There’s nothing like a nice weekend getaway to Charleston, South Carolina where you experience good old fashion hospitality, fine dining, and peaceful walks through neighborhoods on old cobble stone roads. It’s a place where you discover magnificent courtyards tucked away behind cast iron fences draped with sweet jasmine and the fragrance of the crisp ocean breeze fills the air.
Charleston has always been a special town for us. It’s the town where we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and found ourselves coming back almost a dozen times a year. It’s that special place that we consider a home away from home and where we get the most inspiration. Most designers and creatives can relate when I say inspiration is a necessity and not just a luxury.
So what did we get inspired to do after our trip to Charleston? We’ll for one, this brand new website and blog. It’s been on the to do list for a long time, but over the past 8 months, I became a new mother and have been busy with several projects putting the Allegro website on the back burner. As a mother who works in and outside of the home, it’s not news to anyone that time is a very rare commodity.
However, after our trip to Charleston, I knew it was time to launch a brand new website for Allegro and to utilize key functions for web marketing, like search engine optimization, content management system, and a blog.
We are all aware that the web is constantly changing. Just ten years ago it was rare to own a website and now it’s an expectation to have your company online. Web standards and design trends are improving. Every day new updates are created, designs continue to evolve and stretch the limits, and more and more people are going online to do their research, read consumer reviews, watch videos, learn and shop. The bottom line is if companies don’t keep up, they will miss out on the largest growing market.
As a web designer and developer, I learn something new everyday and it’s my job to keep up and I not expect my clients to know what to ask and know the ins and outs of web development. The more I know, the better equipped I am at helping my clients become successful. I have no idea how web developers stay in business without constantly updating their skills. You certainly shouldn’t be in the web development business if you don’t want to continue to learn and grow.
Did you know that Americans spend an average of 14 hours a week online and 14 hours watching TV? However, of the marketing dollars spent, 22% of their advertising dollars go towards TV and only 6% online, according to data compiled and analyzed by Google.
I am shocked at the number of websites out there that are so outdated and difficult to navigate. Many people don’t know where to start or know if they should spend the money to get a new website. For the novices out there, sure there are templates you could buy, but if you don’t know anything about coding, you will likely pull your hair out trying to figure it out. It’s never that easy. You’re better off hiring someone who will take your interest to heart and will who will do a good job keeping you informed of best practices. Web development is a profession of its own.
“Of all the advertising platforms, the Internet is one of the few on an upward trend,” says Wharton marketing professor Patti Williams. “But if you look in terms of the sheer amount of time most consumers are spending online and the amount of dollars being spent to reach them, it is still probably way under what it should be.”
For some, the question is I don’t know if I can afford a new website. But the reality is, I don’t think you can afford not to. Your online presence is a long term investment that needs to constantly evolve. Imagine if you were the owner of a clothing company. Would you sell the same style of clothes indefinitely? Of course not! How about if you owned a specialty boutique shop, would you set up your specialty shop like a garage sell? Of course not! Your online presence is your store front. You want to create an experience for your online visitors just as you would a customer who walked into your shop.
