Websites have been around for a while – those that have been made in the 90’s for businesses were likely remade sometime in the early 2000’s and perhaps again years later. We could argue that businesses have an online presence that has “cycles” that occur much quicker than those for people. Think about our generational workforce – each one lasts roughly 20 years, the most recent four being the WWII generation to the Baby Boomers, followed by Generation X and now our Generation Y or beloved terminology of “Millennials”.
Arguably, the exclusive entity of a business’s online presence faces the same generational process. This has become by our own influx of business owners that ask us “What is online marketing“, “What is this ‘SEO'”, and “Do I need a new website?”.
Technology in all formats has evolved exponentially for decades and that impact has directly influenced everything our business stands for. Several years ago, you didn’t really have to worry too much about how your website came up on mobile, but now it is a necessity. Screen resolutions are changing all the time – many people surf the web on their TVs as well and those are only getting larger.
So what does it all mean? Do you have to build a new website every 3 to 4 years? Do you have to revisit what has worked for you in the past as far as digital marketing goes? The short answer is, it’s likely. People (like me) just get sick of seeing the same things presented on websites for years: one of these main observations is the idea of the “faceless”. The stock images that convey nothing. The imagery that relates your business to a void. It is time we put a little more effort into what we’re trying to portray in our business when each and every visitor comes to our site.
We’ve all seen these before:
You know…they mean productivity, and getting found, and being on the up and up, and pie charts that measure success….sure.
To branch off the prospect of your own business online, digital marketing has become this odd hub of ultimate “facelessness” – endless stock images and graphs and search engine name-dropping that has made the idea of the digital marketing agency almost a hollow shell. It is far more common to see many of these types of images on a website than an actual human being.
I decided to check 50 SEO websites in Orlando and their homepages in the follow cities and see what percentage had:
- Random picture of a chart or graph
- Had something flashy about search engines or social platforms (like the image above with the magnifying glass)
- Stock photo of humans smiling, in a business setting, shaking hands, jumping up and down for joy because they rank number #1 for everything
- Has any sort of first place guarantee
- Actually has people on the homepage that work for the company
You know you want to see the results….look below. (All 50 companies have results in the given city, not necessarily saying they are located there). I’m using the keyphrase “(insert city) digital marketing company”
Orlando, FL
- Random picture of a chart or graph: 36%
- Had something flashy about search engines or social platforms: 50%
- Stock photo of humans smiling, in a business setting, etc.: 32%
- Has any sort of first place guarantee: 42%
- Actually has people on the website that work for the company: 24%
Miami, FL
- Random picture of a chart or graph: (coming soon)
- Had something flashy about search engines or social platforms: (coming soon)
- Stock photo of humans smiling, in a business setting, etc.: (coming soon)
- Has any sort of first place guarantee:(coming soon)
- Actually has people on the website that work for the company: (coming soon)
New York, NY
- Random picture of a chart or graph:(coming soon)
- Had something flashy about search engines or social platforms:(coming soon)
- Stock photo of humans smiling, in a business setting, etc.:(coming soon)
- Has any sort of first place guarantee:(coming soon)
- Actually has people on the website that work for the company:(coming soon)
How has this become acceptable? Is it because it is the norm and it is just easy to emulate? Perhaps.
The success of businesses has commonly been derived from taking advantage of opportunities. Even Market My Market isn’t perfect – we don’t have a single picture of anyone on the homepage. And maybe everyone loves graphs ebbing up and down for no rhyme or reason, who knows.
We know the customer is becoming ever-savvier though, just look at the timeline.
- People were terrified of entering their card info about a decade ago – now we have apps, Paypal, Venmo, and plenty of other routes of seamless payment.
- Mobile traffic is breaking 50% for tens of thousands of websites.
- Generational gaps are officially separating the social platforms we interact with most commonly (aka the whole phenomenon that teens use Instagram more than Facebook)
Maybe it is time to ditch this guy and decide what really matters the most to your customers:
Market My Market wants to take back the integrity of online marketing and stop the expectation of doing the bare minimum to get by. We work to create cutting-edge web designs that visitors to the site actually want to engage with. Let us help you take your web presence to the next level. Contact our team at (800) 954-9441 to learn more about us and receive a free service quote today.
The ongoing digital revolution is transforming the way that all businesses interact with clients and customers. Consumers rely heavily on digital channels for researching products and services and expect to make buying choices with the swipe of a finger. For organizations that want to remain competitive, having a defined digital marketing strategy and execution plan is essential for successful outcomes. With a demonstrated history of creating and implementing strategic digital marketing initiatives that drive growth, I am committed to delivering real, measurable results for my clients.