Not every client gets it. And that's ok.

Welcome back to my soapbox.

When people ask me what type of clients I like to work with, they expect me to give them an industry or a growth stage; "Oh I love working with architects" or "We focus on service-based business in Melbourne in their first 3 years of growth". Now don't get me wrong, I do often love working with architects and service-based Melbourne businesses in their growth phase, but neither of those are my answer to that question.

My answer is, I work with clients who get it.

What is 'it'? I hear you ask. Good question.

The client who gets it, is the client who understands that before they can ask any stranger to believe and trust in their business, they need to. It is the client who knows that you have to invest in your business before you ask a customer to (put your money where your mouth is, if you will). It is the client who knows that a website is not an expense, it's an investment. And if it is done well, it will work for you, not cost you money.

And yes, this is true for a business of any size.

I was on an introductory call with a prospective client the other day and was starting to nerd out over all of the things we could do with his website. So was he.

We spoke about building out an online ordering system, integrating a live stream, design elements we could introduce on the website that would reflect the in-store experience. For context, his business hasn't launched yet, we know these are not elements we are adding to his website straight away, but we spoke about them early, so we know where we are going.

What that actually looks like

So what did we actually do? We started off with a landing page to introduce the new business to the local neighbourhood. This client is opening a hospitality venue (that I am really excited to be a customer at, but more on that later), right now they are still fitting out the physical store, so the landing page gives peoples' curiosity somewhere to well ... land.

It also helps establish the brand and the website on Google before the store opens, it allows future customers to subscribe for updates, and soft launches the brand.

When I talk about a website that grows with you, this is what I mean.

Because now, we are perfectly placed to expand the website when the bricks and mortar store opens it's doors.

• The landing page will convert into the homepage, this was the plan from the beginning so I briefed the copywriter on this and we worked the copy and the design around this idea

• The seasonal menu will be turned on for Winter and has been setup so that the client can swap it over when Spring finally graces us with it's presence and the menu changes

• And the additional pages and features that we planned in that initial meeting will be developed out

The mindset that holds most websites back

I can't tell you how many times someone has said to me on an introductory call "oh we just need a standard site, 4 pages, contact form, nothing too fancy" respectfully, if that is the mindset you are going in with, and that is the mindset you brief your designer with, you probably won't get the most out of your new website. Unless you are also thinking about the role that those four pages play, what their purpose is, what their job is within the business.

Websites are not, and should not, be stagnant. Just like businesses aren't stagnant. Your website should be functioning like any other touchpoint in your business, if it is the first place that someone interacts with you, will it leave the same first impression they would get if they met a member of your team in person?

That's the client who gets it. Not the one with the biggest budget, or the longest wish list. The one who understands that a website has a job to do, and is willing to think about what that job actually is before we start building.

If that's you, let's talk about what your website's job should be.

{ Veronica }