simas one of our main areas of focus is to help our clients grow and this shines through in the way we work with you.
Growth is something that most businesses are striving for. We understand this, and talk with our clients everyday about a lot more than just their taxes. A good growth strategy encompasses many different aspects. You need goals and targets, some great internal processes and a strong sales and marketing strategy. Your website falls within your online marketing strategy, and the sales aspect should always be considered.
Take a look at your current website and ask these 5 key initial questions:
#1 Does my website target the right kind of customer?
This is an important question because fundamentally, your website is designed to be seen. If it has been designed well, it will be seen by a specific ‘buyer type’ or ‘customer type’. To understand your target audience, it is helpful to build a client profile. Think about the demographics of your ideal customer, their age, average income etc.… But even more importantly, think about their personality type…are they creative? Impulsive? Intelligent? etc.…Once you have put together your customer profile you can start applying it to the design of your website. This will ensure that it really speaks to the right people.
#2 What does my website say about my company?
The second question is all about your brand. When you ask most people about their brand and what it stands for, you will usually get the same sort of answers. They may say integrity, honesty, relationships etc.…these qualities are all well and good but should really be a vital part of every business. Your brand needs to say more. It needs to say two crucial things: Why you are doing what you do and what makes you different or special. So, at Simas Accountanting & Tax, although we are accountants, our brand is focused on a wider offering and being more than just accountants. Our brand speaks of a depth of knowledge and a focus on business growth. We believe too many accountants simply tick the requisite boxes and don’t truly advise their customers on how to achieve their goals.
#3 How easy is it for a potential client to make an inquiry?
This might sound like a simple thing to get right but is surprisingly easy to get wrong. You obviously need clear contact details on your website that should really be in more than one place. A contact form or chat function can go a long way to make it easier for potential customers or clients to get in touch. Make sure that telephones are either always answered or a clear professional answerphone message greats people if you are unable to answer. Make sure emails are replied to promptly – aim for within one hour.
#4 What is the User experience like?
You can approach answering this question from a number of different angles. Is your site aesthetically pleasing? What feelings does it create and inspire? How easy is it to navigate? Does your site content answer potential questions your customers might have? What value can your customers derive from it? These are just some of the ways you can start thinking about the customer experience of your website. Improving it in these areas will mean that people will stay on your site longer and come back to it time and time again. This is especially important when you understand that less than 1% of sales (across all industries) come from a first time website visitor. Using analytics tools like Google Analytics can really help you to start understanding these areas and measure the impact of changes you make to your site – I highly recommend it.
#5 How easily can your website be found?
So this is a bit of a more complicated one. It’s all well and good having a beautiful website but people need to be able to find it – and I’m not talking about people who already know about you. I’m talking about the people who don’t. Rest assured if you don’t develop this side of your website, potential new customers will be going to your competitors instead of you. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an ever changing and evolving specialism which has resulted in plenty of confusing and conflicting advice. In 2018, the best way to think about it is this: How helpful is my site when it comes to serving my customers and potential customers? What is their experience of using my website? The best websites are not the ones that are designed, put out there then left to rot. They are the ones that are constantly being updated with new and engaging content that people find helpful and useful. The best websites get traffic from multiple sources – not just google.
And one more thing…..
A good way to boost your sites SEO is to work on your social media strategy. This will increase the amount of traffic your site gets from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Linked In etc… Also make sure you are registered on as many relevant online directories as possible. Another aspect of good SEO is to understand what types of words or phrases people might be using to find a company like yours in google. You can than include some of these words and phrases into your website content. Blogs and especially video blogs are a great way to target key words, keep your website fresh and produce content to share on social media. The right strategy incorporates all the above and as a result boosts your website in the right way to improve your google listing.
If answering these 5 questions has shone the spotlight on areas you have not considered before or areas that you know you could improve…it might be time to upgrade your website. Simas Accounting & Tax can point you in the direction of someone we use for our online marketing so feel free to get in touch.
