Did you watch The Apprentice last night? It totally highlighted how important it is to have a good website.

The interviews – so freaking scary. If you didn’t see it, one of the brilliant contestants Sarah, got completely ripped apart by Lord Sugar and his team of hungry wolves respected business associates because her confectionary website wasn’t up to scratch.

During her interview with publishing powerhouse Mike Soutar, he noted that although the home page of her company website loaded, the links to other parts of the site didn’t work, nor did the online ordering process.

She has a brilliant business, Sweets in the City, already up and running and making a good profit, yet her website was completely rubbish.

In this digital age when more business is conducted online than ever before, it is vital to have a website that works.

Sarah’s excuse was that she’d been focussing on developing the business itself, but as was pointed out in the boardroom (and I paraphrase), the website should be a vital part of that development, not an afterthought.

Would your website stand up to the scrutiny of Lord Sugar and his team?

Here are a few very basic things that you should make sure are working on your website (or if not, quite frankly, just take it offline, because it will just have a negative effect on your brand and business):

  1. Make sure it looks good – strong and consistent branding and design is vital to make an instant positive impact on visitors
  2. Make sure ALL links work or you will just annoy people
  3. Make sure your sales or order processes work or you will look bad and lose customers
  4. Make sure your contact form works or your peeps can’t get in touch and will think you don’t want their business
  5. Make sure there is a clear user journey – what do you want your visitors to know and do when they arrive on your site?
  6. Make sure all your content is up to date – if your website is out of date people will assume your business is inactive or slow

Sarah may have held back because of the huge costs often associated with developing a website.

Are you holding back on launching or upleveling your business website for the same reason?

There is no need – with today’s technology it is totally possible to get an outstanding designer website that supports and grows your business and has all the technical and functional systems in place for a fraction of the price you might be imagining and for a fraction of the time and effort too.

In fact I’ve just launched the Easy Designer Website, an easily customisable website already created for you with all the pages, functionality, and features you need to succeed as a coach or consultant… and for a tiny fraction of the usual price of a designer webiste. Check out the Easy Designer Website here (and make sure your website holds up to Lord Sugar’s scrutiny) >>>