The Biggest Mistake Business Owners Make When Building a Website

After many years of building websites for clients with businesses of all shapes and sizes there is one mistake that many business owners make and it comes down to a lack of understanding.

This article discusses the goals business owners have behind building a website and explains what is needed to meet these goals.

So what is the big mistake?

The single biggest mistake business owners make when undertaking a website design with a web agency is believing a website alone will make sales for their business. Unless you have marketing driving targeted traffic to your website, you aren’t going to attract an increase in sales and enquiries.

The concept of a website alone making you thousands of dollars and increasing your revenue significantly is one of the biggest lies business owners are sold by web designers and free online website builders. We’re trying to break the mould and educate business owners to stop wasting money and time on cheap websites and free online builders that make no return on investment.

The Job of a Website

Think of your website as a tool. The website’s job is to simply convert views into enquiries or sales. This is where concepts such as conversion rate optimisation, landing page design etc come into play. Your website design and the content on your website are extremely important as they need to give potential customers the information they need to convert them into a sale. Your website also needs to impress users and to give your business a professional and trustworthy appeal.

The website itself will only work if people are actually visiting it. This is where your marketing comes into play.

The Job of Marketing

As a broad concept, your marketing efforts should direct targeted traffic to your website. It needs to reach the right type of people at the right time and then encourage them to visit your website to find out more about what your business has to offer.

There are various forms of marketing and advertising that work very well for businesses based on their goals and where their customers can be found. The Honest Agency recommends the following types of marketing dependant on your business model and the products or services you offer.

• SEO (search engine optimisation)
• Google Adwords (Paid Google Ads)
• Social Media Marketing (Organic and Paid)

The Web Design & Marketing Equation

Your web design and marketing efforts go hand in hand. They compliment each other and need each other to work towards generating revenue for your business. One without the other will not produce results, but together they can provide fantastic returns.

Remember: (Website + Marketing = Increased Revenue)