What does your website say about your funeral home?

In today's fast-paced, busy world, we're all -- well -- busy.  Especially funeral professionals.  If you happen to be reading this, chances are it's after 7pm, and you've probably just dealt with several grieving families, a few employee issues, a handful of vendor calls, one (or more) funeral services, and crunching some numbers to figure out if you're going to meet payroll.  Sound familiar?

And because you're so busy, it's probably why your website (if you're like 95% of most funeral professionals) has taken a back-seat to the rest of the important items on your plate.  You've relegated it to contain just the basic of details of your funeral home.  In fact, everything about it is pretty basic:  the layout, the content, the pictures.

According to Google, there were over 50 Million searches for the term "Funeral Home" last year.  What did these people see when visiting your website?  Consider the following questions:

Does your website look like every other funeral home's website in your area?
-  If yes, you could be giving the impression that your funeral home is just like every other funeral home in the area.  Don't you want to differentiate your funeral home?

Does your website look pretty similar to what it looked like, say, 10 years ago?
-  If yes, you could be giving the impression that the services you offer may be outdated.

Do you offer only very basic information about your funeral home?
-  If yes, your funeral home could be perceived as no-frills.  If that's your niche, maybe this is OK.  But if you're trying to be the high end funeral home in town, you're doomed.

Don't worry -- there are a couple of actionable things you can do right now to reverse course:

• Create a blog:  There are simple tools such as Blogger or Typepad that allow you to create content quickly, and usually for free.  Creating and maintaining a blog can often be a great way to convey your brand's voice.  You can also use social media properties to do this.  Before you jump in though, you might want to listen to what Ryan Thogmartin has to say about creating a strategy first.
  

• Consult a professional:  Would you call an auto-mechanic to come and fix the boiler at your house?  Of course not.  So consider have your website managed by a company that manages websites.  There are few solid ones in this profession -- FuneralOne and DigitalEdge Websites come to mind (who as of this post, we have no commercial relationship with).  A simple google search can find you many more.  Consider talking to groups like these to create a web presence that actually speaks to your brand.
    

One thing is for sure -- staying with the status quo is likely not a viable option in order to stand out.  After all, when all of these people online end up on your website -- what will they think?

Does the internet really matter?

It's official -- the internet is here to stay.  It's no longer thought of as a passing fad.  In fact, over 78% of all of North America is actively using the internet.  And it's no longer your grandson's web.  We now live in a world where 11% of the U.S. Senior Citizen population in 2010 were Facebook users.  It's actually the "over 65's" that comprise of the fastest growing group of users on all social networks.  

So what does all of this mean for the funeral professional who is proud of the personal relationships he or she has developed within his community?  Are those relationships no longer meaningful?  Will the families you have deep, direct ties to now choose some other funeral home to honor their loved one because some funeral home down the street has a few dozen "likes" on his Facebook page?

It's OK -- take a deep breath.  The internet is not likely to take a close friend of yours and turn them into a patron of your competitor.  But what about that new couple in their early 40's that just moved to the neighborhood?  Or that family who is so distraught over their sudden loss, that they're turning to their grown, digital-native son to help with a lot of the planning?

The reality is, we now live in a world where if you, as a funeral professional, are completely ignoring the web -- the question isn't whether you're giving up business, it's how much.  However, despite what some savvy internet marketer might tell you, you don't have to start developing apps or spending millions on your web presence to stay relevant.  There are simple steps you can take -- which, while it won't spike business today, will help you remain in business in the future.

In future posts, I'll do my best to shed some light on some of these steps.