I’m Ryan, the owner and founder of Vulpine Marketing, the Idaho Falls Web Design Company. Over the past nearly decade, I have been designing, developing and creating websites for small businesses all across the United States and Canada. During that time there are certain things I have learned and have deemed to be incredibly important in the process. This article is an overview of those important principles.
Show Yourself
When people are making the selection for their lawyer, dentist, doctor, and pretty much anything else, they want to know the people they may be potentially working with. People don’t want to do business with logos, with faceless unaccountable entities. They want to do business with people. One of the most common behavior flows website users take is coming to the website via a landing page (often the homepage), going to the about us page and if they like what they see then to the contact us page. Business owners too often hide behind logos, cheesy stock photography and other things. They do this because it’s easy but people want to get to know you. They will make a lot of generalizations and decisions based off of your picture and your profile. The best thing you can do is show yourself and make it easy for your users to make that decision.
Invest in Great Photography
I am so tired of going to websites with cheesy stock photography or some huge family picture because that is the only time the business professional invests in good photography. Great photography adds so much to the aesthetics of a website. The overall look and feel of a website is dramatically improved by having good photos of the actual “product” which is generally the business owner.
Here’s a couple examples of law firms that invested in some good photography. Check out what a huge difference it makes in their website because of it:
https://www.bentonandbentonlaw.com/ one of the things I love about the photography on this website is that they really wanted to communicate the hometown hero factor. The photos are not only of the attorneys but also of their community Monroe, Georgia.
The difference is incredible.
Be Clear and Concise in What you Do
It’s hard to come to a website and have it be incredibly unclear who they are and what they do. If you’re an attorney, say so. If you are a marketing company, say so. I have been to too many websites that have well written mission statements and employee profiles but the websites aren’t really clear about what the company actually does. Check out this page as an example:
https://www.bentonandbentonlaw.com/monroe-car-accidents-lawyer/
The header talks about car accidents and the main header element of the page says “Monroe, GA Car Accident Attorneys” pretty clear, right?
Explain What Sets You Apart
Sadly, too many websites look the same. Sure, the colors may be different and the crappy stock photography selected from different providers. But still, many of them look so similar. The content is often similar. After a while a user might be convinced all attorneys (or whatever you are) are all the same. Find ways to communicate concisely what makes you different.
Invest in Great Design
So many businesses have their websites designed by their receptionist’s nephew and their websites look like it. They frankly look terrible. If you want your business to stand out and if you want to be chosen over your competition then you need to put something in front of them worth choosing. Like speed dating, your potential clients, patients or customers will make rash decisions very quickly. Make those decisions positive ones by having a well designed website.
Go and make beautiful websites!
