The Importance of Having a Good Website
When I was asked to write a blog on this topic, my initial reaction was, “doesn’t everyone know how important a website is to business success?” After thinking about it, maybe we all should take a moment to remind ourselves exactly how important a website is to today’s business success and why.
For starters, in today’s “everything is online” environment, everyone expects your business to have a professional, up-to-date engaging website. Great businesses don’t operate with old sites that look like they haven’t been updated in years. Great businesses don’t alienate customers by forcing users to view a desktop version of their sites on mobile phones (a recipe for blindness). People expect successful, viable businesses to offer a professional presence.
Second, if you have a poorly constructed website that is missing key foundational building blocks in regards to online search, your business or organization is essentially invisible. With all the power of “discoverability” offered via search engines like Google, YouTube, Bing and Yahoo, you are ignoring some critical marketing opportunities. The most important marketing tip I share with clients is to form a strategy for talking to your clients using the technology portals they turn to in their everyday life. Once the conversation begins, your website is where the discovery process deepens and the destination for potential viewers.
Let’s face it, the No. 1 most visible marketing tool you have to tell your story and convey your brand is your website. According to Web credibility research from Stanford University, 75% of users admit to making judgments on an organization’s credibility based solely on their website. Offer your clients an old, outdated website with a poor user experience and you run the risk of appearing out of touch and conveying that you don’t care about your customer.
The importance of a good website cannot be stressed enough. Your website sets the tone for your business. It projects your vision of how you want your business to be perceived. It’s the key to building the reputation of your company.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.