Why update my website when it isn’t getting me any business?

I was recently at lunch with my favorite SEO guy, Rick Morris. He was telling me about an appointment he had with a big shot lawyer. He went to their office, which was adorned with granite tile, a fountain in the lobby, and a free soda for each waiting visitor. Just sitting in the lobby felt therapeutic for Rick. He was surrounded by success! Even Donald Trump would have felt comfortable enough to fire someone in that office.

Rick further explained to me that he was meeting with this team of lawyers to discuss how he could help their business get their website ranking well with Google. The attorneys were skeptical of this search engine voodoo and weren’t sure a major investment in his services would be worth the marketing dollars.

During a lunch with my favorite SEO guy, Rick Morris, he shared a story about meeting a prestigious law firm. Despite their luxurious office setup and aura of success, the lawyers were surprisingly skeptical about investing in SEO to revamp their outdated website. Rick argued that a modern, well-ranked site is essential for attracting clients in a competitive industry, but the firm dismissed the idea, citing zero new clients from the site in a year. They were convinced traditional methods would always work, missing the potential of digital marketing to drive future growth and visibility.

Website statistics don’t reveal how many clients businesses are LOSING

In other news, I recently visited Indianapolis to try out the world famous The Tamale Place… and let me tell you, their tamales are remarkable. If they let me design their website they could easily pay me in nothing but tamales. I admit, the tamales weren’t my primary reason for visiting Indianapolis, but they will be my primary reason for going back.

…but I digress.

Waddling out of The Tamale Place (full of deliciousness) I noticed an old, run down strip mall across the street. One of the offices had a sign above the door that read “Law Office.” I thought to myself, “who in their right mind would go to a place like that for a good attorney?”

As I drove away, my mind went back to Rick’s experience with the attorneys with the plush high-rise office. These lawyers that paid tens of thousands of dollars to make their office look and feel spectacular, wouldn’t spend $249/month to make their online storefront look just a nice. What many business owners forget is, sometimes you invest in things that make your business look credible—not to gain more sales, but to increase the potential of sales. This sounds like the same reason for fountains in the lobby and granite office floors.

Your choice: High-Rise Online Presence, or Strip-Mall Online Presence

A website communicates everything about your business! People will make 100+ judgments about the type of business you are long before you get a chance to explain it to them. Most people would admit to Googling a business before a call or a visit. If the online storefront looks like a run-down strip mall, they will move on.

If you don’t have a website and see no need to get one because you have plenty of business, get one because you want to establish confidence in your potential customer before they pay you a visit. If you haven’t updated your website in the last 5 years and see no need to do so because everything seems to be working, then do it because you want to give the client the message that you always stay ahead of the game.