Your Website as Your First Impression

You might think of a customer’s first impression of your business as the first time they set foot in the door or the minute they say “Hello” to one of your staff on the phone. Actually, your first impression comes even earlier than that. Before you even know your customer is one of your customers, there’s a good chance they have gotten an impression of your business already—from your website! Oftentimes, potential customers will browse your website before they decide to contact you. How often will people make it past this first step? Is this step leaving a lasting impression on people? What should your website have and do to get new customers?

Get them interested. Write with a personal style and voice. Use phrases that are unique to your business and come from a place of assistance and service. A great way to draw people in is through contests. These can be promotions in which they receive a free product or service or even contests that benefit your company, such as choosing the next slogan or fundraising event.

Get them involved.  A forum is an easy, fun way to get a two way conversation going with your customers. People love to express their ideas and hear positive feedback about them. When they feel as though they can ask questions from the comfort of their own home, they will feel more confident when using your products and services.

Get your visuals right. Research shows it only takes two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of your brand once they’ve gone through your website, which they can do in less than a minute. The first thing they notice is your logo—they want to associate your company name with an image. The navigation menu is seen second, so they can figure out quickly where they need to go. Then users look for social media links, which indicate the business is actively involved in reaching out to their customers. The primary image on the webpage is what users look at next, so if a slideshow can be placed here, you’ll get more information across right away. Finally, potential customers read the written content. That’s a lot to do in less than a minute! That’s why all of these features need to be up to date and on point to get your business’ message across.

Get up to speed. Finally, you want to be sure you website loads fast, in less than 5 seconds. If your site takes too long to load, users will think it doesn’t work and click back to their search for another website.

Your small business website is how you introduce yourself to potential customers. BeyondCustom Websites will make sure your website is attractive, easy to navigate, and engaging for your customers. We know that expertise in SEO, graphic design, content writing, and web programming all need to work together to get your website found and get customers in the door. The best part? We do all the work for you! Contact us today to start working with your own personal, professional web team.