Recently, I needed to have some glass replaced in my house so I went to the local glass and mirror shop a few miles up the road. The shop looked a little shabby from the outside, but I went in anyway.
After just a few seconds in the store, I knew I wouldn’t buy anything from this craftsman. The furniture in the waiting room was ripped and stained, the carpet was filthy and, worse yet, the only glass samples were 4” x 4” tiles. The entire operation sent the message that the work would be second rate.
I left and took my business elsewhere.
My experience is similar to what prospective customers experience when landing on websites that are poorly designed and out of date. Just as a front office is the first impression for brick and mortar businesses, so is the website for B2B companies.
A little website maintenance goes a long way in conveying the right image:
- Keep it clean: Update information regularly and remove or archive dated information.
- Make sure links work.
- Check the navigation of the site to ensure it’s intuitive for new visitors.
- Refresh language and graphics so the site looks and sounds fresh.
- Update blogs or add social media feeds that add new information to the site daily or weekly.