Has the internet made you more snooty?

Most of us will not drive into the bad side of town and pull into a chop shop to have our car worked on with someone who has a bad reputation and that is understandable considering the circumstances but do we prejudge who we decided to do business with based on their website appearance? I’m not going to act all high and mighty and say that I have never done it because I know I have. If I need a plumber and his website is a hot mess or just so outdated that it looked as if was created in Microsoft Front Page, I skip it and move on to the next available link on my search engine. For all I know the plumber may be the best in the business at snaking that drain but most of us will not even give him the time of day because we are looking for instant information, you know time availability, price, phone number, don’t laugh you would be surprised.

We have become a society that not only judges people by their appearance but one that has now moved viral and judges based off what someone’s web presence is like. What are some of the sudo factos that we look for when viewing a website? Usability, is the site easy to navigate and find the information you are looking for? Navigation links – Does the site have a lot of broken links or again can you find your destination easily on the website? Contact Information – Does the contact page allow you to contact them directly from the site, or do you have to open up your desktop email client to send them an email? Does it have the business phone number so that you can contact them? If it’s a location that you are going to do they have integrated maps or at least a link to a mapping site? All of these are key pieces of the virtual pie that we have now come to expect as a standard.

So I ask the initial question again, do you think the internet has created a new stereotype in regards to how we perceive a business? How much of an impact does a website make in your decision to carry out a transaction with them?