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Maintaining Your Business Website

QUESTION:services  you  provide.
Should I build and maintain my business WebHere's are a few questions that, once
site myself or pay someone else to do theanswered, will help ensure that your Web
work  for  me?  --  Wesley  L.site's message is as appealing as its design.
Go over these points with the designer before
ANSWER:the design process begins as the answers will
help determine the direction your Web site's
When you say, pay someone else to do the workdesign  should  take.
for you, Wesley, I am going to assume that
you are talking about hiring a professionalWhat  Is  The  Purpose  Of  Your  Web  Site?
Web site designer to do the work and not your
next-door neighbor's teenage son. If myMost business Web sites have two purposes:
assumption is correct, then read on. If not,(1) to educate the consumer and, (2) to sell
go ahead and flip over to the comics section.them products or services. If you sell shoes,
You will get no good out of the advice I'mfor example, the purpose of your Web site is
about to give, so you might as well consultto educate potential customers on the quality
Dilbert  for  your  hot  business  tips.and durability of your shoes and as a result,
to sell them shoes. If you paint houses the
Should you build and maintain your businesspurpose of your Web site is to educate home
Web site yourself or pay someone to do it forowners on why your services are superior to
you? Let me answer your question with aother painters and sell them on hiring you to
couple of my own. Number one: is building andpaint their house. By defining the purpose of
maintaining Web sites the key focus of youryour Web site you will give the designer the
business? Number two: could your time beinformation required to create a Web site
better spent doing more important thingsthat best conveys that purpose to your target
like, oh I don't know, say running youraudience.
business? If your answers were no and yes,
respectively, then you have no businessWho  Is  My  Target  Audience?
building  and  maintain  a  Web  site.
Your target audience consists of those folks
Remember this: every minute you spend onyou want to attract to your Web site:
tasks that are not related to the key focuspotential and current customers, future and
of your business is time spent to thecurrent employees, possible investors, etc.
detriment of your business. In other words,Anyone who might be interested in your
every minute you spend focusing on tasks thatcompany and its products or services is a
do not contribute to the growth of yourmember of your target audience. Correctly
business and thereby increase your bottomidentifying your target audience is vital
line  is  time  wasted.since your Web site should be designed
specifically to appeal to your target
If you want to be a web designer, be a webaudience.
designer. However, if the key focus of your
business is building widgets, it doesn't takePut yourself in their shoes (or in front of
a rocket scientist to figure out that yourtheir computers). Imagine your Web site
time would be better spent building widgets,through their eyes. If you were visiting a
not  Web  sites.Web site such as yours what would you expect
to find and what would you be disappointed
Case in point: I once had a very wealthynot to find? Identify your target audience,
dentist ask if I could teach him how tothen have your Web site designed to fulfill
maintain his Web site so he wouldn't have totheir  needs  and surpass their expectations.
pay me to do it. Now my teeth had helped put
this guy's kids through college, but thatWhat  Content  Should  My  Web  Site Feature?
didn't seem to matter. At that moment he was
more concerned about having to pay forYour Web site content should be driven by the
changes to his Web site than my personal oralnature of your business. If you're a real
hygiene. Sure, I said, I'll be glad to teachestate agent, your site should feature
you how to update your Web site, just as soonphotographs of homes you have for sale and
as you teach me how to clean my own teeth soinformation on buying and selling a home. If
I don't have to pay you to do it. He got theyou own an auto body shop, your site might
point. And he charged me enough for thefeature before and after photographs of cars
cleaning to keep his site updated for months.that you have repaired. Remember to determine
Smart  man.the purpose of your site, then develop the
content  to  serve  that  purpose.
Many business owners think they can't afford
a professionally designed Web site and thatWhat's  My  Competition  Doing?
simply is not true. While the old adage, "you
get what you pay for" is never more true thanThe last question you should ask is one of
when applied to Web site design, having athe most important: What is your competition
professional web designer do the work for youdoing on the Web? Do a Google search for
is money well spent. A well-designed Web sitesimilar businesses and click around their Web
can bring you a many-fold return on yoursites. How are their Web sites designed? What
investment. You can't say that about too manymessage are they trying to convey? Are they
other  collaterals.doing a good job of conveying that message
and as a result, selling products? What do
While it is best to leave Web site design andyou like about their Web sites? What don't
maintenance to the experts, it is up to youyou like? Make note of the things you like
(or someone considered a subject matterand the things you hate, then share your
expert within your company) to provide thefindings  with  your  site  designer.
designer with the content (text and
photographs) that best conveys your company'sRemember, you're not stealing trade secrets
message to your customers. A Web site, nohere.
matter how well designed, is meaningless if
it lacks the content required to interestYou're just borrowing ideas.
customers in the products you sell or



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