In my last post, you read a story about how first impressions don’t always work out how you’d like them to and that a professional website can be there to help redeem you and your business. This second part provides some advice to ensure your website will make the ever-so-important ”virtual” first impression needed to keep the interest of a potential client.

How do I know if my site needs to be more professional?
Do you have confidence that when a customer or potential customer visits your site it will favor your business in their minds? DO NOT fall into the “making excuses for your website game” – people this day in age are too smart and have already heard or used all of them before. Just get your website where you know it needs to be and be proud of it. If you are not sure where it needs to be, contact a trustworthy web developer for a free consultation.

Check out competitor sites. How does yours compare? When a neutral or undecided customer is visiting your site in addition to your competitor’s, which way will they swing?
(It’s important to evaluate their sites frequently. I can’t tell you how many times a client has gone to reference a competitor’s “not so great” website only to find it has been redeveloped and is looking much better. Who knows, maybe they have read this article too.)

Steps to Take When “Professionalizing” Your Site

• Logo = Do you need a new one? Maybe your existing logo needs a little digital enhancement for use on the web?
• Looks Clean = Clean is synonymous with professional in many people’s minds. Think about the difference between a clean looking office vs. a messy one.
• Content = Be sure it is up to date, applicable, and professional.
• Nice images = Often times the difference between an ordinary and an incredible looking site is the images that are used. There are many stock image websites where high-quality images applicable to your business and content can be found. If you choose to use your own images, consider hiring a photographer to ensure this same quality level can be achieved.
• Loads fast = Nothing can be more frustrating than a website that loads slowly. The days of waiting for your dial-up connection to catch up are long gone. Visitors will discredit you and your site if it doesn’t respond quickly to their actions. Many “bargain” hosting solutions oversell the space on their servers or use outdated hardware. Be sure to choose a reputable hosting solution provider for your site.
• Reaches Out = Provides an opportunity for your site visitor to reach out to you in a convenient way. Whether this is a custom consultation web form or a link to your social media page, providing contact methods comfortable to your visitors will result in higher contact frequency.
• Appeasing color scheme = Be sure your site’s color scheme is consistent, relevant to your company, and appeasing to the eye.
• Navigation = It needs to work well, be logical for your visitor. We all know how frustrating a site can be with poor navigational structure.

More often than not, a website owner knows if their site is up to par. It’s similar to someone needing to get in better shape…they know full well they are out of shape but may be missing the motivation, the know how (easy to get lost in a sea of options), or the understanding of its importance to their overall personal health. The health of your business WILL BE NEGATIVELY IMPACTED by a website lacking in professionalism.

You now know what you need to do – throw away that old shirt. Well, in addition to the shirt thing take ownership and responsibility of your site’s professionalism as it can mean the difference between a potential customer’s confidence in you or confirmation that the waterlogged business card was no fluke.

We’ve all heard the famous expression “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Because of the fact that so much judgment is cast during the first impression, most of the world’s premiere sales professionals are always “ON.” They always look presentable in public, they come prepared for all meetings and sales presentations, and most of all they pay close attention to the smallest of details. This type of commitment to first-impression excellence is often what separates them from…well, the rest of us. Anyone want to guess on how many pictures exist of Donald Trump at the neighborhood market in sweat pants?

Now, the rest of us have “off” days professionally.

• Perhaps we’re stressing about a personal issue at home?
• Maybe we didn’t get to bed as early as we would have liked for the past 3 nights and could easily be mistaken for a cast member of the Thriller video?
• Possibly we waited until the last minute to prepare for a presentation and unless we’ve been learning the material subliminally at night, it’s not looking good?
• The biggest bummer about these “off” days is that more often than not they occur at the most inconvenient of times.

I am not always “ON” either. In fact, if you were to bump into me at a coffee place around the corner from my house there is a good chance the meeting would not be advantageous for me from a “first impression” perspective. One reason is I’m not much of a coffee in the morning person, so if you see me there I’m in definite need of a pick-me-up. With this in mind, let’s look at a not-too-unlikely scenario that may occur.

I was up most of the night finishing up a last-minute proposal that had been requested the prior day. I wrapped it up around 9am with an hour to spare before and my virtual meeting at 10. In desperate need of some caffeine, I jump in my car and head to the local “Coffeebucks.” At this moment I was far from having a professional or frankly a respectable appearance – hadn’t showered or shaved, was wearing shorts and flip flops, and atop my “up all night” hair was an old baseball hat. In addition, I was wearing THE t-shirt. You know the one I’m talking about – it’s the shirt you should have either burned or thrown away years ago. Possibly the shirt your significant other has already tried to throw away but you “rescued” it after catching a glimpse of it in the top of the can while taking out the garbage for weekly pickup. In my case it is a white shirt called ‘The Kramer.’ For those of you who aren’t Seinfeld fans, I’m sure you can do a search for that string and learn about it. Let’s just say this shirt looked a lot better 236 washes ago.

After arriving at “Coffebucks,” I ordered and patiently waited for my drink. The anticipation of your drink order being called out by the barista behind the drink counter is big moment. I think of it as “Coffeebucks Bingo”. All you need are those 5 identifiers that match your order card and you’re all set.

1. Venti
2. Triple-shot
3. Iced
4. Americano
5. With Room

Bingo. I grabbed my drink, went to take a sip and as I did I dripped a good portion on ‘The Kramer.’ Oh well, just heading right back to the home office anyway so I turned around and headed towards the door. At that time I heard “Hey Nick,” and sure enough it was a client of mine waiting in the order line. As I reluctantly walked over to say hello I noticed the client was not alone. He then said to the woman standing next to him “This is Nick Kane – the Seattle website consultant I was telling you about. Nick, this is Jane Smith (not actual name). She is in need of some professional website services and I was telling her about you and your organization.” Now, you can probably imagine how unprofessional I must have looked at this point. Not only was my appearance not ideal for a first impression, I was not “ON” in my communications either. After a minute or so of awkward chat, she asked for my business card. I reached into my wallet and saw one lone card. It was dog-eared and looked like it had even gotten wet at one point. I regretfully handed it over, and headed out thinking to myself that the only thing that would have made that first impression worse is if I would have spilled my latte on her shirt as well.

With all that had happened during the first impression, guess who contacted me for their website needs? You got it. Now, it could have been the recommendation of the client, the fact she didn’t have anyone else in mind, or maybe she was a Seinfeld fan. Regardless of the reason, she did mention my Seattle website design site and how she liked reading about some of the key differentiators about the company. Now, in this scenario it sure paid off that the website listed on my business card was not lacking in professionalism to give me a chance at saving a botched first impression. Most individuals after visiting a professional website would consider the fact that the first in-person encounter may have been a fluke, and possibly even do some personal reflection to realize they too have been in similar situations. If they decided to still check out the site and it wasn’t professional, it’s like verification in their mind to the absence of professionalism.

The events that took place in this story may or may not be true. Nevertheless, these types of things happen both personally and professionally to people all the time. Unless you are one of the few out there that are always “ON”, take the steps to ensure that your website is setup to support the professional image you are trying to present or that truly matches the reality of the experience your clients will receive. If you don’t show or prove this to them from their first visit to your site, you may never get another chance to try.

Check back soon or subscribe to our RSS feed to read about website first impressions. What steps do you need to take to ensure that your website is professional enough to not turn off a potential client?