A client recently came to us for a new website.
They've had a website for several years but had it re-done a year or so ago but weren't happy with it for a lot of reasons.
One reason was that, with the original website, they had received several email inquiries from their site every week.
When they had the site re-done last year, the website inquiries just dried up. They couldn't understand it. Several 'experts' had given their opinions but the client still didn't understand what the problem was.
Actually, it was very simple.
What would you expect to happen when you click a CONTACT link on a website? You'd expect to be taken to a page with the company's contact information, yes? Their mailing address, their head office address, their phone and fax numbers, the toll-free number, their email address or addresses and possibly a contact form.
That would be a normal thing to expect, wouldn't it?
But not on the website in question. When you click on the CONTACT link, a new email popped up from your Outlook Express, Outlook, Entourage or whatever. How annoying is that? And how VERY lazy of the people who created the website.
I haven't seen that sort of thing for a while now (it's very 1999) but I can tell you this - if I have clicked on a CONTACT link and had a new email pop up, I have never used it.
For many companies, one of the major purposes of their website is to generate leads and inquiries. Why on earth do webmasters sabotage that?
Actually, as you might imagine, the grumpy old woman has an answer.
You see, the answer lies in the phrase web company. A web company is probably very good at tecky stuff. But your website is potentially your best marketing tool. Would you really leave your best marketing tool in their hands? No, you need to use a company that specialises in marketing and part of that specialty is websites. You have to feel sorry for people who DON'T use professional marketing companies to create their websites - their best marketing tool is in completely the wrong hands.
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