Struggling for effective website content?

Listen to your customers

they are telling you what your visitors need to know.

Everyone appears to be offering website services, however not everyone should. Quite simply website provision is not merely an end in itself; a website can quite literally make or break a company, however, most often a website just sits there offering very little in return.

Unfortunately it can be very difficult to choose a website provider and this is often due to great design examples, great delivery and even greater promises being proffered. For many it becomes a leap of faith, however there is one approach that you can use to quality control the website agency you are considering using and that is simply asking them business related questions.

No one knows your business better than you, even if that is not quite true, you can still use this approach to stress test the company vying for your website business. Ask them questions about the business outcomes you are looking to achieve via your website  and if the answers are vague or they merely state everything will be fine once the website is in place, without any depth to their answerds then consider going elsewhere.

WARNING! if a website provider tells you to change your business model which currently works for you then this because they do not have the skills to provide you with what you need and are attempting to force you to buy what they can provide. This is an experience from an actual client, fortunately she sent them packing, which is exactly what your should do if you experience the same. Website designers are seldom business coaches.

During consultations with web agencies the biggest hidden hurdle was often client overwhelm.

The website agencies that I assisted were competent enough with the design and build of websites, their common issues usually lay in project management and client relations, however one of the biggest hurdles was sale conversion due to the client’s perception that it will all become too time intensive.

Often a client would be expressing every desire to go ahead, yet at the last minute they would change their mind. I discovered that the agency would be informing the client that access details, content, images, stock details et al were needed; all of which are often required, yet not all necessary from the outset of the project. To prevent this overwhelm and losing the sale just ask for what is necessary to get started and piecemeal the rest as it becomes needed.

It is seldom everything is required upfront, yet the client may begin to worry that they simply do not have time around running their business to spend so much time on material provision and  constant checkins / meetings / discussions and this can turn a sure sale into a no.

Customers are not value signs to be hunted down.

They are people living complex lives.

Nobody appreciates being a statistic.