My Website Isn’t Working!

Q: I have recently started my business and built a website. It’s been up for a couple of months. I haven’t gotten any leads from it and am wondering what I did wrong. It’s even hard to find me when you type my business name in Google. Why isn’t it more successful?

A: Yikes! Don’t lose hope. A website is a very important piece of your overall business strategy, as well as your marketing plan. You didn’t tell us if you developed your site yourself or if you had someone help you professionally build it. Regardless, here are some ideas to make your website more successful — and to get your website up in Google search rankings. We also just answered a question on how to better promote your website last week that may give you some additional ideas to consider.

First, hire a good Search Engine Optimization expert (SEO). We did this very thing, and our search rankings increased in just a few weeks. Now, when you type in our url, we’re first on the list. Not only does SEO help with search rankings, it also helps people find you when typing in key words to search for what your business offers. Your SEO expert will name your pages appropriately and submit your site to the search engines, which helps them to find you. SEO experts can do this basic type of work on your website very inexpensively. We highly recommend doing this as a first step!

Second, ensure that your website accurately reflects what you do and that it’s easy to navigate and understand. Have some folks take a look at it (send us your url and we’ll be happy to give you our feedback) and tell you their thoughts. The importance of having a good, informative and relevant website cannot be overstated. Even if you don’t sell anything on it, your website establishes your expertise in your area of business. Simply put, it lets people know that you know what you’re doing. When people are searching around and your site pops up, they want to get a measure of comfort that it’s a good idea to buy from you. Really take a hard look at your site. If you don’t think it accurately reflects you and your business, bring in a website developer to help you tweak it so that it does.

If you’d like ideas on how to find SEO or website experts, just let us know! Good luck — and congrats on understanding the importance of having a website. You’ve already taken a great step forward — now, all you need to do is improve on it a little.