Don’t just build a website... build one that works for youFor any fledgling company, bringing in the orders means making your offering more visible and accessible than your competitors’. A website is one way to achieve this. But before rushing in headlong, bear in mind that when websites fail, it’s usually because they are ill-conceived or poorly promoted. We’ll put that problem to bed in this article. What will your website do?Running a new business means time and bank balance are rarely on your side. So how do you make your presence felt online quickly and cheaply? Don’t just think about developing a website, but one that works for you by attracting and handling business effectively. First decide what you want your website to do. Is it: | • | to sell your products and services? | | • | somewhere to refer people following an initial contact? | | • | a way of improving your service by acting as a help desk? |
Antoine Puellemeulle, for example, uses his site to attract Brits to his company, Fluent French, which provides language tuition to individuals or small groups. “As well as advertising my service, I’m planning to use my site to allow students to log into a private workspace to access their homework, lessons, blogs and podcasts.” Next weigh up if you have the time and flair to build the site yourself or whether you’re prepared to pay a professional website designer. A year ago, the answer would have been simple: don’t ever tackle it yourself! But today’s site management tools are so effective, you might be more than happy on your own. Self-build for people with better things to do- like running a businessThere are a whole raft of dedicated online site builders worthy of your investigation, each with specific strengths- here are just a few: | • | Microsoft Office Live Small Business: template-driven web site design, plus lots of management tools to help you build and keep relationships with your clients and the people you work with. Predictable flat-rate pricing too. | | • | BT Tradespace: takes the concept of a phone directory to a new level, with listings which include integrated website, video, audio and client ratings | | • | eBay: basic design tools, but instant e-commerce- ideal for building online shop-fronts | | • | Blogging systems: These were originally designed as online journals, but have become so sophisticated that many companies are using blogs as fully fledged websites. Check out Typepad and Blogger as examples. |
Alfred Biehler, owner of Chiltern Opticians in Buckinghamshire, first tried building a website using conventional web design tools, but found the experience difficult and time-consuming. He then moved to Office Live. “It took us hours, rather than days to build our site and cost tens of pounds, rather than thousands. It means we can easily modify the content ourselves in a matter of minutes. When we moved premises recently, for instance, I was able to amend all the details of our location overnight without worrying about additional costs or involving other people. It’s a huge benefit not needing specialist technical skills and being able to make changes on the fly.” Antoine of Fluent French agrees: “IT is not my forte, so I would have struggled to build a site myself.” Commissioning a Web DesignerIf you do get help, make sure you choose carefully, advises Gilbert Serex, managing director of Scottish website developer, Sharpnet. “I like to use a musical analogy,” he says. “In only a few hours some people can strum a few chords on the guitar and play a song, but to really play the instrument and make it sing requires experience and understanding. Similarly, effective website design requires an understanding of many different areas.” “Check out the designer’s credentials by asking to see examples of their work. Find out how long they’ve been doing it. More importantly, they need to understand you and your business and how to communicate your uniqueness effectively to an internet audience.” | • | Get your designer to check out competitors’ websites | | • | Ask them to offer suggestions for improving upon what your competitors are doing | | • | The more accurately you communicate your needs to the designer, the more likely it is you’ll achieve results. |
Building a site is just the startIt’s not enough just to build a website - you need to make sure it really delivers on the effort you’ve invested. Firstly, you need to know about your web traffic - in other words, who’s accessing your site. Inexpensive web traffic analysis tools can help monitor your site traffic so you know where your traffic is coming from, what users like and don't like, and which are your most requested pages. These tools not only track how many people visit your site, but also how they behave, helping you to learn: | • | Whether or not your online marketing spend is effective | | • | How best to tweak your site to achieve maximum exposure. |
Equally important, you need to promote your site to customers searching the internet for your goods or services. One of the best ways is through Pay per click (PPC) advertising, a search engine marketing technique whereby you pay a small fee when people click on an ad for your site. The idea is, you ‘bid’ on ‘keywords’ you think your target market will type in when looking for your kind of product or service. Prices per click range from 1p to 50p and more for very popular search terms. MSN adCenter, Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are among the largest operators in this space. Chiltern Opticians has been using adCenter to buy keywords and Alfred says he’s found it a very simple, low-cost way to attract customers. As your website matures…Once your website is up and running, remember that rather like the ubiquitous “A dog’s not just for Christmas” car sticker, a website requires long term attention and promotion. Make sure to include your web address in all your sales materials and newsletters. And don’t forget, the best sites out there are beautiful in their simplicity, so don’t go overboard with fancy graphics - it's unlikely visitors to your site will be impressed. Keep it simple, factor in ongoing maintenance, and your website will be an invaluable long term sales asset.
| |
