Prophecies of Web Design: Part One of Three


Website

If I were to write a prophetic statement about the one thing you should know about web design in the years to come it would go like this:

The online brochure is dead. The days of the set-it-and-forget-it website are over. A new era of online experiences crafted around targeted, valuable content commanded by our users, are upon us. Be ready to embrace it or get buried by your own inequity.

Sounds cool right? I'm being overly dramatic, but my hope is to get you to start thinking a little different about your website. Is the online brochure really dead? No. It can serve its purpose if your mission is strictly to have an online presence for those who are handed your URL. Often times an online brochure-type of website is the industry standard. The competition isn’t doing anything bigger and better, so why should you bother? Maybe they don’t even have websites. Therefore, what’s always been done is good enough... but not anymore.
 

Websites Fall into two Camps

Those who want an online brochure. And those who want a lead generating machine. We build the latter. Our approach is a bit different, but don’t let that scare you away. We know how painful and difficult it can be for a company to go through a website rebuild, so we do everything in our power to make it worth it.

You want a new website, but what you need is an effective marketing tool. The good news is you can have both. Before we go too far, you should know that we typically run into two types of prospects:

Website-section_header-02.jpg

 

The online brochure is the cool, flashy website that basically summarizes your company … and that’s it. No plans, no goals, just a nice looking website that sits stagnant for two years before it needs an update. There are a lot of cool brochure websites out there- don’t get me wrong. But think of it this way -your website has so much potential. You deserve to unlock it. It can help educate your audience, garner leads, and sell products and services. To have a stagnant brochure website is to not fully utilize your most powerful sales and marketing tool. 

 

Website-section_header-01.jpg

 

The lead generating machine is a website that is flexible. It focuses on user experience and is able to adapt based on user patterns and data. This kind of website cannot be achieved without goals and a plan in place. When done properly, this website can have immense power in getting you the leads and customers your business needs. It’s not just about the looks; it’s about the results. This type of website design will take full advantage of your most powerful marketing tool. 

We specialize in the latter because we believe in partnering with our clients to grow their business. We do this through inbound marketing, and your website is your most important tool for the inbound methodology. It acts as the main hub for collecting all of the information we need to help your business grow.


GOALS, PURPOSE, AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT WILL MAKE YOUR WEBSITE WORK

Before you can decide which style of website is right for your business, there are three questions you should think about:

  1. What are your goals?
  2. What is your purpose?
  3. How do you want your site to work for you?

If any of your responses are along the lines of:

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… then you might want to explore a more robust and targeted approach to your website. Most importantly, a site designed with inbound marketing in mind. Your website needs to be more than a visual representation of your brand and several pages on what you do, have done, and want to do more of. You need a marketing machine that caters to your target audience and is able to support your business initiatives.

We practice a website design methodology that works hand-in-hand with inbound marketing called Growth Driven Design. This practice places focus on user experience and allows for change to happen regularly to fit the users' needs while improving their interactions with your website. There are many details and a well-defined process behind Growth Driven Design (also known as GDD), but that will have to wait for another day.

We're not done with this topic yet. If you're wanting to learn more, you should check out Prophecies of Web Design - Part Two of Three.

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