There are many components that make a good website. If you have ever heard me talk, you know that I rarely talk about design when the bigger issue is message and positioning. Without your message in place, the design is trial and error. Granted, if you have enough time and money to keep trying things on your website without the proper marketing, then go right ahead. I'm sure you will eventually reach your goal.
But you have to ask yourself one question:
What is the question to which my website is the answer?
Can you honestly answer that? Essentially, all websites are meant to be answers to something. For example, someone types the following into Google: "Who is the best financial planner in the city of Westborough?" or "'financial planners' westborough top-rated 'better business bureau'" if you are a little more search engine savvy. Is this the question to which your website is the answer? How do you become the answer to that?
It starts with a core message, a full definition of your company. What is your business all about? I don't mean a list of services either. This definition comes from the primordial ooze of the beginnings of your business, the passion that was there when you first started, the excitement of knowing, really knowing, that this was the right thing to do. Remember? Is that feeling still there or are you feeling just as stuck as someone who works for someone else in a dead-end job?
Next we move to a market strategy. Where do you go from here? How does your website need to change in order to exhibit that core message on every page? Do you need ancillary methods? A trade show? Brochures? Magazine ads? Radio ads? A billboard? That kind of analysis is gold! Imagine being able to know which marketing path to take. Imagine the money (sometimes, vast sums of money) you could save with this kind of information.
So ask yourself the Most Important Question and tell me what you've come up with. Be honest! This could be the most important question you've ever asked yourself.