What a great website does for your company

Most companies already have a website, open around the clock to everyone who doesn't know you yet. The question is whether it brings in any calls. Four things separate a site that works from one that merely exists.

The customer googles you before they call

Here's how it works in practice: someone gets your name from a neighbour, sees your company van or finds you on the map. What does that person do next? Googles you. Before a single call is made, the customer has already formed an opinion, based on what your website shows.

That means the website often decides the deal before you even know it exists. A clean, clear site confirms that you're serious. A broken, outdated or nonexistent site raises doubt, and doubtful customers call the next company on the list.

The difference between "exists" and "works"

Many websites just exist. They were built once, someone clicked around and nodded, and then nothing more happened. A website that works for you looks different:

• Fast. If it loads slowly, the visitor is gone before they've even seen what you do.
• Mobile-friendly. The majority of your customers search on their phones. A site that requires zooming and fiddling loses them right away.
• A clear path to contact. A phone number up top, a button you can't miss. The visitor should never have to hunt for how to get in touch.
• Shows up in search. A page Google can't find brings in no new customers. It only shows you to people who already knew about you.

The first two points are about technology, the last two about how the site is built and structured. All four can be done right, but rarely by chance.

Jona's old site was a textbook case of a site that merely existed. It was built in WordPress, the title in Google read "Netsman - Jona Netsman" without a word about garden design or the town, the hero images weighed 18.8 MB between them and 56 gallery images were over a megabyte each. The case page shows the before and after, and the new site in five views.

What a bad site signals

An outdated website says something about you, no matter how good you are at your job. Broken links, "News" from 2021, images floating around on mobile. The customer reads it as carelessness. And if you're careless with your own shop window, how careful are you with the customer's roof, bathroom or bookkeeping?

It's unfair, because the connection rarely holds in reality. But the customer has nothing to go on other than what they see.

The website and Google go together

A good website at an address no one can find is like a fine shop on a back street. The site needs to be built so Google understands it (the right headings, the right words, clean structure) and to connect with your Google Business Profile on the map. Then customers searching for "your service + your town" start finding their way to you on their own.

I've put the whole chain together in How to get your company found on Google. Read it if you want to see how the parts fit together.

What it costs, and what to demand

A real website for a smaller company doesn't have to cost a fortune. With me, a simple, complete site starts at €900, built for search, fast and mobile-friendly from the start. But whoever you hire, I think you should demand:

• That the site is fast and mobile-friendly: not as an add-on, but as a given.
• That it's built to show up on Google: keywords, headings, a sitemap, the basic craft.
• That you understand what you're getting: a fixed price and straight answers, no vague hourly billing.
• That someone is still around afterwards: a website needs maintenance to keep delivering.

Wondering what a new site would mean for your particular company? Write a few lines about what you do and I will tell you what I would do and what it would come to.