Is your Web site a good reflection of your company?

But it's become increasingly clear to us that even if customers don't choose a shop based on a Web search, they often like to research a little bit about shops to which they have been referred.

So that combined with a desire to present more updated information about our shop in a more sophisticated way led me about a year ago to start thinking about a Web site overhaul.

As of this writing, it's still a work in process. But I hope the new site will be live within the next month or two. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of what I've decided or learned that may be helpful for those creating a new site or updating an established one.

• A good place to start is to check out other shop's sites to see what you like and don't like about them. Think about how easy or intuitive it is to navigate around the site and find the information you (or a potential customer) would want. Think about whether it has a "tone" or "look" that you like, whether it be serious, informal, classy or casual. The second and third generations of our family are operating our business, so we want to play that up by creating a site that is professional but a little folksy, with some vintage photos that demonstrate our longevity in the community and make it stand out from the more generic Web sites that are available.
• If you like a particular site, see if it indicates who created or maintains the Web site (often listed in the fine print at the bottom of the home page). You can then visit that company's Web site to see other sites they have created. That's actually how I found the Web designer I'm working with. I visited a site (for another type of business) that I really liked, and found out it was created by a woman in my area.
• It might also be helpful to ask some people outside your business (family or friends or other business owners you know) to spend a few minutes online looking for local shop Web sites. Ask them which ones they like and why, and what problems or information they felt was missing if they were researching for a shop based on those Web sites.
• I'm amazed at how often Web sites don't include critical basic information, like the shop's hours, complete street or e-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers. The Web site designer I'm working with suggested that all the information anyone needs to contact us be included somewhere on every page of our new Web site, and I think that's good advice. Why make it a challenge for anyone to find out how to reach us?
• Choose e-mail addresses listed on the site with care. Don't include any e-mail addresses unless those accounts are checked regularly. Anyone who contacts your company will be expecting a prompt response. We're deciding if we want to include e-mail addresses for specific estimators or just a more generic address that goes into one inbox. And rather than listing an actual e-mail address, which can be "harvested" by spammers, you may want to create a link on the Web site to a form that allows someone to type an e-mail and send it to you without knowing your actual e-mail address.
• If your writing skills are not strong, consider hiring someone to help create the content for your site. Your Web site is a reflection of your company's professionalism. Potential customers may be turned off by any apparent inattention to details like typos and grammatical errors or just unclear information.
• Keep it current. As I said, our shop's Web site had sat largely unchanged for years, but none of the information on it was significantly out of date (other than the photos of the shop don't show it's updated look). But your Web site will show its age if you don't spend a little time every month or two making sure any links on it are still working. Also ensure that it doesn't include names or e-mails of employees no longer with you, and that the most recent newsletters posted on the site aren't from years earlier.
• Take some time to organize your thoughts about what information you want the Web site to convey. I chose to gather my ideas using a spreadsheet, setting up a list of the sections or tabs I wanted to include and the information I wanted under each of those headings. I used one column of the spreadsheet to list the photos, logos or other artwork I wanted to include with the information on that page, which I listed in the adjoining cell. I think this will help the Web designer set things up how I'd like, although I'm welcoming her input on how things are organized.