Your professional service business needs a good website. Why it’s time to rebrand.
You’ve been in business forever and have a website, except…
The content, design, and tech are out-of-date. Your site’s NOT optimized for search engines so people can’t find you. It’s hard to navigate and manage.
Above all, it doesn’t showcase your past projects. Or clearly advertise your professional services. As site owners and website designers, we totally can relate. And we can help!
Your website is essential
An effective website is the most important digital marketing channel for your business. The runner-up is your Google Business Profile. Your website is your business on the internet. It’s where people go to learn about your services and take action that drives sales: joining your email list, completing your contact form, and scheduling calls.
Not only does your business need a strategically designed website so it can attract new clients and connect with your current ones, but also because you deserve a website that sparks joy ✨ sales 💵 and pride! 😀
Thinking it may be time to rebrand your company’s website? Not sure that it’s worth the investment of time and money? In this blog post, we explain:
3 reasons why your business might not have a website (most popular mix-ups)
5 signs that are signaling your current website is outdated (websites age much faster than humans) and
The top 7 benefits of having a well-designed website (it was tough to narrow this list)
3 Reasons Why Your Business Might Not Have a Website
Maybe your consultancy doesn’t need a website if you’ve been in business a really long time and have an incredible network with word-of-mouth referrals.
But that said, seventy-one percent of businesses now have a website in 2023. This is a huge leap from previous years and is a direct impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. But even if this is the case, having an up-to-date web presence gives your expertise credibility.
In the many years we’ve spent rebranding and building sites, we’ve heard ALL the excuses why. Here are the 3 most common reasons why your business might not have a site.
1. Websites are too expensive
The number one reason is cost. Not having a website comes with zero cost, unless your business or organization can afford to not show up on the web. You know this already; The internet is a BIG part of our lives. Not having a website costs you: the opportunity to provide helpful information and answer questions, your credibility, and potential client engagement.
A website with unclear messaging and poor usability frustrates and confused visitors. The latest Google research says the time it takes for users to form an opinion about a website is just 0.05 seconds. We’ve all been to websites that take forever to load, or we can’t find what we’re looking for, oh and let’s not forget that annoying pop-up on every single page 😑.
Once that happens, I’m clicking the back button fast likely never to revisit ever again—I’m definitely not subscribing to that mailing list or scheduling a call. Having a bad website does cost you: lower perceived value, loss of brand reputation, and less business.
“The cost of setting up a site and managing it is much lower than the cost of not having a site or having a bad one”
So, how much does a website cost? Let’s look at the numbers…
The cost for hosting on Squarespace is $16–$65 per month depending on your subscription plan. E-commerce websites cost more because of the added functionalities (ex: tax extension, live chat support, shipping, etc). The average price for a domain name with an SSL certificate is anywhere from $15 –$20 per year as long as it’s not a top-level domain name which can cost hundreds if not thousands.
A website template has a one-time cost of $50–$500, but you must take the time and effort to learn how to build a cohesive site. If you’re debating about DIYing your website or hiring a designer? Read our list of pros and cons to figure out what to do.
The cost of hiring a website designer or agency is the most expensive upfront cost ranging from $2,500–$25k+. However, this will also result in a higher ROI. Why? Because it’s our full-time job to make sure your website fulfills your goals and communicates your brand. And we know what we’re doing.
At Design Powers, we ascertain if we’re the right fit for your business with a free 20-minute phone call. If we are, then we determine the cost of your website after we assess your business needs with our Power Plan. Our website package includes brand messaging and custom photography.
Costs for original website writing (with a few rounds of edits and revisions) and custom brand photoshoot services (with photo selection and basic to complex retouching) vary by provider and range from $5k–$10k+.
Once your website is up and running, the work isn’t done! Website maintenance: updating content regularly for SEO to attract organic traffic to your site, email marketing to consistently connect with your audience, and paid plugins/extensions, add up in time and money. Costs per month span from $5–$300+. All types of content creation and maintenance are time-consuming. For our web clients, we keep it simple yet successful with our website client membership monthly updates.
With all that said, a website price tag may seem high, but the cost of setting up a site and managing it is much lower than the cost of not having a site or having an antiquated one.
You may have the best quality architectural, engineering, real estate, or legal services in your local area BUT if people can’t research your services and decide that you can solve their problem or the current website site gives off subpar first impressions because it doesn’t look, feel and function well, you’re missing out on building relationships and helping people!
Experiencing JOMO (the joy of missing out) doesn’t apply when it comes to a good business website. Your site is a solid investment worthy of consideration, attention, and capital.
2. You don’t have time to get it done
For every business, generating revenue is the number one directive. Billable work takes precedence over marketing. And I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Web design and development is a lot of work. Especially when you’re rebranding an old website that has years of content. But that said, your site is the foundation of your brand identity and marketing efforts.
How much time are you spending on sales calls explaining your services, answering the same questions, and reiterating your years of experience over and over again? How much time are you spending at in-person and online networking events? A website can help do these types of things for you 24/7, for 5+ billion internet users. You don’t have the time to NOT have a website.
When done right, a website validates your business and begins qualifying your leads. Your site explains what you do and how you solve your client's problems with crystal-clear copywriting. When you post your pricing information you weed out people who can’t afford your services and attract people who can.
When getting word-of-mouth referrals you can send people to your website which will further inform them about your services. Your branding differentiates you from competitors, making you memorable. When people reach out, they’ll be more ready to engage.
After you work with clients, set up a review request email template or add a review link to your email signature to ask clients to leave you a review on your Google Business Profile. This speeds up the sales process for future clients because you’ll have a 5-star service and authentic social proof that can be embedded into your site via a plugin.
While it does take time to set up automation, they end up saving you time and making you money in the long run…
Automation, such as scheduling combined with a video meeting extension (ex: Google Meet, Zoom, etc.) helps save you time because you no longer need to spend 45 minutes in your inbox just to plan what date/time works best for everyone plus another 15 minutes setting up your future video call and then sending out email and calendar invites 😮💨. Allow people to book their own appointments based on your pre-set availability, saving everyone time and practicing boundaries (#WIN).
Email marketing automation extends your brand directly to your audience’s inbox, nurtures leads, builds brand loyalty, and drives repeat sales. Squarespace makes email marketing simple with click-worthy, customizable templates, basic automation, and the ability to import existing site content (logo, blog posts, page links, discount codes) right into your emails.
Our website design and development services come with everything you need for your business website: written content, custom photography, site design, and marketing setup. The process is streamlined so we only need a little bit of your time for initial content, review, feedback, and final approval. We don’t like long-drawn-out projects either and have a track record of finishing sites within a timeframe of 1–3 months.
3. Lack of technical knowledge and experience
Is your business relying on non-digital marketing like word of mouth, expensive print ads, brochures, sponsor events, paper mail, and phone calls? Traditional marketing strategies and graphic design collateral are efficient and even more powerful together with digital.
Maybe you don’t feel tech-savvy enough to build and manage a site. Nowadays website builders like Squarespace are platforms anyone can learn to use. It has an integrated platform that eliminates the need to piece together multiple software. You only need basic computer literacy, patience, curiosity and enthusiasm to learn and keep up with the rapidly-changing industry and never-ending software updates!
As for learning design, all 3 of us at Design Powers are formally trained in graphic design and visual communication. You can read about our education experience on our about page. Clickbait: you might find some surprising unexpected skills listed there.
Here’s your daily dose of cheesy cheerleader motivation, mini mantra, positive affirmation, and manifestation power…😌 You can do anything you set your mind to! You got this! And when you need some help with technical wizardry, we got your back. We offer complimentary website training post-launch to empower you and bring you up to speed with everything you need to know.
If you want to get your tech skills schooling started right now, read more information about brand identity, website design/dev, online marketing, and SEO from other posts on the blog. While you’re at it check out our free PDF guides!
5 Signs that Your Website is Out-of-Date
With the rapid pace of tech, obsolescence is a constant. Websites generally have a life of 2-4 years depending upon the industry and needed functionalities. Heck here at Design Powers, we rebrand and redesign every 2 years! We’re constantly measuring, evaluating and tweaking what is working and what needs to be ditched, revised or improved.
1. Your website feels old
Start out #1 with a feeling (vs. a quantifiable stat). Our emotions guide our actions and reactions. If a website feels antiquated, it probably is. Sidebar: Nothing wrong with aged things like cheese, wines or people.
Think about your current website, scroll through the homepage, and tap into your gut. What’s it saying? Take a minute and what are the first words that come to mind?
Is it in alignment with your present-day business? Have doubts and need a second opinion? Ask colleagues or get an honest critique/web audit from a web designer.
If you don’t want to feel it out or get a professional consultation, here’s how to calculate it’s time for a rebrand:
Your website is over 4 years old
You can’t access the backend
The written content is inaccurate
The design is old-fashioned
The tech is going obsolete
No need to feel shame. It’s simply time to find a deeper sense of renewal. It’s never too late to begin again (if you ever need bumper-sticker advice, you now know who to turn to 😜).
2. Dated design, functionality, and poor user experience
When page content looks bad, is difficult to navigate, links are broken, and the website isn’t built with responsive design (doesn’t work/look right on tablets and phones) people don’t stick around.
We judge books websites by their covers home pages above-the-folds (anything visible to the viewer as soon as the page loads). We buy because of the design, the appeal, and the aesthetics. Why do we do this? It’s called Aesthetic-Usability-Effect: people value attractive visual design communications and perceive them as more intuitive and usable.
Google Search also increases the visibility of webpages that use best practices and good user experience. Best practices like: a secure URL, simple navigation, hierarchical content structure, proper HTML headings, brief and descriptive page titles, summarized meta tag descriptions, optimized (helpful, relevant, quality) and organized written content, optimized (file size, file name, alt attribute) images, and mobile-friendliness.
If you’re wanting to improve your SEO a great time to start is when you’re considering a site redesign, or plan to launch a new site. Your site should be designed to be search-engine-ready from the ground up. Check out our web design work.
3. Written content doesn’t contain keywords or connect with viewers
When was the last time you reviewed the content of the main pages (home, about, services)? 🤔 Or updated pages (contact info, FAQs, blog posts) with fresh content? Based on your answer, you likely already know you need to self-assess. Alternatively, you could hire a web copywriter to do a content audit for you.
Here are a few questions to do an evaluation. Does your content:
Provide original and reliable information?
Clearly communicate your services?
Resonate with your audience so they take action?
Have brief, helpful, descriptive headings with keywords?
Have a primary focused purpose/topic?
Have spelling or grammar errors?
Align with E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness)? One of Google’s many ranking factors.
Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to rank and reward page content that helps people (people-first content) NOT content created for search engines to gain rankings (search engine-first content).
Not generating any or very low web traffic from your most important keywords? Consider refreshing your text, merging similar content, and deleting old content.
Producing solid content AND keeping your site up-to-date takes consistent effort, but it’s important because you don’t want people to find old, invalid info. Keeping your website updated helps your business because it shows your company is active.
4. CMS H8R
A CMS or Content Management System is the core element of your website. It provides an easy-to-use interface to build, modify and manage content on your website, without having to know to code. CMS platforms have different levels of functionality and security measures and some require constant updates. Keep this in mind when choosing your company CMS.
Is your current website hosted on a platform you dislike? If so, you’re rarely going to log in to make updates. Want a CMS that takes care of security, has all the functionality you need, is easy to use, and is a joy to work in? Read why we recommend Squarespace after 5+ years as loyal WordPress users.
There are pros and cons to every CMS platform out there and the one you need depends on what functionalities your website has to perform. Read our comparison of WordPress vs Squarespace and how to know which one is right for your business.
5. Slow loading times
How fast is your website page speed? Visitors expect sites to function instantly, hence a fast-loading website provides a good page experience. If your pages take 5+ seconds to load they likely deter visitors.
Good page experience scores help your site rank higher in search engine results pages. Google rewards sites that pass their Core Web Vitals metrics. These metrics measure load performance and usability.
Use Google’s Page Speed Insights to test your site, review the diagnoses, and look at the opportunities to improve it. While writing this blog post, we tested our scores and realize we need to do better. Even though our site loads quickly from our user experience the measurements that automated ranking systems calculate say otherwise.
Here’s some of what I’ll be working on on our site to get the load time down:
Reducing the amount of JavaScript. Some of this is out of our control because we use Squarespace, a closed-source platform. Additional plugin scripts installed to add additional functionality can be reduced.
Optimizing image files. All the images you have on a single page add up in file size. Our site is definitely image-heavy and since we don’t want to delete media we need to compress more. We already optimize our images (for speed, search, and accessibility) based on Squarespace’s image guidelines, but struggle to strike a balance between really sharp images and small file sizes.
Also, Squarespace does not accept WebP files: Google’s next-generation image file provides better compression, faster downloads, and less data consumption, so we rely on JPG and PNG files. Related Post: How to choose the best image file format for your website.Reduce unused CSS. Over time, our website has gone through some stylistic changes but the manual CSS snippets have not been updated. Deleting unused or duplicate code will lessen the bloat and help the browser load faster.
Top 7 Benefits of Having a Well-Designed Business Website
Having a well-designed website costs you: time and financial investment that comes with long-term gains and cost-benefits. 😀 The results should exceed the cost.
Your business website is your online home to share, connect and create brand trust. It supplies you with helpful business and marketing tools to productively run and promote your business. Here’s how having a strategic business website can provide perks.
1. Cost-Effective Solution
Save money with digital marketing vs. traditional print marketing
Provide better customer service with easily accessible and useful information
Convenient to make regular updates and announcements with a CMS
Use your site for internal company communications
Generate more traffic to your in-person locations
Easy to up or downgrade subscriptions based on current-needs
2. Increase Online Presence
24/7 global availability
Tell your unique story
Helpful information interactions
Attract new clients through SEO
3. Establish Brand Credibility
Validates your business
Boost brand awareness
List awards, certifications and reviews—cultivate trust
Improve chances of choosing your business over competitors
Attract new staff
4. Business Tools
Contact Forms
Email Campaigns Tools
Scheduling Software
Membership and Courses (coming soon) Functionality
Commerce Tools
5. Marketing Tools
A strategically planned website can attract the right clients you want
Build your email list and relationships—send emails directly to interested inboxes
Blogging generates organic traffic from search results pages
Use Google Business Profile in combination with your site to maximize traffic
Easily share URL links to amplify site content on social platforms
6. Analytics Data
Gain insights into your audience
Collect customer intel (with privacy in mind)
Optimize your site with data interpretation
7. Leads and Revenue
Begin qualifying leads online
Garner interest
Convert referrals quicker
People will know how to contact you
Market and increase sales
A simple yet sophisticated website gives you flexibility for future growth and the professional credibility you need now. A well-designed website will sell and market your business for you!
We’re here to help you build trust and drive online revenue for your business. Learn more about our website design, brand identity, and graphic design services. Contact us to get started.
FAQS
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Common reasons why a business might not have a website include concerns about cost, lack of time to manage it, and a perceived lack of technical knowledge or experience. The article discusses how these factors can impact a business's online presence and credibility.
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The cost of creating and maintaining a website varies depending on factors such as hosting, design, and ongoing maintenance. The article provides a breakdown of potential costs, including hosting fees, domain registration, website design, and maintenance expenses. It emphasizes that while there is an upfront investment, the long-term benefits of having a well-designed website outweigh the costs.
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Having a well-designed website can benefit a professional service business in several ways. It can increase online presence, establish brand credibility, provide essential business tools such as contact forms and email campaigns, and serve as a marketing platform to attract new clients.
Additionally, a website can generate leads and revenue by qualifying leads online and making it easier for potential clients to contact the business. The article highlights these benefits as reasons why investing in a well-designed website is crucial for professional service businesses.
