In today’s world, customers expect to be able to find local businesses online. Like it or not, you need a website to compete effectively in today’s marketplace.
Godaddy, Yahoo, Vistprint, Verizon, and many more companies are luring local business owners with offers of free or low-cost website builders. Once you bite on the offer, you are subjected to a number of upsell offers, so that these “free” solutions aren’t really free at all.
Lee Highway Nursery Website BEFORE
Few business owners understand that these services don’t live up to their promise, and don’t deliver professional-quality web marketing solutions suitable for businesses that are serious about succeeding.
We have worked with business owners in and around Warrenton and Fauquier County, Virginia who hired us to fix their cheap or free websites after realizing that they weren’t getting the results they expected.
You might be able to build yourself a free or low-cost website on one of these services … but will your target market find it once it’s built? And if they do find it . . . are they calling you? Visiting you? Buying from you?
Try This
If you have built a website yourself on one of these services, give your website a test drive. Go to google.com and type in the kinds of words and phrases your prospects would use to find businesses like yours online. Don’t use your business name. Instead, type in keywords and phrases that describe what you do and where you are located (for example, “roof cleaners + town or city name.”) Do you see your business listed in page one search results?
Herbst Marketing helps website clients get found online
If, by chance, your website does show up … it probably lacks the essential design elements that engage your website visitors and prompt them to call, visit and buy from you.
Free and low cost website templates may look good on the surface .. but they have limited flexibility, and are rarely designed with sales in mind. Workhorse websites that do the job they are meant to do don’t happen by accident, and they aren’t created in a few minutes time. They require thought, planning, and professional design skill.
It’s Not Your Fault
It’s not your fault if your do-it-yourself website isn’t living up to its promise. You are good at what you do … that’s why you are in business, after all. But if you aren’t a professionally trained website designer to start with, why would you expect to know what you need to do to create a website that really works?
- Do you understand the psychology of color selection?
- Or what a conversion element is?
- Do you know what needs to go where to grab your visitor’s attention . . . and then lead them to take an action that will lead to a sale?
- Do you know how to set up a sales funnel that will engage your visitor and help you cultivate long-term profitable relationships with your prospects and customers?
When To Get Professional Help
When your car gets a flat tire, or the engine dies . . . do you try to fix it yourself? Or do you take it to a trained mechanic?
When you break an arm or a leg, do you treat it yourself? Or do you see a trained doctor?
Websites are no different. Like it or not, you need professional assistance if you are serious about using the internet to its full potential to grow your business.
If your website isn’t helping you grow your list of qualified prospects, and then helping you convert those prospects into happy customers and money in the bank … what’s the point? You may as well save your time and money and do without a website altogether.
Contrary to popular belief, a good-looking web site is not necessarily an effective web site.
Websites that work are designed “on purpose” to:
- help your prospects and customers find you fast online
- help your prospects and customers understand exactly how you can solve their specific problems
- help your prospects and customers take the one specific action needed to get them into your prospect database
- help you convert more prospects into sales and money in the bank.
So, if you are thinking about getting a free or low-cost do-it-yourself website, think again. Do you want to throw away your valuable time and money on a cheap or free website solution that sounds promising, but won’t deliver real results?
Or are you going to treat your business like a real business? Are you going to invest a little bit more and get a professional website that will give you a real return on your investment?
Lee Highway Nursery Website After Makeover by Herbst Marketing
Herbst Marketing, has devoted hundreds of hours to studying what makes websites work … and developing websites that deliver real results.
Call Herbst Marketing today
(540) 937-7234
We can discuss your website goals and dreams, and you can learn about our affordable small business website design and web copywriting services.
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