A periodic update and redesign of our web site is (or at least should be) a big part of our owning one. Just as your car periodically needs maintenance and a tune-up, so does your website. However don’t redesign your website just because you are tired of it and want to try something new.
What do your customers think? How effective has your web site been and would changing it have a negative impact on that? Are there strategic reasons why you need a better or different website?
For many years all a website had to be was our on-line business card, menu and brochure with contact information and a description of the various services we provided. Now your web site is a window into the inner workings of our shop and as such it needs to be attractive, informative, interactive, interesting, professional and relevant to today, not last week or last month. There is no more important a marketing investment than our having a great web site. It is as impactful as you hiring a full time marketing department with the advantage of not requiring health insurance and in being available 24/ 7, from anywhere in the world.
By integrating mobile technologies, social media, news feeds and high impact content (maybe a blog), you can create a web site that attracts and even retains customers, while driving sales and profitability.
In this redesign it is very important not to start from scratch, obliterating any remnant of that previous web site. There are likely things that are comfortable for your existing customers or features on your website that have been very effective over the years and before we opt for that complete makeover, it is very important to understand why we need a new or updated website and just as important to have a plan to get us there. Just remember that the web site is not our window into the business, it is our customer’s window and as such it needs to needs to be about what they want to see.
Our job is to make it a window they would choose to look into and to give them great reasons to want to come back and check it out again and again. The most important thing to remember in any website design or redesign is that it is not about us as shop owners; it is about what will attract and retain customers. In the time it takes a customer or would be customer to search you out on a search engine and navigate their way through your web site, you had better have found a way to not only reach them but touch them in ways that are compelling enough to give them what they want and to get them to take time out from their busy lives and come in to see you.
Remember, it is all about them, many hundreds of them.
An important step in updating and refreshing your website is just in cleaning it up a bit. Far too many of us build a website and having done that move on to other projects, neglecting to keep the website neat and clean. Technology certainly changes and as recently as five or six years ago the process and technology surrounding the development of a website was daunting, as was the price. In recent years with dramatically improved technology and competition, a website makeover is much less invasive, with every prospect of a great outcome; not only for the actual upgrade but for the upkeep and maintenance of our site, well into the future. This is huge!
An important next step, after cleaning up, would simply be making sure everything is easy to find. The days of dial-up are gone (mostly) and people are not patient enough to wade through multiple mouse clicks to find out what time you open or what your weekly specials are. If navigating your website is confusing or difficult, your customers or would be customers will pass you and your website over in favor of sites that are easier to get around in. Remember that more and more of your customers are accessing your site from a mobile device (Smartphone or tablet) not a desktop and they are simply not going to give your site the opportunity if it is confusing or difficult to get around. If navigating your site is difficult, fix it! It is as simple as that.
Next I would highlight the importance of greeting your customers. Not in six paragraphs with two dozen pictures of you and your spouse and kids and the kid down the street. Greet them like you would a good friend on the street as you were headed off to an appointment. People want to feel welcome and even want to feel good about who is working on their car but beyond that don’t really care about Mopsy your dog or your great uncle’s trip to the dentist. This is where branding your shop is important and where price, quality or honesty get to come into play and where we have that opportunity to let visitors to our site know about us and the type of shop we run. Don’t forget about those first impressions and getting visitors comfortable with who we are.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of what a web site can and should do for us. The website gives us visibility on the internet and if we have an interesting, well promoted and navigable website, our visibility increases dramatically. Visibility means site hits and hits lead to actual living breathing customers standing at our counter. This happens when services and repairs we offer match the types of searches that consumers are making on Google or other search engines. This highlights the importance of how we name the various services we offer. If we list ‘Front end Alignments’ as an offered service we will be visible to anyone in the world who would make that inquiry. However if we are a shop located in Podunk Iowa and we are a Honda specialist and we want to advertise our alignment, ‘Honda Alignment Podunk’ might make us infinitely more visible to Honda owners in Podunk who need an alignment. Service tags are incredibly important in assuring and driving that visibility. If customers can’t see us with the searches they are making, we have little or no chance of getting them into our shop. Tags assure that we are being seen by whom we want seeing us.
A web site can be like an ugly dog. Not only are there very few people looking for an ugly dog, but most of us who come upon one are not happy about it, are often scared of it and usually find someplace else to be. Your web site is literally the life’s blood of your business. It is either warm and welcoming or like that ugly dog.
Fix it up or put ‘er down!
Flea collars and chew toys are optional.
