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Like you, I am a business owner and startup entrepreneur. And like you, I am also constantly looking for ways to get the biggest bang for our startup dollars. Let’s face it, we have to! So when I have a need, my thinking is like yours. If we can create a startup company from scratch, surely we can create our own website. Right? I mean how hard can it be?

And if you believe all the advertising and spam, creating a business website is easier than ever. All anyone needs to do is watch a WordPress tutorial on YouTube, or maybe get a Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace account. Then, just like that, drag it here, paste it there, and voila! You are as good as a professional web designer.  Why pay someone to build and promote a website or page when you can do it for yourself? Life should be so simple, then we would all be millionaires, jet-setting around the world on our private jets.

Well, not exactly.

A two-hour tutorial will explain to you the technical aspects of creating a web page, but only a professional designer knows the secrets of design. Sometimes, it’s the where it goes and what it is that matters more than the technical know-how when building a website.

Every so often, I will get a home healthcare startup or caregiver come to me and admit they failed to properly design their website. There is no shame in asking for help.

What Does It Really Cost to Do It Yourself?

However, there are those who don’t want to give up. They insist on creating a web page for their home healthcare business all by themselves. And that’s great, I also welcome challenges. But do the math!

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Lets face it, when you analyze what your time is worth as a company owner or caregiver per hour, and calculate the working hours you will need to research, study, test, execute, correct mistakes, refine, launch, and maintain a website and market it, only then will you realize how much money you paid for a website that a professional could do in 1/10th the time. The math says it all.

Still not convinced you need an UJAT Care or other website and marketing professional? Then here are a few simple tips to follow when building your website. I’ve been collecting these over the years.

Simple Tips to Build Your Website

    1. Always think like a potential client thinks. If you find it difficult to navigate or understand a website, then so will they.
    2. Avoid self-delusion. I cannot tell you how many times I have said to myself, Wow! This is so easy. Then to my surprise only to be told by well-meaning clients it’s too complicated. So to avoid lying to yourself, ask a grandmother, a 5-year-old, and then a lawyer or doctor to visit your website and try it out. Odds are the grandmother and the 5-year-old will do better than the doctor or lawyer. Professionals tend to make the best testers. They never have time to waste, because time is money.
    3. Don’t add a bunch of links on a page leading to other pages. That does not help your cause.
    4. The whole point. Your home healthcare website or caregiver profile is there so that your potential clients or employees want to and can contact you. So make sure your phone number, email address, and company’s address are visible.
    5. Calls to action.  You need to tell visitors to your website what you want them to do. And where to do it. No one wants to come to just read a website. Too often, website owners want to create a long, complex explanation that no one is interested in reading. As a startup business owner, you need to know what you want a potential client to do: fill out a form, call a number, watch a video, buy something, or book an appointment. Once you know, then create a clear call to action. And if they need more info, then they will look around. Which brings me to point 6.
    6. Less is more. Don’t try to say everything on one page or add tons of slideshow photos. This will have a negative effect in many ways.

These are the basic tips for a homecare website.

Why Do Websites Go to Hell?

Company websites and digital marketing go to hell mostly because startup owners are confident and convinced they know what their business requirements are. But who is more likely to be better informed, a group of experts who have built and marketed hundreds, if not thousands, of home healthcare websites and watched what works and what fails? Or the home healthcare business startup owner?

In the coming Part II of How Websites Go to Hell, I will discuss how the hiring of an expert website designer and marketer is no guarantee of getting it right.

Please continue to follow me and learn more about the online world and technologies affecting owners and caregivers in today’s home healthcare sector.