Establish credibility for your business through a website

written by Quired
06-15-2009
2027 views | 0 comments

Written by J. Paul Duplantis

How does a website establish credibility for your business?

First of all your website needs to be well organized with interesting and current content. Just the fact of having a website does not make you credible just as running a business does not automatically make you credible.

But if you do sell a great product or service, you treat your customers well and you have built solid relationships with partners and vendors but you do not have a well thought out website or a website at all then you are missing out on an opportunity for your business.

There are three main reasons for having a credible website for your business.

1. Introduce prospects to your brand
2. Convert prospects to customers
3. Communicate with prospects, customers, staff, partners and vendors

Number one usually receives the most attention since this is what may generate sales. But number one is also the most expensive of the three. Website traffic does not come with your website. You have to pay for it. Whether you pay for Search Engine Optimization, print advertising to promote your website, pay per click advertising, etc., etc., there is usually an associated cost and it is most usually re-occurring.

Now that we are in middle of a recession, most business owners are slashing their marketing budgets so unfortunately number one is less of an option as it was during a robust economy. (Although slashing your marketing budget may also jeopardize your long term viability.)

But the value of number two and three should not be overlooked. Especially if your website provider offers a solution that allows you to add and update content on your own without having to pay additional fees, features the ability to write unlimited blog articles from your website, enables you to display videos and photos related to your business and offers the ability for your visitors to subscribe to your articles.

With this type of a solution, when you have a client who is on the fence or is looking at a competitor, you can easily share testimonials from happy customers, photos of your product line, bio's on your service team or details about your service to help move a consideration to a conversion.

With almost two-thirds of US adults going online every day, what are the chances your potential customer will want to learn more about you before committing to a sale (even if they have spoken to your sales rep). The math is simple. Odds are against those who continue on with sub par websites or no website at all.

My definition of a sub par website is content that has not changed for the last year or two, is not easy to navigate and looks unprofessional. You know who you are!

The good news is that websites are evolving from static pages that only web masters can edit (for a charge) to online software solutions that allow the business owner to update content, feature interesting articles on their business and engage visitors with compelling images, video or audio.

The vast majority of web providers still use the old approach but there are an increasing number of providers who are treating websites as a credibility and conversion tool to engage an audience around a business's brand.

Quired.com is the latter.

For $599 to setup and $20/month, we offer a simple yet very effective solution to help your business establish a credible online presence.

This includes unlimited page creation, unlimited blogging, unlimited video, audio and photo management, editable pages from your browser, ecommerce, article subscriptions and the ability to feature profiles of staff, vendors and providers.

For those of you with a marketing budget, we offer the ability to promote your website through Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing as well as Email Marketing.

Your business deserves and needs a credible online presence. It is becoming less of an option and more of a requirement for business owners who are looking to connect with an audience and grow their business.