Why a website should be given priority before spending dollars on trade shows and advertising

Last week I attended the London Boat Show with our web designer. Before we attended the show he decided to take a look at all the exhibitor websites for mobile responsiveness.

More than 50% of the marine companies exhibiting at the London Boat Show chose to spend thousands on advertising and attending the boat show before making sure their website was in order. I have no idea why! I do however know why having a mobile responsive, easy to navigate website with relevant and engaging content which is regularly updated is a must.

Why should your website be your top marketing priority?

• Your website is your company's digital shop and brochure. As you would give attention to your shop window or reception area and your marketing brochures, you should carefully design your website. It gives credibility to your business and is often the first point of contact for your customer or client. It needs to be welcoming.

• According to a recent report from the International Telecommunication Union, around 3.2 billion people use the internet every day. By having poor quality and poor ranking website, you could be missing out on a huge number of potential customers.

• In 2014 more people were using their phones to browse the internet than a desktop, a reversal of previous years. It is now more important than ever to have a website that is mobile responsive. In April 2015 Google changed their algorithm to boost mobile-friendly sites over non-mobile friendly sites. Nearly two years later, companies are spending thousands on marketing strategies but not investing in a new mobile-friendly site!

• Usability and the user experience are hard to get right if you are the one involved in the business and the design of the website. You know your business and the way the site is designed is logical and easy for you to use. However, in a vast majority of the cases, it is not easy to the customer and as soon as the user finds it difficult to find a page, they will have a negative user experience and in all probability, they will not return to your website.

• With social media, you can use your website to keep communication channels with your customers open. By having a blog or feed on your website, you can update customers on offers, new products, promotions, events, photos, or any other content. Content is still king. Content like this, if used effectively, will drive traffic from your social media sites to your website. Also, the content will help you to be found in search engines such as Google.

• Websites are no longer static pages. It is not a case of having a site built and then leaving it untouched on the web. For it to be ranked in Google you need to be updating it, reviewing the content, adding to it, promoting it and much more. Similar to how you would run a shop, it is your digital shop or service area.

• A top reason to improve your website is that your competitors have upgraded theirs. More than likely, they will have added their social media icons, made their site mobile friendly, written blogs and articles and spent some time and money optimising the site. Take a look at your competitor's sites and if they have not upgraded yet, I am fairly convinced that they will be doing it soon.

• SEO – search engine optimisation. A well written and thought out website which is updated with fresh content regularly will be given priority by Google over one which is not. There is a lot you can do to improve the SEO of your site before engaging the services of SEO consultants.

• The visual design of the site is important as it reflects the personality of your business. Who are your target clients and what do they like. I had a client recently who wanted to attract women for first aid courses yet the site reflected the SAS in the '70s. There were no images of women or people being trained in first aid courses.

• To humanise the company. It used to be the trend to have websites which made companies look huge and corporate. Due to social media, corporations are no longer trusted and we prefer to take recommendations from our peers. If your company is small, do not lie to your potential clients, sell them the benefits of being small. Promote the human element with images of the team and if possible images of your customers.

As a social media marketing consultant, I offer FREE marketing reviews where I take a look at a company website and social media channels and offer actionable recommendations. Most of the time, it is the website which needs to be addressed first. What is the point of putting a great deal of effort into posting on social media if the website you are leading your followers too, is not up to scratch? You may think you do not have the time or money to tackle a new website which is mobile friendly but can you afford not to. Ask yourself why your new competitor only 3 miles up the road is ranking higher than you on Google and take action. If it is a minefield for you, please feel free to get in touch for a FREE consultation.

To find out if your website is mobile friendly Google have a free test which you can copy and paste your URL into. Find it here... Google Mobile Friendly Test.