A home contractor asked me last week how he could make his website better at attracting potential home builders or remodelers. I asked if he currently has a gallery of images to show off his work on the website. He did, but it was 5-6 pictures on a tucked away page that had been there since the website launched three years ago.
So, I suggested he add a dynamic photo gallery to his site. He frowned as if I’d told him to get an engineering degree and reinvent trigonometry to accomplish this. So I explained it to him like this:
You want to show your work. Your team in the field have cell phones, right? Start an Instagram account and let each supervisor add that account to the Instagram app on their phone. When they complete a project, or even when they want to take a good picture of a project in process, have them post the image with a short caption explaining what it is to the Instagram account.
“That makes sense, but how do I get that on my website?” he asked.
Well, there are tools out there that allow you do create Instagram galleries you can embed on any site. I’ve used one called Instush that allows you to pick what type of gallery, the size, how many images to display and the like. It takes five minutes to set it up, then you just copy-and paste the code it generates where you want the gallery to be on your website.
“But I don’t know how to update my website other than adding a blog post,” he protested.
Okay, but would it be worth it to ask your web developer or a friend you trust who knows how to copy and paste a block of text on your site so you could have a dynamic work gallery to show your work? Or even worth the 30 minutes or so it might take you to figure it out?
“Sure.”
So, then? What are you waiting for?
This is a simple solution to a fairly common problem for small businesses. The point is not to say, “Here’s a cool way to show your work!” The point is to remind us all that solutions to the problems in front of us aren’t always complicated. Sometimes, it just takes asking the question and searching for an answer.
What’s something complex you’d like to do with your small business website? Throw out the ideas in the comments and we’ll see if we can’t find some simple solutions for you, too.