The Value of a Website
Are you getting the full value from your MWW website? Let’s take a look at this.
Every once in a while when we doing our annual website hosting billing, we sometimes get responses from customers who feel like their website isn't worth keeping. They feel they're not getting any value out of it. That it's not contributing to the success of their company, or that perhaps it simply costs too much. Or they simply don't have the time to deal with it.
Well, as with anything you buy, the value you get from what you bought is measured by what you put into it. If you buy a boat but never use it, you're not getting any value from it, and sure, you should probably let it go.
The same thing for a website. Sort of. Even if you don't tend to it at least on occasion, your website is still out there, advertising your business and enjoining people to contact you with inquiries. It's still out there being indexed by Google, and is the final authoritative word on who you are and what your company does. It's still doing something for you.
Bottom line, even if you don't read the rest of this article: if your website can bring in even ONE new customer who gives you at least $20 in profit, your website is essentially free. If it brings in more than that, then it's definitely working for you, and is worth every penny spent.
Facebook and Social Media
Several customers have said that Facebook does all the work for them, and that no one goes to their website... including them. Well, think of how many people would go to your website if you made it part of your regular business routine? Are you directing people there? Are you actually making it worth anyone's time to go there?
Try this: Once a month, take a look at your website to make sure all the information on it is correct. Have you added or lost any staff members? Have your hours changed? Has your menu changed? Do you now offer new services?
And, do you have people in your contact database? Yes? Have you emailed them lately? I mean, they contacted you and gave you their email address. Why aren't you contacting them back?
Let's talk more about that...
How Can Your Website Help Your Business -- For Real?
Because RocketFusion was built primarily as a marketing platform, there are many ways it can help your business...
First of all, as we said above, your website is the final authority on everything to do with your company, whether you're a bar or a vet or a lawyer. You should be posting news about things that have happened, and calendar events for things that you want the public to attend. You have a photo gallery where you can post photos of products, services, staff, and events that happened. Publish everything important about your company for future customers to look at and decide if you're who they're going to hire, or go to.
Second, your website should be the point of origin for anything you share on social media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest. There are shortcuts to posting your news, events, and even photo gallery images, to whatever social media platform you favor. When people click on those items you posted to social media, they come back to your website, and can now see all the other things you do and have and are.
Third, and almost most important, your website is a collecting place for emails, via your Contact Us page. You can also import addresses from your Quickbooks or email program or even from a clipboard you leave out for people to sign up for notices or news.
Not everyone is on social media, but almost everyone who is online at all has an email address. You should be posting your important news and then sending it out via email to everyone in your website's contact list. Just like we did with this news item.
Lastly, if you are a business, and you take it seriously, you need a website. If you don't have one, your competition certainly does, and that's where people will look for service offerings and information. If they do a search on Google, your business will not be there.
Setting up a regular routine where you post something, perhaps once a week or once a month, and sharing that on social media and emailing it to your contact list guarantees you will reach people on a regular basis and it will remind them of your service offerings. It keeps you in their top of mind.
Need help figuring this stuff out? CALL ME. 413-320-5336. I'll come by and we can chat about how to get you back on track. No fee. Seriously. This is part of why you pay me. I'm here to help you be successful by taking full advantage of the tools your website has to offer.