Is it time for a new website?

If you’re reading this headline, you know that it is time for a new website. I’ve worked with countless business owners over the years, and I have helped them transition their websites. Usually what I see is they have a first-generation website that I like to call version 1.0.

When they come to me, they’re ready to go to version 2.0 but they don’t know how to do it. For example, they may have a vague way of how to use a website builder platform. Overtime they are stuck with a generic boring unchanging website. They are challenged to go to the next level.

In this article I am going to outline 3 challenging issues of running a small business website. Then I will explain a very basic way to move onto a new website, and have it work for you!

Challenging Issue – Number 1
The customer can’t change the content.

When I first encounter new customers, I hear this lament quite often. They say stuff like “I just want to upload a picture”, “I need to change my menu”, “I don’t know how to update my calendar”.

One of the most basic features of a website is the publishing of content. Generally speaking, this involves text and images. Certainly, there’s other items as well, but we are sticking to the fundamentals which are text and images.

Here you can make a choice of just throwing up text and images in any old way, without much proofing on the text, and no editing of the images. You and your customers will see the results on the website. It won’t look good, and it will not be user friendly. Additionally, if you build a website that looks clunky, Google will not give you favorable ranking based on your organic content.

Our solution is using WordPress as the backbone for all of our websites. It’s a great CRM and powers approximately 40+% of the Internet websites today. Also, the architecture lends itself to good crawl for Google search bots. So, in this position you can now craft the text to make it look good for search engine optimization purposes, and also optimize the images as well for fast loading.

Challenging Issue – Number 2
Marketing of the Website.

Since we now live in a web 3.0 world customers rely on social media for marketing. Yes, it is easy and convenient and yes it works. But in marketing it’s always good to have a home base which is yet another marketing tool that you can leverage for leads. The reason you want to have a website  is so that your company can control all of the  content and not have to worry about getting de-platformed. This theory makes perfect sense. The issue that I run into with new customers is they have challenges, as mentioned in challenge number one, of putting content on the website.

The solution we provide for all of our customers is our Content Management program.  The client will provide the content, and we can also create content for them. By being a Strategic Partner for our clients, we can assist them with better graphics, improved content that makes sense to their audiences, and better UI/UX interaction that is well liked by search. So, in addition to using existing social media platforms, our customers now have a valuable SELF Run platform that is connected to their social accounts.

Challenging Issue – Number 3
Business Email.

I chose Business email as Number 3 because it needs to be shared and talked about. There are many times I’ve seen web developers not pay attention to Business Emails. This is really important because you control the Domain Name associated with the emails. If you have multiple employees with business emails, it is critical the owner has access to total administration of the emails. So, understanding how your emails work, where they are located, and having access to the back end is super important. For example, if you have to fire an employee, you want to make sure you access their email for liability protection. There are other issues that can affect your business emails, but we can’t go into here due to the space of this article. The best practice here is to make sure you can access all of your business emails.

This was a brief explanation of key points that need to be managed as part of the ongoing live website. It can be an asset for your business if properly run and maintained. As the founder of West Bay Media Group, I am here to help you reach the next level of website/business. Please DM me anytime with any website questions.

Best of luck!

Tom Hamilton
CEO/Founder West Bay Media Group