Is Your Site Like a Cheap Suit?

The saying “on it like a cheap suit” refers to the fact the cheap suits are all over the place from fabric to lack of quality.

I see “cheap suit” Web sites all the time. Sites whose owners think they look all dressed up and believe they are actually giving the impression of being a formal business. When in contrast these sites are clearly reflecting the site’s overall lack of believability and trustworthiness.

When you are out to impress — you simply don’t take the cheap suit approach. For example:

• Would you wear a cheap suit to that dream job interview? Probably not, the next applicant who spent the bucks to look spiffy will make you barely a memory.
• Would you wear a cheap suit to your wedding? Most likely not. If you did that would be telling as to what the future would be like being married to you if you didn’t see the importance of wearing a nice suit for your own nuptials.
• Would you wear a cheap suit to court? Say you had to go to court for custody, traffic issues, DUI, whatever. Do you think a cheap suit would help persuade the judge that you take the issue as seriously as you should. Don’t think so.

Then why would you assume that a “cheap suit” Web site will produce? Cheap suits do not lend to the perception of one being a legitimate and credible business. Would you make your own suit to wear out on the town? No — you are not a tailor. Then, it should go without saying as to whether you should design your own Web site without the proper training, skills and experience.

Impressions are everything when you are trying to convince someone to spend money with you. Wear a cheap suit and don’t be surprised if customers seek out those competitors who realize the importance of presenting a polished and professional image.

The good news is you can always learn — but will your business survive in the interim? If I were you I’d get all over that like a cheap suit!

Physical Address Required

You need to have your physical address available on your site.  Some sites don’t necessitate that information be on every page (non-eCom sites), so at the very least a physical or mailing address should be on your contact page. By not doing so you give the impression of possibly being a fly-by-night.

Would you give out payment information to a site that had no indication of where there were located? Most onliners will not.

The analogy goes that with no address one can easily disappear without leaving any traceable contact information that a customer could have noted when they decided to do business with you. No address? Folks will probably find one of your competitors who will give them that warm fuzzy.

If you are a home based business and don’t want to expose that address to everyone, you can simply get a P.O. Box to use for your mailing address. Then, at the very least folks know where you are and know where to contact you if needed. When I went completely virtual and left the rat race a couple years ago and moved to the country, I signed up for a P.O. Box for those very reasons.

Yes, having a physical address is more credible and convincing to some than a P.O. Box. In my case being I have been established for well over a decade, I am not too concerned about that. Each business needs to make these decisions based on what is best for their business and what perception they want to give.

It’s really a no-brainer and worth the small P.O. Box fees to add that extra level of credibility that is so hard to build online in the first place. When it comes to your Web site, a physical address is required to give your visitors confidence. For eCom sites, you’ll loose business without one.

Why give potential customers an excuse to look elsewhere?

Want to Learn About Web Design?

If you want to make a go out of making money online you do have to learn the basics of Web design.

While many WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors make things easier by negating the need to understand even basic code, they also prevent you from learning some of the little details and intricacies you need to know to make your site the way you want it to be without a bunch of unnecessary gobbly-gook code too!

Check out this resource for thousands of articles, resources, tutorials and more:

 

Learn and invest in your success!

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