Why your website should never be “finished”

Here at LinkNow Media, when we are working with new clients who are building their first websites, one of the most common concerns we hear is that our clients want to delay putting their websites live until everything is perfect. Other business owners speak to us about purchasing a website, but want to delay the purchase until they think they will have more time to deal with the work involved in getting their site finished and online.

While it is totally understandable that business owners want to make sure they are putting their best foot forward, this desire can lead to less positive outcomes on the web – especially if you are delaying your website going live until everything is perfect. When it comes to the web and marketing your business online, there is truly no time like the present.

Plant the seeds for success

The simple truth is that building a successful online presence takes a lot of time, and creating the website and putting it live is only the first step. The second, much more difficult step is getting your site noticed so it can start attracting new business, and the most important factor in getting noticed is time. There are three main aspects that simply can’t be rushed:

  • Indexing: The complex process of cataloguing and categorizing websites that Google and other search engines perform is called indexing. Until Google gets around to indexing your website, it is not going to show up in Google’s search results, and this process won’t start until your site gets online.
  • Building Credibility: Search engines use several criteria to determine which websites to return as search results, and one of the biggest is website credibility. Google and the other search engines evaluate website credibility based on how many other people are referencing, talking about, and linking to that website. The process of building citations and backlinks to boost your site’s credibility can’t start until your site goes live. The best way to get a jump-start on this is creating and adding great content to your website. You don’t have to do it all at once, but make sure that you are keeping at it. We offer several ways to take care of this for you.
  • Building an Audience: Once it’s possible for people to find your website, it still takes time for you to build an audience. People will send in reviews of your services, share the site with their friends and family, and talk about your website on social media. The longer your website is online, the more chances people have to find it and share it.

The bottom line is that the sooner your site is online, the sooner you are going to see a return on your investment. Your website is not supposed to be a finished product you are offering to your customers – it’s a signpost, a business card, and an advertisement all wrapped up together. Even if you want to do more work to your site, it will help you to get it online sooner so it can get started working for you. Waiting for your site to be “finished” is just wasting time, and every day you don’t stake out your own space online is another day that your competitors are using to gain credibility and find customers. And this brings us to perhaps the most important point.

Your website should always be “a work in progress”

Recently, one of our clients who had just purchased a website from us called in and wanted to delay the launch of his website. He owns a small home renovations company and was working on a new project that he thought would really showcase his talents, so he wanted to delay the launch of the website until he finished the project and could send us pictures to put in his site’s photo gallery. Other clients want to delay until they have content to describe every service they offer, or want to wait until they have set up a Facebook page. All of these people want their website to be complete before it launches.

However, if you are serious about your online marketing, your website will never be complete. You should be constantly updating your site - you can add new pictures, new content, blog posts, and information about your company’s specials or promotions. Regularly adding these things to your website tells Google that your site is still active, and therefore it’s more likely that the information on it is up to date, and it tells potential customers that you are active and engaged.

The most important thing is not to delay getting your website online. Whatever your reason for waiting, there is no better time than right now to get online. Your website will always need more work, but that’s why you’ve chosen the experienced web experts at LinkNow Media as your partners! We’ll be with you every step of the way – so let’s not waste time getting started.

Lauchlin MacDonald

Author: Lauchlin MacDonald

About Lauchlin MacDonald

Lauchlin is part of the content and marketing team at LinkNow Media. He has nearly a decade of experience in copywriting and editing, and spends way too much time on the Internet. He can be reached at lmacdonald@linknowmedia.com and @Lauchlin on Twitter.