A website? What for? To increase your visibility? Read on.

Come on, this week I'm making enemies! Here we go!
Since the beginning of the crisis, we've been seeing "Get a website and increase your visibility" all over the place. Watch out! Hold on to your hats, a huge "scoop" is coming: a site costing just a few euros a month won't bring you ... ANYTHING.
What's that? What do you mean you knew? Ah yes, nothing worthwhile in life is easy to achieve... that's true.

What's a website for?

Let's say you had your "ma-super-boutique.com" website made, and then what? Why would people come to your site? How would they find it?
When the Strasbourg datacenters burned down, 3 million 600 thousand sites were affected. How many sites do you visit a month? 10? 20? 100?
What you have to understand here is that once your site is online, it's just another site in the depths of the Internet. If you think you can just put it online and wait ... you're clearly on the wrong track, and you're going to lose money (and even more importantly ... time).

A strategy

If you want people to come and see you, you need a clear strategy. A showcase site is practically useless.

In fact, if someone types your brand name into Google, they may come across you, but if they already know the brand ... How does that increase visibility?

The target audience

Who are your potential prospects, and more importantly, where are they on the Internet? Let's take an example from outside the internet...
If you sold ice cream, where would you place your ice cream truck? At the top of a ski slope? No, not really...
Next to a beach on a sunny day? That would be much better for your sales...
On the Internet, it's the same thing: where are your potential prospects? and above all, how can you find out about them and reach them? I'll sum it up in one word: data (okay, that's two, I see you coming?).
For the more experienced among you, I'd call it Growth Hacking (no, that's not a dirty word).

Paid traffic

Basically, it's advertising. Social networks and search engines are simply advertising agencies. In the previous paragraph, we talked about "data". Once you've got that data, you know who to reach, and to reach them, you can invest in advertising on social networks or search engines. However, I wouldn't recommend investing blindly without a clear strategy and a well-defined audience.

Keep your audience interested

A website that says "hello, we're X and we do y", even if it has a nice design, is unlikely to arouse the interest of your visitors... whereas if, for example, you have interesting things to read on your subject (and which, what's more, interest your audience)?

Let's say you're a cheese enthusiast selling cheese? Why not write some nice, interesting articles about your profession (and therefore your passion)?
And on a regular basis... (regularity is very important). Eventually, with a good editorial line and SEO (search engine optimization), when someone asks a question you answer on your blog, they'll come across you.
It takes time and energy; it's a bit like a vegetable garden, you take care of it every day so that in the end you end up with good, beautiful vegetables. It takes time, but it's worth it.

Would you like an example of what I'm talking about? Or are you reading what you're reading? ... ?
Did you hear about me before reading this article? (by the way ... welcome to my little site, make yourself at home).

A website connected to your social networks

If, for example, you need a video illustration for an article, why not create a Youtube channel in parallel and be present on this platform at the same time? And vice versa, the YouTube channel can bring people to your website - it works both ways.

Packaging can be an entry point

Your packaging will be seen, so why not add a QR Code to direct potential customers to your site? (yes, it's a mini-paragraph, I added it after the fact).

Conclusion

A website on its own, without a clear strategy, is absolutely useless... it'll waste your time, and in life there's nothing more precious than time... Money comes and goes, whereas the passage of time, we all have the same.

Have a good week.