Helping Wellness Professionals Succeed!

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Think Before You Create

I know, I know.. the first thing you want to do when starting a new business is create a website. Before you just throw something up, put some thought into what exactly you want it to say. Think about what you want your clients to see, feel and do when they arrive. Sketch out a basic idea of what you would like your site to look like and include. Anyone can create a basic website, but a professional looking site with the right content and language for your target market will set you apart from the rest. This is extremely important in creating the right brand and image for your business.

In this digital age, your website is your storefront, make it look good.

One of the most important things to consider is making sure your site is easy to navigate. If your client isn’t sure where to go or gets frustrated clicking away to pages that don’t contain anything, they will not come back. Flow is extremely important. Getting your visitors/potential clients to the information they need will keep them coming back.

Consider WordPress

WordPress is well known as a quality, easy to use blogging platform. Not many people know that it can also be used to create professional looking websites for small businesses. And you can edit content very easily without always having to contact your web designer when you want to change something. One of the best new themes that allows you to edit content and style easily is the new Headway. It is the newest and easiest to use theme out there. And you can customize it to look any way you would like. More on Headway later..

Give It Some Personality

Make your website stand out in the sea of bland, manufactured business sites. It should look professional but it should also be interesting and eye catching. Inject a little bit of your personality into your design, content and overall feel of your site. This will be part of your brand. Are you more serious or playful? Prolific or brief and to the point? What colors do you want to use? A web designer can help you with some of this but you should have a general idea of what you want your website (storefront) to look like… if only to give the designer a starting point.

Hire Out or Do It Yourself?

Be careful with this. Some people know enough to create their own websites and they look great. However, I think most of us do not know enough about web design and creation to really build a solid and professional looking website. If you hire out, it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. You can simply hire someone to do a little design to make things look nice and then add the content yourself. Look around at other sites that draw you in, that make you want to visit again, and use them as a loose model.

Creating your own website or hiring someone else to do it also depends on what type of business you are running. If you’re a coach, there are certain ways to structure your site that helps point visitors in the right direction whether that be your e-mail sign up sheet, a product, etc. Someone who has had experience in this may be helpful. However, if you’re simply selling wellness products on your site, you may be able to do it yourself. Use your best judgement and just make sure it’s attractive, easy to navigate, and points your visitors in the right direction.