I have been singing Willy Wonka songs lately (and by the way, I came up with this idea WAY before Russell Brand did his horrible rendition at the Olympic Closing Ceremonies). Just like most Americans, I have also been watching the Olympics and cheering for the good ol’ USA to win some medals.  This got me thinking about how these two disparate concepts might relate to designing websites, and believe it or not I came up with a moderately sane analogy!

Clearly, it is not healthy to eat junk food all day long. You may survive, but you end up fat and tired like poor Augustus Gloop whose gluttony caused him to fall into the chocolate river and get squeezed into a vacuum tube. I’m sure we would all rather be like the Usain Bolts of the world, physically fit and feeling great.  However, this requires more time, more discipline, eating a healthy diet and working out regularly.

The analogy is that many businesses have junk food websites. What I mean by this is that business owners, especially when starting their business, cut corners on the health of their website design.  They pay for a cheap 1and1 website or try to make their own site through GoDaddy’s website builder tools, rationalizing that they can upgrade to a better website once they gain more capital. However, most business owners either never upgrade, wait too long to upgrade, or go out of business before they can upgrade.  Those that go out of business sometimes can attribute their lack of success directly to their poorly managed website.

They spend no time optimizing their websites to be found by search engines, and are therefore never found by their online customers. They don’t spend any time linking to their websites from all of the free directories and customer feedback websites that are available. They don’t bother tapping into social media marketing to expand their online presence. They don’t blog, they don’t include any lead generation forms on their website, they don’t do e-blasts… their website and online presence are malnourished and underperforming  This is the junk food website.

On the other hand, business owners who give their website lots of attention, good nutrition and regular exercise will find their online presence becoming more healthy and robust. Feed your website a healthy diet of backlinks, using the online tools available to you. Give your website design yearly checkups with a trained web designer who can evaluate the levels of your on-site search engine optimization. Exercise your website with a weekly regimen of blog entries to keep your content fresh. Jog the memories of your customers by keeping in touch with them through regular emails.  You will see your website winning gold in no time!

Heed my advice and don’t make me start an Oompa Loompa song on you.  Uh oh, here comes one now…

Oompa Loompa, Loompa-Dee-Doo
I have another puzzle for you
Oompa Loompa, Loompa-Dee-Dee
If you are wise, you’ll listen to me

What do you get when your website is junk?
Too much free time, and your business is sunk
Call Kropmark now, get your business in shape
Websites and more with no red tape… just hard work and integrity!

Image from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory / Warner Bros.