When I moved to London, I needed a new doctor. Thank goodness for Google. One practice even had a 4.5 star-rating on Yelp — a safe bet I thought.

But when I looked at their website I was aghast. Glaring typos, a navigation bar full of dead-ends, and no information on whether they were accepting new patients.

The following day, I happened to walk by that very medical practice. Fighting the horrendous first impression their website made on me, I went inside. To my complete surprise, the 4.5 Yelp rating held true and the website was a drastically inaccurate representation of the quality of their service. I stayed with this practice until I moved back to the States.

First impressions are everything. And often your website is the first impression people have of your company. If a person’s first impression of you breeds frustration or doubt, that will most likely be their last (and only) impression of you.

Here are a few very easy fixes:

●     Proofread (with at least 3 different sets of eyes). When people see obvious mistakes, they’ll either question your competence or laziness.

●     Check for dead links. How annoyed do you get when you click on a link that has the vital info you’re looking for, and you’re redirected to a page that says ‘URL not found’?

●     Update your content. You want users to see you as active and accessible. Active, up-to-date sites translate as businesses that are current, fresh and readily available to their clients.

80% of companies now do online searches as background checks, and we all know the power of customer reviews. So whether you’re looking for a new job or new patients for your medical practice of thirty-plus years, take pride in how you present yourself online. Unless someone stumbles upon you or your business in person, you might never know what potential opportunities could have been just around the corner.