Before anyone decides to buy or read a book, they have to be first attracted by the cover. Well, they say, don’t judge a book by the cover; but that’s exactly what we do! We all try to make quick first impressions about the quality, contents and potential about a thing from the elements we can see on the exterior. We have to make up our minds where we invest our limited attention, especially in a cluttered, information rich environment like the internet.
When you’re going on a holiday, the photos on the brochures are a big influence in deciding your choice of destination. Like the book or brochure, web users tend to make their first impressions about your brand from the look and feel of your site design. And like all first impressions, they last a long time, regardless of whether those impressions were right or hasty and wrong.
It is what your website says about your brand from the design and user experience that makes the user decide whether to do business with your brand or not.
Websites are one of the easiest and fastest ways for a person to find out everything they’d like to know about your business without the stress of making a call or visiting your physical location. It is therefore very important that a company puts efforts and details in creating a quality, modern and responsive website that boots their online presence.
Why you need to have a web presence
Having a low or poor online presence is bad, but having no website for your business in this digital age is practically suicidal. It means you likely will not be able to reach 93% of your market. A market survey by SEO company for small businesses, Profitworks shows that business decisions by companies and consumer purchases begin with an online search.
Despite this statistics, some 25% of small businesses do not have a web presence, according to a study by US research company, Clutch. A website helps you to more quickly and easily market your brand and products, compared to the now outmoded word of mouth and print add business broadcasts.
With a digital profile and good website hosting, your brand will also be able to communicate success, credibility and professionalism.
In fact, it is recommended that to keep pace with the constant changes and improvements in modern website elements that boost SEO, brand visibility and profit potentials, websites should be updated every two years.
With the dizzying speed of technology today, there’s always something new around the corner that you can build into your website to keep it ahead of the competition.
Every new change and update to the design and user experience of your website is targeted at making it easier to navigate, more appealing and inviting to the eyes, and communicating a feel of trustworthiness.
“If the use of colour on your website doesn’t make your website look like it belongs in the 21st century, then it’s not likely the web user will linger for more than a few seconds. One new study proved that 94% of web users will reject a small business website because of its design flaws. That is serious news if your site isn’t up to scratch.” Brendan Wilde, online expert, Freeparking: Domain Names | Website Hosting | Email Hosting
What your website instantly communicates to your site visitor
What are the first impressions your site visitor gets after they make a quick evaluation of the aesthetics and structure elements of your website?
- How modern your brand is…
Think about that favourite shop you visit and how they put so much effort into the way the shop front looks so as to create a good face to the public? Your website is your business shop front too — a virtual shop front, that is. So, you don’t want to allow it to give off an ‘old’ and ‘dirty’ impression. It is the first contact most people will have with your business, so make the right impression or the user might assume your business is not worth or suitable for their business or patronage.
- Your business success
As superficial as it sounds, it is the truth. Your company will be judged on how successful it is by the look of your website, and how suitable it is to satisfy the consumer’s needs.
- Your marketing/branding efforts
Businesses and consumers are interested in finding out how serious your brand is with its marketing and branding campaign, and a new and modern-looking design and feel of makes a good impression.
