A Website Helps You Advertise, Optimize, and Track Your Business’s Performance

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Elementary school children use iPads in class, millennials study subjects that didn’t exist five years ago…while we remain vigilant for the next surprise. Often, the struggle may prove to be fruitless. Why have a digital presence when your company does “real-life” things?

Your website remains vital in reaching out to clients, workers, and especially investors.

It’s important to think of the future: what if you might want to work somewhere else along with your company? What if you want to sell your company? Thinking ahead will help you catch up – and may even put you in first.

1. A well-designed website will attract more buyers.

   

Buyers are more inclined to invest in your company when you look good. Not just on the outside, but on screen.

When you get ready for an interview: you buy a nice outfit, get a haircut, go through the motions of preparing for the big opportunity. But weeks before the interview happens, the employer will research you. Just as they analyze your fashion and behavior when you walk through the door, they go through a checklist as they browse your site. Do they have a good layout? Do the pages load quickly?

Remember: you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

2. Make investors decide on you fast and not furious.

You don’t need a tour guide to navigate a website. If it’s user-friendly enough, a person can go through it on their own in less time it would take for you to explain your company. And that’s not a bad thing.

The Internet has spoiled us into getting answers quickly. Search engines allow us to look up kitten pictures and cures for daily aches and pains. So, [Tweet “make your website the search engine for your company”]. All pages should load, and no links should be broken or redirect to a page that doesn’t exist.

Traveling is expensive and slow. A good internet extension may be the former, but not the latter. What saves more time and provides more information for your buyer: a 30 minute commute to your business, or a 30 minute browse on your website?

3. Metrics & Money: the M&M’s of your website.

   

With a website, you can be seen locally and internationally. Metrics, a measuring tool like Google Analytics, allow you to take new ventures with your business, and can give you telltale signs if something is going well or badly.

Say that you’re a company in New Orleans. You add metrics to your site, and notice that more users in Baton Rouge are viewing you in comparison to New Orleans. Decide what to do next: you could run an advertising campaign in Baton Rouge to take advantage of the followers there, or consequently, you could choose to campaign more in New Orleans to increase your reach.

While your website is quite an investment, it is absolutely worthwhile. A website is an interactive advertisement: if you generate 5 leads a day and close sales on 3, you’ll be profiting greatly. Your website could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars because of its popularity, even if it only cost $10,000.

Hannah Alkadi is a digital marketing intern at Catapult Creative Media. She studies advertising and visual communications at LSU, and spends her free time informing others about micronations.

Work with Catapult Creative Media Inc.

Catapult Creative Media Inc. is a digital marketing and design agency serving south Louisiana and headquartered in Baton Rouge. Founded in 2007, Catapult provides digital, social and mobile marketing solutions backed by relevant strategy and measurable results. Catapult works the web to their clients’ advantage, launching them to their next level of success.