Posts Tagged women owned business

Are You Embarrassed to Share Your Company Website With Prospects??

Embarrassed to Share Your Company Website With Prospects

 

Recently I spoke to one of our favorite customers, Life Coach Jamie Lightner, about how the new responsive WordPress website we designed for her was working. We were in a group of other women business owners when I asked the question. Jamie’s response to my question actually made most of the women laugh out loud. She said she loved it and mostly she was happy not to have a website she was embarrassed by anymore! Jamie has an authentic sense of humor that is never lost on the crowd.

However, she explained further that the statement was sadly all too accurate. The free DIY website she built when she started her coaching business over 6 years prior really was embarrassing to her. Her experience, her services and programs, and the technology had all outgrown that initial DIY website solution. Of course, as the chosen website design firm I was happy to know how much our new website design has helped her in such a short amount of time. I knew when we started the new website design, organization and updating of content would help her prospecting and for her current clients. What I didn’t consider was the emotional impact the newly branded website would have.

Some of the reasons you may be embarrassed to share  your company website:

 

  1. Life coach, Jamie Lightner responsive website designOutdated design that looks like it is from another decade
  2.  Broken links that prompt 404-page errors
  3.  Confusing navigation that doesn’t lead the visitor where they intend
  4. The website isn’t responsive and is hard to read on mobile devices
  5. No clear calls to action
  6. Outdated services, products, or promotions
  7. Staff members listed who are no longer with the company
  8. No clear brand messaging or visuals
  9. Competitiors websites are modern and have valuable content
  10. The information doesn’t present current level of expertise
  11. …more…

It was rewarding for me to hear Jamie express that her decision to update her DIY website to a professional website design was the best business decision she has made. She now confidently shares her website URL with prospects and customers and she has quickly realized a return on her investments.

 

Want to Love Your Website Again?

Schedule a 100% free, no-obligation 15-minute consultation.

We’ll visit your website while on the call, talk about your goals and offer some insight. Even if your website is embarrassing right now, we can make it shine again – we promise. Let’s Connect

 

I’d like to say the conversation about being embarrassed to share your company website ended there.

It didn’t. Total transparency, I had to share my true confession that Connection Group also found ourselves in that same predicament.  (Obviously, I was feeling pretty safe with this particular group of women business owners!) My confession didn’t receive a laugh like Jamie’s did. The reaction was more surprise, “You? But your company excels at website design and development!”

After being in business for over 20 years our website has experienced many iterations, much revamping, some re-dos. Remember Flash websites? Yes, as cool as all the moving text and dancing graphics were, there was little to no ROI on that website design technology – and we did it in-house!  But, I digress from the point of my story…

Although we have over 20 years of experience in website design and have one of the most talented responsive WordPress developers leading our team our website was sadly outdated. It wasn’t because we didn’t have the talent, or the desire, or the budget, our reason was we didn’t have the time. We were living the proverbial ‘the cobbler’s children have no shoes’ saying. If you are a small business owner you may relate to our position. Basic business principles taught us customer orders, customer service, and billable hours come first.

We now liken our marketing to putting our own oxygen masks on first – before we save others.

Although we were allocating time for brainstorming, re-branding, targeting key audiences, and content planning, the new website was not given the priority it deserved. In the midst of the planning, COVID hit and our existing and new customers needed us even more. Of course, along with the rush of orders, there was the unknown. In addition to the customer projects we were also being proactive and responding to RFPs that we felt were a good fit.

I will never forget the late night preparingto post our RFP response to a web portal. I made the mistake of checking how many other branding firms had submitted responses. To my dismay, that particular RFP had 64 submissions, 64! To further add insult to injury I decided to check out my competition. I definitely needed to put my oxygen mask on after that! For over an hour I perused modern, sleek, contemporary websites that shone bright like diamonds. Talk about being embarrassed to share your company website with prospects! Ugh! It was too late (literally and figuratively) to do anything about it at that point, so I submitted the RFP and went to bed.

In the end, we did rank pretty high in the selection – because our credentials, experience, and cost were competitive and our proposal rocked. However, what I gained was the insight that taking care of our brand needed to be a higher priority. Never, ever may we make excuses or neglect imprtant components of our branding and prospecting ability.

Today, I am proud to see our new website doing its job. Like Jamie, I too appreciate the ease in updating it with the new front-end editor, the clear brand focus, and imagery we have developed. We took our time to hone in on the services that we do best and we have simplified the navigation and content to make it clear to our customers and prospects. Would we have won that RFP if this new website design was in place earleir? I’ll never know, either way, I know I always want to honor our brand, our abilities, and show our expertise. I want to proudly post our website everywhere and know the information is up to date, attractive, and fully functional on all screens.

So, that’s our story. What about you? Are you embarrassed to share your company website? If so, don’t wait any longer, I promise you, your competition isn’t waiting. Connect today, we’re happy to craft a professional, responsive website you will be proud to share and update for years to come. 

Stay connected!

Hurry and reserve your 15-minute slot today!

Commit to starting the new year strong. All of our websites come with step-by-step training. You and your team will know exactly what to do to keep your website up-to-date.  Let’s Connect

Michigan Design and Marketing Firm Receives Certification as Women’s Business Enterprise

Connection Graphics, Michigan based Design and Marketing Firm Receives Certification as Women’s Business Enterprise by WBENC

Michigan design and marketing firm receives Certification as Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) from WBENC

December 15, 2015 – Connection Graphics, LLC receives national certification as Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

“The Great Lakes Women’s Business Council is proud to have Connection Graphics as one of our newly certified women owned businesses.  They have tremendous talent and promise that we are excited to see soar even higher,” according to Michelle Richards, President, Great Lakes WBC.

WBENC’s national standard of certification provided by the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council Certification Committee is a meticulous process including an in-depth review of the business and a site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm that the business is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women. According to WBENC, by including women-owned businesses among their vendors, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and continued development of supplier/vendor diversity programs.

“We are pleased to receive this certification by WBENC. We look forward to fostering the growth of other women-owned businesses while continuing to provide marketing and design services to successful corporations,” said Connie Sweet, founder and CEO of Connection Graphics.

About Connection Graphics:

Connection Graphics is an integrative marketing and design firm located in the Lansing, Michigan area. For nearly 20 years, Connection Graphics has provided expert website development, graphic design, and marketing solutions.  Connection Graphics offers guidance for the most cost-effective and creative solutions available to achieve maximum results. Serving a diverse clientele of large corporations and manufacturers to start-ups and non-profits clients extend across Michigan and the United States.  Connection Graphics works in person or digitally, to develop a strategy and visual signature adaptable to each stage of a companies growth.

Certification as Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) from Great Lakes Women’s Business Council means Connection Graphics can help more corporations. If corporations have marketing services, graphic design, or website design and development needs, this certification can help to meet supplier diversity program goals with an experienced, responsible design firm.

The certification achievement is an important milestone for Connection Graphics as we continue to grow and to improve our corporate relationships while fostering the growth of diverse and other women owned businesses.  Through a culture of continuous improvement our mission is to create partnerships by delivering cutting edge marketing and design solutions combined with incomparable service that brings results and makes everyones job easier. 

About WBENC:

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council is the nation’s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the United States. WBENC is a resource for the thousands of U.S. companies and government agencies that rely on WBENC’s certification as an integral part of their supplier diversity programs. www.wbenc.org

Media Contact for Connection Graphics:

Connie Sweet
517-645-4387
WBENC Women owned business certification