You can also learn a lot from the failings of others. The good thing about this is that you don’t have to look far. They happen all the time, and many times on a grand scale.
One of the biggest flops of 2013 so far has been the unveiling of Healthcare.gov, the official government website for consumers seeking to find affordable healthcare coverage. Politics aside, everyone is in agreement that the site simply wasn’t ready for prime time – and there are people working overtime as you read this to make much needed improvements to the design and operation of the website.
What can every website owner and web developer learn from this? Quite a bit.
A Lousy Messenger Can Ruin the Message
Already an issue of contention for about half the country, the launch of Healthcare.gov had enough resistance going in. Now, the failings of the website have brought about an even bigger backlash from detractors.
The average business owner has enough going against them in their efforts to achieve visibility and a high industry profile. Running a substandard website can only exacerbate that, steepening the grade of the uphill climb. Think of your product or services as the message, and your website as the messenger. By putting into operation a messenger that has trouble conveying what it’s supposed to convey, you risk muddying the message to the point where potential customers will not even give you a try.
If You Don’t Make Information Easily Available, They’ll Leave
People don’t visit websites to kill time. Well, not always. Most of the time, they’re looking for something. Whether that something is a certain product, service, or information is irrelevant to the point. What is relevant is that unless those things are made easily available, the vast majority of a website’s visitors will lose patience quickly and click away. Often, that click leads to another website that will give them what they want. If that other website just so happens to represent your competition, you’ve not only chased away a customer but you’ve also effectively referred business elsewhere. You only have one opportunity to make a good impression. Ensure that your website offers an easy experience to your customer, and it’ll pay off.
A Poorly Functioning Website Can Ruin Your Professional Rep
Running a business can be a lot like running a country. Each public action you take has the potential to either improve or damage your standing in the public eye. When reputation and public opinion means everything – as it certainly does for businesses seeking to flourish – the last thing you need is a website that frustrates people. The world is a small place, made much smaller than it ever has been before by the advent of the internet. Word gets out easily. Failing to address important website functionality issues, or allowing for a website to go live before the major kinks have been worked out, can reflect negatively on your brand and can cause customers to talk poorly about you.
Even if the quality of your goods and services has nothing to do with how well your website operates, perception is everything. Unless you want potential customers to get the wrong impression about the capability of your company to perform a service, it’s vital that your website functions well.
Finding capable, individuals with experience performing web design for small businesses and who are up to date on current web design trends isn’t difficult. Not if you know where to look. At Artisan Talent, you can contract the services of skilled professionals to ensure your website is operating at full efficiency. To learn more, contact us today.