A website is a major revenue generator for many business. It is a 24-hours-7-days-a-week salesman. It presents the best of your company to warm leads who found you on the internet. A website shows all your offerings and your portfolio of work. It is the image of your company that most consumers will purposefully and voluntarily look at the first time they hear about you or at some point down the line.
Yet…
Many companies made a website early in their business’ life and have not changed it since. For many, this may be due to a lack of time, resources, or motivation. Making a long overdue website update may be the key to unlocking new profitable markets, developing new profitable offerings, and pushing your business to the next profit level.
Do you really need to update your website? If you are low on time, resources, or motivation, it might be easy to answer that question with a quick no.
You should take a second look at updating your website for three reasons.
1. Your Customers Have Changed
When you started your business, you knew exactly who your ideal customer was going to be. Every detail of their buyer persona was mapped out and accounted for. As you have been doing business, you may notice that your customers are not exactly who you expected them to be or even wanted them to be.
I know a man who owns a mail-order food company. He started his business in California hoping to cater to people in that area. Little did he know, he would be selling to customers all around the United States.
Eventually, he decided to move his business to Kansas City to have a more central location.
People are going to buy things that meet their needs or wants whether or not they are in the state you expected them to be. It would be worthwhile to take stock as often as possible:
- Are my customers who I expected them to be?
- Are my customers using my products for what they are meant for/advertised for?
- Are my customers buying more than the expected amount of my product?
- Is the end user buying my product or is someone else buying it for them?
- Has an unexpected industry begun buying my products?
All these questions will have a direct impact on how you market yourself and what kind of customers you will attract. If you answered yes to these questions, it is time to rewrite your website to reach out to the industries, people, and buying decisions that are making you the most profit.
2. Your Skills Have Changed
It may be that your customers have not changed, but you yourself have changed. Maybe the level and depth of services you can provide have increased. When trying to decide how to structure the copy and design of your new website ask questions like:
- What have I learned since I first started my business?
- What services can I now confidently provide since I started my business?
- How have my products improved?
When you rewrite your website, it can help you to narrow the focus of your business to your most successful and most profitable ventures. Rewrite your website so customers are first directed towards the products and services that you have become well-known for and also that make you the most money. If you know what you can do well, your website shouldn’t make your customers guess.
3. Your Brand Has Changed
If when you started your business, you were trying to enter your industry as a certain brand. Maybe you were trying to be a cheaper solution…a faster solution…or a new, edgy solution. Whatever your brand may have been then, it may not be that now.
During your time in business, your customers, products, services, and skills have changed—why shouldn’t your brand change to meet the expectation?
Let me give you a scenario:
When you first started, you branded yourself as the cheaper and faster solution for small businesses. As you have been doing business, you have felt the changes. You added on a couple bigger clients that expect higher quality. You’ve gained the experience to deliver the premier quality they want…and higher fees they are willing to pay. These bigger clients are clearly your most profitable clients…you wish you could have more clients like these.
Here’s the problem: whenever these ideal clients visit your website, they see the cheaper and faster solution you advertised when you started. As they should, they leave your website and go visit another firm who advertises their “premium, high results, high profit” solutions.
When rewriting your website with branding in mind, ask questions like these:
- Do I have the same level of skills that my website indicates I do?
- Do I have the same level of experience that my website indicates I do?
- When customers visit my website, do they see the fledgling company I once was or an experienced, professional enterprise?
Conclusion
Whether you are an established business or a new startup with a few clients under your belt, rewriting your website can be both a soul-searching and profit-increasing journey. Don’t underestimate the power of the words on your website. They can make you. They can break you. They can help your business stay afloat or….they can take your business to places you never even imagined possible.
Whatever you do, don’t let them fall into disrepair.
Is your website still the same as when you first built? Only done minor visual tweaks? Or only added a few pages?
Looking to reach the next level of your business? Reach record sales? Without adding any time to your already hectic, busy schedule?
Send me a “no-obligation” message by clicking the “Contact” link at the top of this page to discuss the specifics of your business and potential updates to your website copy.
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