Most of our customers are coming to us for their second website (or third or fourth). If you are like most business owners, you first website was organized primarily around containing costs. You were able to find an inexpensive web company, and they used some stock photos, and presto – you had your first site designed and it was out on the internet.
But over time, when you start to look at your website, you notice that it doesn’t “do much for you.” It doesn’t make you “feel” anything. It doesn’t make you want to read more. And more often than not – it also doesn’t bring you any new customers. It just isn’t “doing anything for you.” Not in any sense of the phrase.
This is when you start thinking about redoing your website design. And you should. An outdated site can be more damaging to your business than no website. Here are some great examples of of website design in 2021 looks like.
But before you start calling agencies for an estimate, here are a few things you should think through first:
#1: What precisely is the goal of this project?
What do you want it to DO for you? Bring you more customers? More accurately represent your brand or who you are as a business or business owner? Make booking easier? Provide e commerce capability so you sell some products? Wha are you wanting this project accomplish? Be specific?
#2: Can you afford it?
I think you should be prepared to spend between $6,000 and $10,000 at a minimum. If you want to get out of stock photos, and having a generic looking website, and especially if you want your site to start bringing you customers, you should be prepared to spend some real money for the upgrade.
#3: Do you have the time to devote to making your website great?
Don’t start if you are too busy at work to give the project any time. Otherwise you will just end up with a slightly better looking version of your first website. You should be prepared devote plenty of time and effort so you don’t end up with another mediocre outcome you don’t like.
#4: What kind of photos and videos do you have?
Get professional photos and videos . If you don’t want your site to look “stock” then don’t use stock photos. Invest the money and get a real photographer or videographer to prepare your image content for you. Go find websites you like, and look at the images they are using. Those aren’t stock images. They paid for those. Have a lot of photos prepared to show your photographer so they know exactly what kind of photos you want on your website.
#5: Make the effort to make your site work for you.
Make sure it is done by an SEO expert, or hire an SEO expert to get your site ranked on Google. Then – have your designer design at least one good landing page on your site so you can drive your google ads, instagram ads, and linkedin ads to that page. Optimally I would have them design one landing page for every single service or product line you provide. This way, your ads will convert better than just sending people to your home page.
#6: Build a website that YOU LOVE!
If you don’t love your website, you aren’t going to engage with it or spend time on it. I hear designers telling people that the “customer” needs to love your website, not you. I disagree. If your site is representative of who you are, and who your company is, then your customers will love it. And who can guess what a customer will like outside of that anyway. We made our website look like who we are as people. Is it off putting to some? We don’t know. But our business is growing and people who do contact us love our website design. They always comment on it.
#6.5: Differentiate
– and how do you easily differentiate yourself from your competition? The easiest way – is to be authentically yourself, and let that come through your website. You ARE different because you are you. Nobody can duplicate that. What most people try to do is “guess” at what will entice people, and most people fail to guess correctly. There are BILLIONS of people out there – some of them will dig who you are and what you are about, and some won’t. But if they can’t see the real YOU, then how can they ever find you?
Stay Wild Digital provides website design Salt Lake City, and eommerce website design Salt Lake City. We are outdoor people who love working with outdoor people. So if you want something different, reach out to us by email: tim@staywilddigital.com or danny@staywilddigital.com
