This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.This is a guest post by Tom Harris, Your Marketing Coach. Tom helps entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and execute marketing plans. He specializes in website usability and effectiveness.

You’re about to go into an important meeting – a sales call, a presentation, a negotiating session, or a job interview. Whatever it may be, there will be people in this meeting who will affect your future. People that you need to impress, because they will make decisions based on YOU, and your words and your demeanor and your appearance. People who will judge whether they want to do business with you – to hire you, to accept your proposal, to buy your products or services, to contribute to your cause.

Would you go into this meeting totally unprepared, having done no research, having given no thought to what you might say, or to what questions might be asked of you?

Ladies, would you go into this meeting with your hair looking like it did when you woke up this morning? Would you go to the meeting directly from the gym, in your sweats and sneakers and headband?

Guys, would you go into this meeting wearing your favorite ripped-in-the-knees blue jeans, with grease and dirt under your fingernails? Or how about a big mustard stain on your necktie?

And if you did any of those things, do you think you’d be able to make the right impression, and get the job, or close the sale?

Then why is it that some businesses continually ignore the content and appearance of their websites?

In the aforementioned meeting, maybe one or two or a half-dozen people will see the mustard stain on your necktie. But you wouldn’t think of allowing that to happen.

So, by comparison, how important is it that your website look good and make the right impression? It’s not just one or two or a half dozen people that will see your website, and judge whether they want to do business with you – it’s thousands or tens of thousands.

How would you like tens of thousands of prospective customers to see the big mustard stain on your necktie?

Yet, that’s exactly what too many business websites look like.

How many chances do we get to make a first impression? Let’s see… one?

It’s time for you to review your site and ask: Does it really make a good first impression?