Before applying for financing, a lease or a large contract, look at your site as the other side will: a current address and phone, recent dated work, email on your own domain, and nothing visibly abandoned.

Someone will look you up

It is Small Business Week, and for many owners that means thinking about growth: a loan for equipment, a larger unit, a contract with a bigger customer, an account with a new supplier.

Each of those applications lands on someone's desk. Before they finish reading it, they will type your business name into a search box.

They are not judging the design. They are checking that the business on the form is the one on the screen, that it is where it says it is, and that it is still trading.

A website nobody has touched in four years answers those questions badly, even when the business is doing well.

Who checks, and what they want

The third is where the website does the most work. A purchasing manager comparing three suppliers has little else to go on, and a projects page that stops in 2014 reads as a business that stopped in 2014.

The questions an old site raises

The first is an address that differs from the application, which leaves the reader wondering whether the business moved or closed a location.

The second is a copyright line in the footer that still says 2012. It is small, but it reads as the last time anyone looked.

Then come a projects page whose latest entry is years old, icons linking to social accounts that went quiet long ago, and a contact address on a free webmail service.

Each is minor alone. Together they describe a business that may have shrunk, moved or closed, which is exactly what the reader is trying to rule out.

Match the application exactly

Lenders and landlords compare details, so the details should agree.

Use the same business name on the site as on the application. If you trade under a name that differs from the company's legal name, say so in the footer: the trade name, then the legal name it belongs to.

The address, phone number and email should match the form on every page where they appear, and so should the year the business started.

A reader who finds the same facts in three places stops checking. One who finds two versions starts asking questions.

Show that the business is active

The real question behind every check is whether the business is busy now.

The clearest answer is recent work with dates: a projects page with this year's jobs, a gallery whose newest photographs are from this season, a short note when something changes, such as new equipment or a move.

A team page with current staff helps too, and so do hours that match the sign on the door.

None of this needs a blog or weekly posting. It needs a few entries a year, each dated, so a stranger can see the business at work.

A worked example

A canvas and awning maker with eight staff applied this summer for financing on a second industrial sewing machine, and at the same time for a lease on a larger unit across town.

The lender and the landlord's property manager both came back with questions, and several were about the website.

The site still gave the address the shop had left two years earlier, and its projects page ended in 2014.

The footer said 2012, a Twitter icon led to an account with four posts, and the contact email was a free webmail address.

Nobody had thought of the website as part of the application, and nobody had touched it since the move. The owner explained each point by phone; none was serious, but each was one more doubt to clear.

Their web company fixed it in an afternoon: the new address on every page, this year's restaurant patios and storefront awnings on the projects page, the Twitter icon removed and email moved onto the business's own domain.

The next application will find a site that answers those questions before anyone asks them.

Email on your own domain

An address at a free webmail service reads like a side business, or one that might not last. An address at your own domain matches the website and suggests a business that intends to stay.

Setting it up is usually inexpensive, through your hosting or a service such as G Suite or Office 365, and the old address can forward to the new one while customers catch up.

Remove what nobody maintains

A social media icon on the home page invites a reader to look. One who follows it to an account silent since 2014 concludes the business went quiet too, the very doubt a lender wants to rule out.

Post often enough that the account looks alive, or take the icon off. The same goes for a news box with a headline from three years ago: fewer sections, all current, look more established than many with abandoned corners.

The listing says it too

The search that finds your website also shows your Google listing, with its own address, hours, photos and reviews.

If the listing shows an old address or last year's hours, it raises the same doubts. Make it agree with the website and the application.

The counter-case

Some applications are decided almost entirely on paper. A modest loan from the bank you have used for years will be judged mostly on your accounts and your history there.

The website matters more the less the reader knows you: a new lender, a landlord, a customer comparing suppliers it has never used.

Nor does an application call for a rebuild. Most of what raises questions is detail, and whoever maintains the site can usually fix it in an afternoon.

Before any application, look at the site as a stranger would and fix whatever makes the business look closed.

Before you apply

  1. Search your business name as a stranger would.
  2. Check the address and phone on every page.
  3. Match the business names to the application.
  4. Add this year's work, with dates.
  5. Remove links to accounts nobody posts on.
  6. Move email onto your own domain.
  7. Update the Google listing to match.

Step four is the one that answers the reader's real question. Every other step removes a doubt; recent, dated work is the only item that shows the business is busy now.

Keeping these details current all year is the kind of work set out in a maintenance plan that says what it covers.

Frequently asked questions

Do lenders really look at websites?

Many will search the business name before finishing an application. They are checking that the business on the form is real, is where it says, and is still trading.

What raises questions on an old website?

An address that differs from the application, a copyright year long past, projects that stop years ago, links to silent social accounts and a free webmail address.

Does the design matter to a lender?

Much less than the details. The reader is matching names and addresses and looking for signs of activity, not judging the layout or the colours.

Why use email on my own domain?

A free webmail address reads like a side business. An address at your own domain matches the website and suggests a business that intends to stay.

Should I remove links to old social accounts?

Yes, unless you will post regularly again. A silent account linked from the home page suggests the business went quiet too.

What is the most important fix?

Recent, dated work. Every other fix removes a doubt; a current projects page or gallery is the only thing that shows the business is busy now.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Applying for a loan or lease soon?

Send us your website address. We will look at it the way a lender would and list what raises questions.

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