When refreshing your businesses website, it’s time to put yourself in your customers shoes, whilst also balancing your own concept of progress made over the years, coupled with resolve that points to the value you’re providing your customers, your accomplishment and achievements your proud of and sense of purpose you’ve defined to be sure you’re delivering a service that is prospering the community and the businesses you’re working with. The continuation of your business can be forged comfortably after careful reflection and consideration of the business values that you can also use to define your design process, copy writing angles and the imagery and media that you use to present your services to your customers. The areas we looked at with our recent 2020 website development included exploring a process of reflection, and depicting the uncompromisable values of authenticity and trust.
1. Demonstrate Work You Can Reflect On
Motivation is a core element for a business looking at revitalising their website. Behind the work that you’ve completed, are stories of adversarial triumph and victory, demonstrating capability to your current and potential clients. Having your own work featured on your website rather than just listing off general services, is also a great bullet to load into the chamber, for when firing off strategised consideration of innovative services and approaches that you might suggest to your new and existing clients. You can use case studies, screenshots and descriptions of functionality, design choices and decisions, or custom built themes and designs to help you communicate your work with pride to your clients, and help you to reflect on how accomplished you are as a web design company. When you load up your website with your ‘actual’ completed work and projects, it a refreshing and formidable combination that will help you digitally, and physically represent your business, and prepare for selling and presenting your services to others.
You will find benefits by having reflection projects/examples of work on your website including:
- Being better prepared for meetings just by reviewing your own website
- Helps generate confidence behind your business by showcasing real examples of work your selling having been completed
- Also, helps customers consider alternative/extra serviceable areas online, that might aid their business from a marketing perspective
2. Portray ‘Authenticity’ Through Your Content
Another core value you should aim to portray is ‘Authenticity’, showing that you believe in what you do by showcasing work that you’re happy with, that is relevant to your customers and that you’ve done well and are happy to do again. Authenticity elements can come through in clients, companies and organisation pieces you’ve completed, including presenting examples that you’ve done pro-bono as a part of your corporate social responsibilities to your fellow man. Showing authenticity can also be depicted through the element of time, where as a web development business owner, you can show dedication to clients over time, showcasing not only similar work being completed year in and year out, but also, a timeline of work that you’ve completed for a clients as the years have progressed.
To show authenticity as a core value within your new, refreshed website, be sure to consider including:
- Timeline of work completed to show devotion to the ‘kind’ of service/work you offer
- Consider a timeline of work completed to individual clients showing relationship through service over the years
- Demonstrate authenticity by showing continuity of work to choice organisations and try and include jobs that may fall under the Corporate Social Responsibility category
3. Represent ‘Trust’ In Your Copy and Media
The third and highly valuable perspective and Core Value that can serve as the basis framework for consideration around your website redevelopment choices and decisions is Trust. Trust serves as a key ingredient that helps customers open-up to you, explore possibilities with you, and create ‘an accurate’ canvas or blueprint that means you’ll deliver with greater certainty, a website, design, marketing plan, elearning or development project the first time around. Trust is integral to quality and willingly approached communication and opens up avenues that allows for openness, psychological and capability security, and sets a precedent and rule of engagement, laying the foundation for future communications, relationship formation, and leading indeed to continued work and high working performance.
You can define your warm and safe communications environment and build a basis of trust for greater rapport with your clients by:
- Including strong testimonials with current clients that check out when looked into by prospective clients
- Produce examples of your services been completed for a client that demonstrate being fit for service, good developmental choice, and continue to prosper in terms of marketing, functionality or usability.
- Write your website’s copy with a style that puts your customers needs first, and whenever demonstrating a service, use humility to demonstrate new ideas and prospects that might enhance the way your clients operate in an online capacity.
Having core values and living by a particular mantra means that your vision to promote quality, assistance and service is intrinsic to everything you present, demonstrate, provide and outline. It helps you carve out your purpose and build upon the reflection of your personal service and brand, demonstrates authenticity and endeavouring to provide a purposeful service, whilst also generating iron bound trust that will serve as a foundational ingredient for all engagements with your current and future clients today, and in the togetherness and relationship prospering years to come.