Build A Great Consultant Website
By Scott Simmonds, CPCU, ARM

If you don’t have a great website, you’re not serious about growing your consulting practice.

The marketing of my business depends on my website. Prospective clients visit it. People searching for consulting services find me because of it. I send people to my site who are looking for more information. Visitors sign up for my monthly newsletter. It’s a key component to marketing my company.

As in all things, your web site must meet your clients’ expectations. When your client or prospective client visits your site, he or she must be comfortable with the form, layout, function, and navigation of the site. It must be professional. Otherwise, why would anyone think you were a professional?

We have all had the experience of visiting a site that was clearly designed and built by the owner of the site (or his kid). The colors are off, the navigation seems clunky. It just doesn’t feel right. Clients expect that you will have a professional website, not something that you slapped together using a $49.95 software package. I bet you don’t buy your business clothes from Wal-Mart. Why would you get your website from them?

Think about your own web surfing habits. What components do you like in a site? List sites you prefer. Look at the web pages of local attorneys and accountants. Look at bank websites. Get a feel for what appears professional and what seems to miss the mark.

Find out who designed the sites you like. Sometimes you’ll find the information at the bottom of the home page. If not, email the webmaster. They are usually happy to refer business.

Here are some other thoughts on websites:

--Read Seth Godin’s book, Big Red Fez. It includes great ideas on what makes a site work.

--What is it that you want visitors to do when they are on your site? Signup for your newsletter? Email you? Read your bio? Help your visitors by showing them what you want them to do.

--Stay away from flash. I mean both things that are flashy and the programming tool, Flash, that puts videos and fancy graphics up when a site first opens. Your site must be easy to navigate. Flash used when your site first opens just gets in the way of easy navigation.

--Your site should be 100% professional. Prospective clients will judge you based on the kind of site you have.

--Make sure the navigation is simple to understand. Nothing hidden or mysterious. Make visitors feel at home. Links should be clear. Each page must have a way to get back to your home page. No dead end pages.

--Go to a company like www.godaddy.com to find out what site names are available. Many “insurance” names are taken. Get creative. Your site name should be a “.com” if at all possible. It should also be easy to remember and spell.

--Your contact information should be on every page. You want it to be easy to find you and easy to contact you.

--Don’t let your designer talk you into fancy designs. You want a site that will get you business, not one that will win awards. The only award that matters is the prize in your checkbook when you get a new client.

--Most of your prospective clients will come to you because of your networking activities. Positioning your site to be top ranked in Google is of limited value. That being said, you don’t want to be invisible. Your web designer can help you with the basics. You don’t have to spend big bucks on search engine optimization based on keywords like “insurance” and “insurance advice” though. You want people to find you when they are looking for you. Focus on optimization on your company name and your name. Go to Google and type in “Scott Simmonds insurance.” My listings take-up four pages. Also optimize to have your site come up for “insurance consultant Nevada,” or whatever your state or city is.

--Once you get a web domain name, your web designer should help you find a hosting company (the computer where your web pages reside, waiting for a visitor). The hosting company will also help with email accounts. My sites are hosted by www.webstrikesolutions.com. I pay $60 a year for the site hosting and email – I think the first year was $30. I have been with them since 2002 without a problem. I don’t think there is a better deal out there.

--Back up your website regularly. Even if your hosting company does backups, the ultimate responsibility is always with you to manage the risk of corruption, hacking, and system failure.

The blessing and curse of the internet is that a website is never done. Tweak, jiggle, improve, and refine constantly.