first: Your website
wait first HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Then your website. Think of your website as an octopus, (I hope this will help you to see how important your website is…) so you have the head of the octopus, the n there’s the tentacles. They reach out for food and pull the food back to the head to nourish and feed the octopus.
Your social media, email marketing, networking, basically any outreach you do are your websites ‘tentacles’, reaching out across the net to bring back food (or prospects! 🙂 ) for your website to ‘eat’ or convert to customers.
There’s a video of me talking about this in more details here in THE OCTOPUS VIDEO.
now why you should look at how to improve your website in 2021
As I mention, your website, IMHO is the centre of the universe, the octopus head, the most important piece of digital property you own for your busienss. Basically IMPORTANT, and it [can] do more for your business than you can imagine (or may even give credit for).
And let’s face it, 2020 sucked. I’m glad to see the back of it, but as we sit here in January of 2021, the fight isnt yet over. And your website is still one of the best ways to sell your services quickly, professionally and with the best outcome.
I’ll be doing a follow up blog post after this one to show you HOW to make improvements to your website in 2021, I will keep you posted on that one and link it here when its written.
21 reasons to give your website some oomph in 2021
1: its still the middle of a pandemic. I bet in March 2020 you never thought we’d still be in a lockdown situ at Christmas!! I thought it would be sorted by mid April – shows what I know… So ita a great way to show people you and what you do.
2: things change… are you the same person as you were in Jan 2020? When we were all so full of hope for a new decade??? ha ha I know, I know, sorry. But I bet you’re not the same person, and I bet your business isn’t the same business…
3: When did you last revamp??? If it’s been 12 months (or more since you had a look and maybe moved things around, your website is overdue a facelift. Things change fast in the digital space, things can be outdated within 24hours. I’m not saying that you need to change your site that often, I’m just trying to show you how fast trends and stuff in general change.
4: How’s it looking for your user experience? This is a new fandangled word, that is often thrown about carelessly. But it’s really important to look at your website from your users (or customer) perspective. Is it easy to use, do they get it?? Cause if they don’t they wont buy – I promise!
5: Rank in SEO. Yep, updates will 100% help you get found more in search engines like Google. This is because if you’re making updates, Google knows that the site is still an active business. There are millions of websites sat on the web that are forgotten about. Google has to side step these to make sure they’re showing relevant, current websites. If you dont change yours or add to it, they think your business is dead, so they wont display it!
6: GOALS: what are your goals for 2021? Have you updated them at all? Does your website reflect that and work towards helping you hit those goals??
7: you’re always open online: You dont have to worry about lockdowns and holidays or staff sickness/isolation. Your website always there, proud and working away for you. You dont have to worry about posting that day to make sure people see you, it’s just there.
8: Not getting web enquiries. Let’s face it, if you havent had a call/email enquiry from your website in the last 3 months, it isnt working for your business. And I understand your frustrations, I really do! I’ve been there. But ignoring it isnt going to solve that problem. It can be fixed quite easily, when you know how.
9: your customers are different people after 2020: yep, I think we’re all a little different. We’ve all had our own version of a 2020 journey, and we’ve all grown. I myself had my first taste of how delicate your mental health can be. After 8 months of not really being able to get out of the house, and 4 months of that either being alone with 2 small children or completely alone… well, cabin fever is real folks!
10: let go of the old: life has changed beyond measure. I might sound like a broken record, but how we run our businesses now compared to a year ago, is different. Remote work might not of been part of your everday life before, Zoom might be something that you’d never heard this time last year! consider this for your customers
11: Google’s algorithm changed in December: so it might be worth taking a freshlook at what you’re doing in your SEO strategy.
12: better communication = more sales. A lot of how you sell your services will be in your copy. Making it work for your business is really important. Knowing how to though, is also just as important.
13: first impressions last: yes we need fantastic content on our websites, BUT we need to get that impressive visual across first in order to get people to read our website. We’re shallow creatures, us humans. As much as we may not like to admit to it, if something appeals to us visually, we’re a lot more likely to hang around.
14: 93% people do a Google search before making a purchase: yep, really important to just have a website, if you dont have a website, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity!
15: cause you can: Making changes is super easy: once you know what your strategy is in place, its easy to adapt the website to do exactly what you need it to do. And then do it – on your terms!
16: Its your identity: Facebook, LinkedIn, they’re all fantastic platforms. We need them to help our businesses grow. But they’re restricting you from your identity and style. You’re restricted to their [in this case] blue branding, how many characters you can use, even their algortihms! Take charge with your website!!
17: investors or growth partners: most of the time, people will expect you to have a website. In fact, a lot of investors and partners wont even work with you if you don’t have a website that is to a good standard. They are putting their reputation on the line, so if you want to expand your network in 2021, then make sure that you have a website that you’re proud of!
18: People expect you to have one: people are less trusting of a business who hasnt put the effort in to build a website. And when I say that, I dont mean you have to build it yourself. A website is an investment, and its your online property. A little like renting an office…
19: it can do your stuff! yes, it can take tasks off your hand and do them for you. For example I use a plugin that adds people to my CRM automatically if they fill in a form on my website. It means I dont have to add them to anything its all done for me. It does plenty of other jobs for me too, but thats a blog post all by itself!
20: Want a passive income? your website is a big part of that. I’m a massive believer in never sending anyone away from your website to do something else. We want to keep them in our office, our DOMAIN. where we control what distracts them. Distractions can lead them away from buying from us. And that is definitely not what we want.
21: your website compliments all your other marketing! last but not least (I could go on) but your website links all your other marketing together. People talk to you on LinkedIn and then sneak off and Google you (you know they do, cause you do it too!) or if you hand over your business card, when we can meet face to face again, they’ll take a snoop at your website. But if you have an offer, you can put it on social or an email and put a link directly in there and that links to your website.
All of this stuff will grow your business and your bank account.
Its important to use your website to compliment everything you're doing in your business.
you'll learn how to implement it all and future proof your website in the club.
