As Christian business owners, our web site is an ambassador for our business. It is the face that customers see before they ever come into our business.  Just like we are ambassadors for Christ, we must truly represent Him in all we do: the way we act, the words we say and the way we treat others.

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Today we are going to comp[are two very similar webpages for two very unsimilar businesses.  It is a comparison case study.

Using the components of a good website

When a business is designing (or redesigning) a website, they must take a lot of things into consideration.  Colors, words, videos and images all convey a ‘feeling’ or an atmosphere.  In essence, you are sharing the personality, or culture, of your business.

When you look at the picture below you will notice they are very similar.  One is for a spa for the other is for a coffee shop.  The spa conveys their personality as luxurious and exceptional. The coffee shop says their atmosphere is eclectic and comfortable with a ‘living room’ feel.

 

 

You can quickly see that these two webpages should look totally different based on the way each of them state their business culture.  With just a quick glance could you tell which one is luxurious and which one is comfortable like a living room?

(Note: The boxes cover up the business information because we don’t want any business to be contacted about their design or to feel embarrassed.  Please realize this article is to help not hurt.  If you are the owner of one of these pages, we have arranged a free consultation should you desire it.  Just use our contact form and we will have someone get in touch with you.)

Case Study Comparison and Suggestions

Side by side you can see these pages both look great.  The spa does a good job as an ambassador.  It shows the culture and communicates what they do. The coffee shop’s ambassador has an identity crisis.  You may say that you like the picture of the coffee for the coffee shop, I do too.  But the picture does not convey a comfortable atmosphere like a ‘living room’ which is how they communicate their business on the rest of their pages.

The coffee shop has what I call ‘a brochure’ web page.  It shows what times they are open and gives links to their social media accounts.  That is a good start to a webpage.  It is simple and shows their information.  The design is clean and open.  When you click on the links for their about page, there are lots of good information that could easily make the front page a lot more inviting to their customers.

The coffee shop is a good basic design, but their webpage does not communicate who they are as a business.  It is not a good ambassador.  If they want to convey a comfortable atmosphere like a living room, they should have happy people sitting on a couch drinking coffee.  It would show the ‘results’ of visiting their establishment.  Then, they should have a relevant slogan that draws in customers.  Off the top of my head something like, “Come sit on our couch and enjoy the best coffee in Dallas.”  It would convey their culture and invite people to stay on their webpage and tell them why they should visit their coffee shop.

The spa page has a lot of things going for it.  They show a lady relaxed getting spa treatment.  It is blurred out so that the customer can picture themselves being that person.  They have a downloadable services menu, they give their phone number for a consultation and they have a section where the customer can book an appointment.  Plus, they have their specials right up front.

They make a great use of ‘call to action’ on their page.  I would encourage them to focus on one area.  Personally, I would focus on the booking and take the consultation off.  Leave the phone number, but offering a consultation seems distracting since you will offer that once someone comes into your location after booking.  The question I would have for this business, what do you want a new customer to do, call you or book now?

Their slogan is basic.  It states they are a ‘premier’ destination.  As a customer, I want to know what is premier about it and why it is a destination.  That slogan should be focused on the customer, not focused on the business.  I don’t have any suggestions, but you want a statement that show results like, more relaxed, better healthy, glowing skin, etc.

Again, this is a good page and we are only showing you ‘above the fold.’  That means this is the first things that show up on a screen when we first bring up a webpage.  Below the slogan on the spa page are four more boxes, followed by some text, followed by eight more boxes.  Each of the boxes are different and again, it can be distracting to the customer.

I would limit the boxes to two or three boxes.  One would have services and go to a page where you can include all of your service boxes.  One would be specials where I would include information about my gift card program.  One may say, book now.

Conclusion and Questions For Your Business Website

I am not saying that either of these pages do not work, they are both decent web pages.  Yet, with just a little bit of adjustments, these websites could easily double their effectiveness.  That is the key with web design.  You must put an idea out into the world, then adjust it based on research, statistics and, most importantly, customer experience.

I hope looking at these two webpages gives you some ideas about your website. Go back to your website and see how you compare.   Whether you have a cooky fun page, a comfortable living room page or a serious business page, ask yourself these questions:

• Is my website a good ambassador for my business? (Can someone identify the culture or feel of my business by visiting my website?)
• Is my page simple enough to use with a single call to action so that customers know what I expect them to do?
• Does my website focus on what I do or focus on the results for my customer?

My prayer is that these kinds of posts helps you in your business. If I can just help a few business owners grow their business just a little bit, I have done my mission.

If you have found these helpful or have a suggested topic, drop me a line in our contact form or in a comment below.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Rev. Lyle.