This morning I was sitting with a client chatting about their business when she uttered a sentence that really struck me.
She quite casually explained,
“You know I really pay attention to websites now. I’ve decided that you really can tell what people are about.
We’re planning a house, and I’ve noticed that if I get a uneasy vibe from a website that is how the meeting with the prospective builder will go as well.”
Now it could be that this is just an isolated comment but I really don’t think so. I think there are an enormous number of people out there who are hitting a new maturity as online consumers.
I am reminded of Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of The Tipping Point. He explores “the magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold.”
I think we are hitting that threshold in online marketing. Our customers are getting much more confident in framing their own expectations of us and how our website should be.
They want to know who we are. They want to deal with real people rather than bland company shop fronts. They are wanting us to make it easy for them to trust us with their business.
There is a lot that can be a achieved with a well designed website that presents your branding and a sound search engine marketing strategy to get you in front of web traffic.
Once there that customer is going to want to see who you are and how much you care about your customers. This is where a well written business blog is a powerful asset to an online business.
If you are passionate and committed to what you do this will show and your online customers will feel more confident to give you their business.
For those of you already blogging hang in there. If you haven’t started I really think you should consider it. Ask yourself, if someone came to my website what would they learn about me?