Getting a website is the fastest way to increase your brand awareness. Come to think of it, there are millions of people who are exactly in the same business like you and some of them established their businesses eons ago. So how do you compete for a market share when you started operations last week? Get known digitally and the good news is that its not expensive.
Scout for reputable IT companies that do websites and shortlist them. Do not just get one website developer and give them a job…look for at least 3 website developers and tell them that you are considering recruiting one of them.
Have own website development plan
Before engaging an expert, you should be aware of what your objectives are such as;
Being known and improving brand awareness
E-commerce; you could be looking at setting up an own online shop to sell products and services
For many starters, they may just tell a web developer to set up a site without an idea of what exactly they want to achieve. Look around for great websites in the industry where you operate. Do not restrict to local benchmarks, try neighbouring countries and even in the developed world and check trends.
Involvement in development
A mother who carries a baby in her womb for nine months develops one crucial aspect…emotional attachment to her baby. When a website is developed in your absence and delivered to you-it becomes like a mother who does not carry a kid in her womb for nine months….the attachment is not as close. So be involved in choosing colours and layout. Ask for opportunities to try out the design on your own and observe closely mistakes which you will make and the corrections that will be done. Also research on Youtube how to develop websites and also bring ideas on how you want your website to look. This attachment helps to make your website up to date…you wouldn’t want to throw away your baby you would have carried in your womb for nine months!
Website Training
After a website has been set, your developer should provide you with training on how to run it. DO NOT FORGET THE PASSWORD! About 99% of entrepreneurs forget website passwords and this result in website with no updated material. Your money can be thrown down the drain if you forget your password. Get notes on updating your website and crucially, develop a schedule of updating it. Once a month not bad. Update your site with material such as posts on your blog and photos.
Website developers’ weaknesses
Most website developers are not business people and may not appreciate your needs.
Most website developers leave out a blog section and this is a great disadvantage as some traffic to your website can be brought through content you would have put on your website.
No digital marketing training; a website developed without accompanying digital marketing training is like a sitting duck. You need to appreciate digital trends, how to drive traffic to your site and measuring traffic responses. Check for these details before engaging your website developer. How knowledgeable are they about digital marketing? Is this covered during training? Do they have digital marketing experiences and references?
Enjoy
If you have not time to update your site then consider hiring experts for a limited period of time like the first 3 months-learn the ropes on updating the site and promoting it and then take over.
