These Seven Things Powered a Successful Website for My Startup

Having intentional objectives is the foundation for getting what you want

My new business, J.D. Solomon Inc., incorporated in December of 2019 and opened its doors on January 2, 2020. One of our internal successes is that the initial website — like the business — is still around two years later. Here are a few tips that make the website an ongoing success.

Understand what you need. The company provides niche consulting services to large companies and units of government. The website’s primary purpose is to provide credibility because most of our work comes from referrals. We will not win new business from the website, but we can certainly lose business if the site makes us appear unworthy of the larger entities we serve. In our case, we do not use the site for e-commerce or as the primary tool for lead generation.

Limit your offerings. Customers and allied business partners will remember you for a few key offerings so steer them in the right direction. We provide services in the broad spectrum of facilities, infrastructure, and the environment. As anyone would expect, there are many services within this spectrum. We boiled down our services into three major service categories for the website — program development, asset management, and facilitation — and then defined each by three one-word attributes on their specialty pages.

More visuals than text. The visuals create a warm, easy-flowing experience and simultaneously underscore a credible purpose. The text provides just enough narrative to generate understanding and keywords associated with our niche services. Getting the visuals and the text right takes time. Getting them aligned together takes more time.

Personal story. Sharing a personal story motivates people in a way that words and numbers do not. We decided to highlight my background of three generations in the business, including pictures of my grandfather, my father, and me in my early career, to add a personal touch to the company’s niche services. This section receives the most significant number of positive comments.

Helpful Content. Our main hook for the website is free information and expert guidance related to problems. The website targets our primary clients, facility and infrastructure owners. It also provides our allied business partners, such as engineering or financial firms, with an understanding of how we can complement their services. In our context, most clients will not visit our website to hear about who else we are working for or how many awards we have won. They like helpful content.

Mobile application. This aspect cannot be overlooked because it is how many people will access your website. The WIX platform that we use provides a solid connection between desktop and mobile applications. If I had to do it again, I would start with getting the mobile visualization right first and then the desktop but starting with the desktop and moving to the mobile visualizations was not a fatal flaw.

Hire a professional. I had some earlier experience with a personal website and then some part-time assistance with the website for my book. From those experiences, hiring a full-time professional that can build your website and get your company style guide right from the beginning should be considered essential.

We did some fine-tuning to the website a few months ago to keep it fresh. The tips here will get you started on the right path from the beginning and limit any updates to refreshing. Visit www.jdsolomoninc.com to see our website.