What does your paper business card look like? It probably has your name, your company logo, some contact information and maybe a quick tagline summarizing what your company does. People can find all the information they need to contact you just by glancing at your card.
Business cards are still pretty important for face-to-face networking. People are usually horrible about remembering names or company names and a small paper card lets them connect the conversation they had with the person they spoke to. (And gives them a point of contact if they want to continue the conversation).
Business websites are your online business card, yet so many businesses neglect to have the same important information in a quick & easy to understand as a paper business card provides. Most business websites are just a boring brochure of some marketing-blabber about what the company does (that usually isn’t clear to anyone other than the author of the marketing-blabber), but don’t provide any real information to the visitor.
The nice thing about a website, as opposed to a small business card, is that you have the opportunity to offer so much more information. But this can also be a crunch – businesses get caught up in the technology and create flashy websites, but forget about the basics. It’s ok to offer lots of information to visitors – matter of fact, it’s a great way to get people to come back to your website over and over, but remember to keep the basics in mind: contact information, benefits to the customer, what it is you do – all visible and understandable in 5-10 seconds.
Take a look at your website. Can you get the same type of information that’s on your business card? Does your business website offer valuable information to your customers? Is what you do clear in terms of benefits and value to the customers?
Make your business website a valuable business tool.
Technorati tags: design, usability, content, marketing, strategy, business
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