Perception is everything – Why you should hire a web designer.

You’ve got your business all ready to go, but you know you’re missing one key element – a website.

You’ve also heard in the past that a professional web or graphic designer is a rip off, and that you can do it all yourself. True, you can get a Dummies book, read an online “how to” article, or hire that friend of yours that claims to know “a lot about html”.

You know what you’re going to get in the end?

Probably something very similar to this:  http://www.rodcdavis.com/

Beautiful, isn’t it?

If you’re going to go to the ball, shouldn’t you wear a dress?

Why would you go to all the trouble of refining your business, putting in all those hardworking hours, getting everything just right, getting ready for your world debut – and then putting up a website that looks like a third grader made it in an elementary school computer class?

Because you were trying to save money, that’s why – and it’s completely understandable.

The old saying goes “it takes money to make money”, and unfortunately, it’s true. As a business owner, we tend to want to do everything ourselves to save as much money as possible. That’s a great trait, and it’s sure to serve you well in many aspects of your business, but this isn’t one of them. In this situation it could actually cost you money – by negatively impacting potential online sales or visibility.

So now I’m going to get to the main point of this article. In my opinion, the following is the number one most important aspect of a web site.

perception (pəˈsɛpʃən) n 1. the act or the effect of perceiving 2. insight or intuition gained by perceiving 3. the ability or capacity to perceive 4. way of perceiving; awareness or consciousness; view: advertising affects the customer’s perception of a product.

In the big wide world of the world wide web – perception is everything. Look at the definition of perception stated above. Pay close attention to number 4, because it should speak volumes to you. If you have a poorly constructed web site that is not visually appealing, it will be perceived as a substandard organization a large majority of the time, whether it’s true or not!

If you don’t believe me, put yourself in the following scenario:

You are thinking about buying yourself a brand new widget. You decide to do some “window shopping” online, so you fire up Google and type in “widgets”. The search results come back with 15 online companies that have those awesome little widgets that you are drooling over. You click on site A, the first link, and it is a really nice site. The graphics are really eye-catching, the layout is easy to navigate and your widget is easy to find.

Awesome!

Being the bargain hunter you are, you decide to check the second site that came up in your Google search, because maybe you might get lucky  and they could have a lower price. You click on the link – and are taken to site B – which is a very different online experience. The page is white with big red links. The pictures are blurry. The navigation is terrible. There is very little contact information. The whole sites appears like it was put together by someone that either didn’t know what they were doing, or worse, is trying to rip you off.

If you are truthful with yourself, you know that put in that exact situation you’re going to hit the back button, find the professional looking site you landed on first, and make your purchase from there. If you didn’t, you are in the lower .05 percentile of online shoppers – and a very rare breed.

Now let’s break it down and illustrate how perception really works.

Site A was an independent widget seller. A one person operation that has been in business for 6 months. The owner has a small online business that he operates out of his garage. He has a small home office, a small storage area for his merchandise. UPS picks up his deliveries every day – right in his driveway. He also understands the importance of spending a little money to make sure he has a good looking and well functioning web site.

Site B was a local retail chain with 8 mid-sized stores operating in their home state. They have been around for 54 years and have an excellent reputation in their neighborhood. They are excellent with customer service, and are a very popular place to shop. They also don’t have a good grasp on the power of the internet purchase. Their owner feels that spending money on a web site is about as useful as throwing $20 bills off an overpass on a windy day. They have a web site because everyone says they should have one, and not because they truly think they need one. They don’t have a webmaster and rely on an employee that updates their site on an “as needed” basis. In their opinion the company web site will never replace traditional brick and mortar sales. They believe in doing things the “old school” way.

They also just lost a potential customer.

The above scenario plays out every hour of every day in the vast expanse of internet competition, and it all comes back to perception. Your web presence directly influences the visitor’s opinion of whether they want to do business with you or not. Unfortunately, the reality is that most people have in their head that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s probably a duck. In an internet shopper’s opinion, if your site looks like crap – your company is probably crap. It’s harsh, but it’s true.

Let’s state what we know so far:

•  You can be a one person operation and appear that you are a much larger entity than your competitor, just by having a professionally developed web site.
• You can drive business to your front door, just by having a professionally developed web site.
• You can compete and be on equal footing with much larger corporations on the internet, just by having a professionally designed web site.
• You can make the mistake of not having a professionally designed web site, and inadvertently drive business to your competitor – who does have one.

We’re going to break here for now and let you digest what I have said so far. When we reconvene we will begin to discuss how to give your online presence the true perception that it deserves. Until next time!