While many businesses are now aware that developing a strong online presence is critical to business growth, the majority of funeral homes have no idea that the quality of their web design has a dramatic impact on the success of their site as a whole. Surprisingly, studies have shown that roughly 48% of site visitors consider quality, professional  web design the most important factor in determining whether or not a company is trustworthy.

And, of course, trust is everything when caring for a family’s loved one. Your website is your #1 opportunity to introduce who your brand is and how people can engage with your services, including make a purchase or payment of some kind.

At MKJ’s recent San Francisco seminar,”Growing Your Online Audience,”  Courtney Gould Miller discussed several reasons that a custom website designed around your business, market, and services generates more preneed and at-need leads than generic or templated sites.

Building a brand requires consistency across all of your funeral home’s marketing channels. Your website is your face to the community, especially when many families and decision makers are spread out over the country. The website must communicate who you are as a company, with lots of detail about your history, your values, and your services. A professional marketing agency , like MKJ Marketing, is able to design a look and feel that is consistent with your brand and create custom copy that includes everything that is special about your business. We use quality images that reflect the families you serve. Showing your owners, managers, and staff on the website is also critical.

Another benefit of professional web design is the reduced bounce rate that is associated with a responsive, dynamic template. For those new to internet marketing, a bounce rate is the percentage of individuals who leave your site after viewing a single page on your site. 94% of individuals have stated that poor web design is the reason they mistrusted a website. Reducing the bounce rate on a website is essential to engaging site visitors and facilitating online sales.

Inbound marketing is one of the most sought-after types of advertising mediums for today’s businesses. Some common examples of inbound marketing include website optimization , social media marketing , and adding blog content regularly to your company website. Inbound marketing does not require an outside sales team and is much easier to manage than outbound sales techniques such as television and radio advertising. In fact, inbound marketing costs 62% less (on average) than outbound marketing thanks to reduced labor and material costs. How is a business’s inbound marketing campaign affected by web design? According to studies, 94% of online first impressions are entirely design related; this means that although content is critical for improving site ranking, it is web design that communicates a business’s credibility. You can spend a lot of money promoting your business through pay-per-click or Facebook marketing, but if your website doesn’t communicate the right messages to the visitors, the effort and expense spent on advertising the site is wasted.

Today, there are a number of different web browsers that are used to surf the web. For businesses to accommodate the majority of internet users, it is essential to have a website design that is compatible with all major web browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Explorer, and Safari. Today, a flexible web design also includes a mobile-friendly configuration. In fact, a significant number of companies now choose to build their web design around the goal of optimized mobile compatibility. Consumers are increasingly using their smartphones to shop, sites with designs that have been optimized for mobile users can expect improved mobile SEO , user experience, user navigation, and conversions. As such, many funeral homes executing inbound advertising strategies are more successful when they incorporate photos and descriptions of the services they offer into their campaign, such as floral offerings, urns, and caskets.

Roughly 50% of small businesses have websites, while the majority of medium and large businesses rely heavily on web presence to drive customer engagement and sales. A responsive, dynamic web design helps your funeral home stay competitive by boosting your SEO ranking, as well as offering a good first impression to families who visit your site. This combination of improved search engine ranking and a quality first impression allows your funeral home to stay competitive against the other businesses in your area.

On average, websites have ten seconds to make a quality first impression before a visitor leaves the site. By having a custom website with copy, images, and messages unique to you, you are improving your company’s credibility, boosting search rankings, and becoming more competitive in your local market. For more information about the benefits of professional web design, or to discuss how quality web design can enhance your business revenue, contact us today for a free web demo or analysis of your current website.