HOBRATH GROUP LLC

Does your website clearly convey what you do and what you offer? Within seconds, can viewers understand your organization, what you are selling or offering, and how they reach you if they are interested? Sometimes all you have is a few seconds of their time, so make it effective!

Can viewers to the website easily and simply navigate around to find what they want to know or buy? Within a click or two, they should be able to access just about anything they want to find, read or download from your website. Don’t make them hunt through screen after screen. Make it easy and they will want to come back.

Does the website reflect the look graphically that you want to convey? Does it work with other marketing materials so that you portray one front graphically? When did you last design the website? What looked good just a few years ago, can quickly become old.

Do you keep your website current and fresh SEO content? This does not mean changing the design every few months, but putting up new content on a regular basis. This is important that your customers and prospects see your latest developments, and it is also helps in SEO (search engine optimization) to kick up your ratings on Search Engines such as Google. These search-based websites check your website on a regular basis. When they see ‘new’ items, they will push up your website on its listings. A higher listing may be the turning point for someone to click on your website, resulting in a future sale.

Does the website work across different platforms? A very in-depth website may work well on a desktop or laptop computer screen, but would load forever on a small smartphone, and it would hard to read. You need to consider having a website-format for these different devices. For example, when you go to www.hobrath.com you will see one website for the computer, but if you type in the same address on your smartphone, you will get a ‘similar’ website but it is formatted just for the smartphone. It is simpler but still covers the key areas.

Does the website tie in with all your promotions? Does it announce an upcoming trade show where you are exhibiting? Does it tie in your Facebook and other social media postings? Does it present your latest press releases? The website is where it all comes together.

Have you set up some budget expectations? Believe me, some websites can cost as little as a thousand dollars, and others can run to millions of dollars. You need to set up your budget parameters to initially develop or revise the website and share this information with your outside development team so they don’t present you with ideas that are way beyond your financial range. But then also budget monies going forward so you can continually update your website, driving your marketing efforts on a regular basis.