Identify the initial potential of a professional website for your business and brand

Overview of the article series: Why your website is more than just a “digital business card”

Having your own website up and running is a given for most companies and has long since ceased to be anything new. However, the importance attributed to the website varies greatly. It is often understood as a “digital business card” which, once created, no longer requires much attention. This strongly suggests that the various possibilities and potential that a website offers are not fully recognized.

In the digital age, and especially for service providers, the website is of particular importance. In this article series, we will help you recognize the potential of a targeted, user-friendly, and brand-compliant website for your company and its brand.

• In the first part, the often underestimated importance of a professional website is highlighted and placed in the often misunderstood context of digital transformation. You will also learn the difference between digitization and digital transformation.
• The second part helps you recognize why your website is far more than just a “digital business card” and what potential a professional website truly offers for business and brand.
• In the third part, possible reasons why websites are still frequently underestimated are examined. We also present ten ideas on how you can use your website profitably.

Whenever we are unable to recognize certain potentials that are obvious to others, it may be worthwhile to question our own perspective in order to expand it if necessary. To achieve this, one should strive to uncover one’s own mental models, examine them for validity and usefulness, and adjust them where necessary.

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Possible reasons why you may not yet have fully recognized the potential of websites

The following list is intended to help you review your current assumptions about websites. You may discover valuable potential that was previously unknown or inaccessible to you. Or you may feel challenged because one or more points apply more than you would like. See it as an opportunity!

• You are not aware of what the purchasing decision process of your potential customers looks like today and how important it is for us to make independent purchasing decisions without being confronted too early by advertising or sales representatives.
• You have never fully realized that, unlike your social media profiles, your website belongs to you and therefore represents a digital asset that increases in value over time if you know what matters.
• You are not yet fully aware of the importance of brands in the digital age, or you do not yet recognize the opportunities your website offers in terms of strengthening your brand.
• You do not yet recognize how important a professional website truly is in order to be found and classified as trustworthy in the digital age.
• You are not yet clear about the numerous possibilities your own website offers in terms of the digital development of your business.
• You are not aware of the importance of search engine optimization and other relevant online channels. You cannot yet clearly see how digital opportunities are meant to help you strengthen your business and its brand.
• You lack time, resources, or the necessary skills to manage the continuous development and maintenance of a website.
• You think that developing or redesigning your website would take too long or cost too much.
• Or perhaps you are aware of all the above aspects and are still firmly convinced that with your customers, things are different. (Classic.)

First approaches to increasing the effectiveness of your website

Without taking a closer look at customers and their needs, it is difficult to identify concrete innovation potential for business and brand that can be unlocked with the help of a website. There are no all-inclusive innovation packages—and there never will be.

Websites have not existed only since yesterday, even though many entrepreneurs still consider yesterday’s websites to be today’s standard. (We already examined this in Part I.) For this reason, several proven approaches can be listed that can already be found on many modern websites and may also be valuable in your context:

1. A blog with articles that address questions and problems frequently raised by customers. This can help users stay longer on the website, generate demand, and spark interest in the company’s offerings.
2. A list of FAQs (frequently asked questions) that provides users with quick and easy answers.
3. Case studies or customer examples that show how the company has successfully worked for its clients in the past.
4. A section with testimonials or customer reviews that demonstrates customer satisfaction with the company’s services.
5. A list of services or products offered by the company, including detailed descriptions and prices, and possibly booking options.
6. A resource page with links to relevant articles, studies, or other materials that may be of interest to customers.
7. A careers section offering opportunities for users to apply for positions within the company.
8. A contact page with information on the different ways customers can reach the company, e.g., by phone, email, or chat.
9. A page with company information explaining who the company is, how it was founded, and what mission it pursues.
10. An events page showing upcoming events organized by the company and offering users the opportunity to register.

Admittedly, the ideas listed for expanding your website are not particularly innovative. However, a glance at the World Wide Web shows that many companies still struggle to recognize or leverage the potential of websites. Therefore, it seems appropriate to first point out these fundamental possibilities.

The real innovation potential for your business and its brand is most likely still hidden if you have not yet explored it in depth. It requires energy, time, and patience to discover and realize it.

From a technological perspective, our possibilities go far beyond the suggestions mentioned above. Based on today’s computing power and internet speeds, for example, it is possible to create immersive web experiences in which the user becomes part of the action and can interact directly with the virtual environment.

Less futuristic but at least as compelling are companies like Amazon, AirBnB, and others, where a large part of value creation is handled through their own website. This should give you something to think about and perhaps even inspire you. The important thing is:

“[...] you've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards for the technology. You can't start with the technology and try to figure out where you're going to try to sell it.” – Steve Jobs

Without UX, nothing works

Objectively speaking, the majority of available websites on the internet do not even live up to the standard of a “digital business card.” Even the “digital business cards” of this world are often not particularly effective, as fundamental design principles are ignored and other important success criteria for websites are not met.

The result is usually websites with poor UI design and inadequate UX design. Confusing structures, unattractive layouts, boring texts, and overused stock photos are still more the rule than the exception.

Despite—or perhaps because of—the many possibilities for independently creating websites, there still seems to be no acceptable quality standard. This, in turn, offers the opportunity to differentiate yourself from competitors and make a real difference with your own web presence.

As we explained in Part 2, a website contains significantly more potential value than the comparison to a business card suggests and than the comparison with most other websites might imply. Viewed in the overall context, a website is ...

• a freely designable marketing and communication platform that can help you win customers and strengthen your brand
• a platform through which you can digitally expand your business model in order to offer new forms of value creation
• a way to build a digital asset that belongs to you and increases in value over time

As part of our Brand & Web Audit, you will learn how to leverage these potentials in your context for your company. Not only will you learn what matters in brand and website development, but also which concrete deficiencies and potentials you should focus on to strengthen your brand and thus your business.

What you absolutely need to know about websites in order to recognize their true potential

To conclude the article series, the most important insights will be summarized. Here you will find the key statements about what a website is—and what it is not:

1. A website is (far more than) an online presence of a company, organization, or individual that is accessible via the internet.
2. A website is a powerful marketing and communication platform that can help ensure that the company is found by potential customers and that customer loyalty to existing customers is strengthened.
3. A website is not a replacement for other marketing and communication channels. It should be viewed as part of a comprehensive and integrated marketing strategy that also includes other channels such as social media, email marketing, or traditional media.
4. A website is not an advertising brochure for everyone, but an easily accessible communication and interaction platform for many people, which should be tailored to specific stakeholder groups with specific interests, needs, and questions.
5. A website is more than just a digital business card. It can be used as a tool to strengthen the business and promote the brand by providing engaging information about products or services, offering insights into offerings, collecting customer feedback, or serving as a platform for selling products or services.
6. A website should be as dynamic as possible and adapt to users’ needs and interests, for example by providing personalized content or recommendations.
7. A website is not a one-way street. It should be used as a platform for interaction with users and customers, for example by offering comment and discussion functions or options for booking or contacting.
8. A website is not a static object. It should be updated regularly to keep users informed about new developments or offers and to ensure that it remains current and relevant.
9. A website is not an end in itself. It should serve clearly defined goals and purposes and be aligned with them—for example, to attract new customers, promote the brand, or increase the sale of products or services.
10. A website is more than just a collection of text. It can contain many more elements: images, videos, audio files, interactive features, links to other websites, and much more.
11. Customer centricity. A website is not designed for its owners, but for the people who are meant to visit it. Only through radical customer centricity can the right information be provided and the right impressions created to fulfill the purpose of the website.

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