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As is when you first meet someone, your first impression can last a lifetime, and in terms of business can make the difference of whether or not a potential customer buys from you.

Regardless if you are offering services or selling products, your first impression can either significantly increase the chance of that customer going with you, or can greatly tarnish your brand enough for a prospect to keep looking around.

A successful website is not just one that looks pretty, it is one that has logic executed in it, and converts into dollars. Let’s discuss a few ways to make sure you make a positive first impression with your visitors:

Visuals:  Your brand needs to be looked at as if it were a million dollar brand. Even if it isn’t, it needs to look it. If you have outdated graphics and images and visuals that represent 10 year old websites, it’s going to turn people away.

I know for a fact that when I see an outdated website, my first thought is “Is the company itself outdated? or do they just not care about their image? Either or – it’s no good. You should be using the latest fonts, the latest graphic trends, recent images, etc.

Rocket Science: Your website should not be a formula for rocket science. Don’t go over complex and don’t try to go super trendy on your website. It’s important that your website reflects that of which your brand is, but you should not go to excessive lengths to achieve a certain image.

It’s important that while maintaining consistencies with your brand's image, that you always display clear and cut information on who you are, what you do, how to get a hold of you, and why to choose you over your competitor. For many visitors, this is the first time they are ever hearing or seeing about your brand, and if you don’t give them what they are looking for, it will also be the last.

Fresh: If your content is outdated, you are making a huge mistake. Whether it’s an unimportant piece of content like a 2 year old blog article being the latest blog article, or an outdated phone number, it can have crucial impacts on what your visitors think and how they see you. Many visitors that see outdated information start to wonder if the products or services you offer are outdated.

If you have an outdated blog, you’re better off eliminating the entire blog from your website, then letting people see that you don’t care to update your website with a new blog article in the last 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, etc. Same goes for any areas of the website that may be “Under construction” or “Coming Soon”. If you don’t have content for that area, for that service, for that whatever – don’t offer it. It’s very frustrating to a visitor to click on something that they are interested in, only to see a message along the lines of “Coming Soon”.

The above points of discussion are not the only areas of the website that can impact your visitors first impression. For example, having a social media strategy in place, and having social media elements integrated into your website is another point that we can dedicate an entire blog article to.

Basch Solutions, LLC is a rochester ny web 2.0 design and web development company that offers the latest in internet technology. If you are in need of a website revamp, or are looking to establish yourself on the web for the first time, give us a call and let’s discuss the next steps to take so that no time is wasted!