Do I Need A Website For My New Business?
The short answer is only if it will help you make money or save money…
You will find differing advice about having a website and many promises of vast riches if only you embrace the lure of trading online. All this actually means is a vast scope for wasting large amounts of time and money.
Start with your customers. Let the behaviour of your customers drive your early decisions about whether you need a website or one of the many online tools (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs etc.) If having a website is going to help you either make money or save money then it is a good idea. If not, then it is a cost and one that you can probably leave for later.
Let’s look at the arguments for and against a website:
| For a website | Against a website |
|---|---|
| You can reach customers beyond your local geography | Not everyone is online (are your customers?) |
| Huge scope for automating your business | Not much use for physical services or trades |
| Massive savings in printing costs by putting all your information online and it is much cheaper to change | Huge time waster and needs regular attention to maintain |
| Your web activity can grow slowly over time | May mean learning new skills or paying someone who already has those skills |
| You can build a list of customers who opt-in to receive information from you and you can mail this list regularly at almost zero cost | Most websites are only visited by the person who makes them (and their mum!) |
Here’s view from Robert Middleton who runs Action Plan Marketing:
“Your objective should be to have people visit your web site just before they call to do business with you. The web site educates them, persuades them, impresses them and motivates them to take action to find out how you can help them.” Web Site ToolKit
Suggestions For A Website Strategy
If you have bought a decent web or email address then many providers will give you a bit of free space to put up your first web page. Usually this is fairly simple to do.
Put up a single page that quickly describes the benefit for your customers. This means that if someone does search for you online they will find a simple page that helps them understand what they get.
If you have documents, forms, hints, tips or other information electronically then give away as much as you can and refer your customers to that instead of printing brochures. If the information is genuinely useful other people may well start linking to your pages and this will help you rise up the Google search results.
Use your web address everywhere - business cards, adverts, email signature, letters etc.
Prepare a 12 month plan with easy steps and build your website slowly as your business grows.
Do nothing unless it helps you make money or save money.
Tim Burr knows very little about the internet but everyone tells him he needs a website. Interestingly, his customers rarely mention this so Tim decides on a common-sense approach. He buys a website domain that is the same as his trading name and finds that he can put up a simple one page site. He describes in two or three sentences what customers would gain from using him and lists his contact details. He decides that in the next three months he will add a second page that outlines details of his services. He takes some before and after photos with his phone camera and uploads those as well. After being asked for a brochure several times by customers he decides to add loads of detail to the site and refer customers to it. He makes a .pdf copy of the brochure which any customer can print or save. To his surprise, many customers email it to a friend. After six months he has a much better idea of what customers want and decides to add some free downloads that are available to customers who join his mailing list. He sets up an autoresponder to mail them regularly with something useful and some gentle sales messages. A year later, Tim has a growing list of customers who are beginning to buy again and refer others. His customers tell him that they like the site because it is full of useful information rather than just being about him…
What else could your website do?
Once you are clear about what your customers are looking for in a website then it could become a sort of “Marketing Hub” for your business
- It might increase your visibility and credibility
- It can provide instant information for people who are reluctant to phone you
- It might help people warm up to the idea of calling you
- It could help existing customers refer you more easily
- And, one day, if you sell online it might gain sales around the clock, while you sleep
Suggested Layout For A Basic Website
Here is an outline suitable for written marketing materials or a simple web site.
| Page | Content |
|---|---|
| Summary / Home Page | A brief outline of your core marketing message that answers the question “What’s in it for me?” |
| Who we work with | Describe your typical clients so visitors to your site can decide whether you are right for them. You might describe typical problems your customers have |
| How we work | Give a flavour of what it is like to work with you. You might combine it with the next section. |
| Services | List your services clearly and show how you take someone from their problem to a better result via your actions. |
| Case Studies / Testimonials / Clients | If you can, show that you have done it before. Some clients will not buy unless they can see that somebody else has bought before. |
| About us | This is the place to say something about your history, qualifications and interests. Some clients will want to know why you are qualified to help them. |
| Resources / FAQ / Free Stuff | Frequently Asked Questions give you a chance to explain what you do another way especially as you write the questions! You could also use real customer questions particularly if you keep being asked for the same information. |
| Contact Us | Make sure this is clear, easy to find and has maps if necessary. |
Action
As a first step online, join a popular professional networking site like LinkedIn and make sure that you get your profile to 100%. This means a summary job history, clear information about your specialities and a short biography that anyone can download. It is very similar to the work on your CV. LinkedIn details often appear high in Google search results. LinkedIn allow you to customise your profile address to make it more friendly e.g. www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhalfacre
Start making a note of websites that you like and why - this will make it much easier when you come to design yours E.g. Google - plain, simple, gets straight to the point and works every time…
Collect your thoughts about the intention behind your web site - why do you want it to exist and what job do you want it to do?
Describe in writing the target audience for your site and how they are likely to be searching for you.
Write yourself a twelve month plan for where you want to take your online presence. Online activity changes constantly and is often driven by fashion and sentiment. You do not have to do everything at once, only the things that either make or save you money. Let the behaviour of your customers drive your decisions about how much you do and how quickly.
Strangers or Friends?
As you begin to develop ideas for your website keep in mind whether you are designing it for strangers or friends.
Strangers are people who do not know you and might stumble across your site. A site for strangers might do a lot of explaining and selling.
Friends are people who know you or have met you. A site for friends will have a different tone.
Future proofing your online identity
If you can see that your customers and your business sector will make increasing use of the web then you may want to take some basic steps to secure your online identity…
Who owns the website address for your business? You may want to buy it even if you do not plan to use it.
Who owns YourName.com? If it is available (and if this will be important one day), then buy it now.
Is there anyone with your name on Facebook or Twitter? If there is, what would a potential customer find if they did a random search? If there isn’t, do you want to open a free account just to secure your identity on these tools?
Get a free gmail or googlemail address. This opens up all the free google tools to you including a free hosted website and free blogging software as well as the opportunity to store you documents online and Google analytics which can help you see who is visiting your site and what they do when they visit. All of this is free.
Visit www.squidoo.com and consider starting a squidoo page all about you - a short bio, summary of your experience etc. Again this is free and squidoo shows up well in google searches.
Join LinkedIn and do the same thing - complete your full profile with professional details and link your profile to all the other things that you have put online. Invite your customers and contacts to link to you. When you do a good job send them a request for an endorsement. LinkedIn make it really easy for someone to add a couple of positive sentences about you to your profile (and you get to approve the comments first).
Facebook is less professional but Facebook often ends up high in Google search results so it is worth opening an account with your name in case a customer is trying to find you.
Twitter is very fashionable at the moment and it is worth spending some time searching and reading for examples of how people are using Twitter to raise their profile and grow their business. Even if you don’t want to Twitter all day long you might want to start an account just to secure your online identity.
A comprehensive website toolkit
I highly recommend you buy yourself a copy of the website toolkit from Action Plan Marketing. Unlike a lot of these products this has no fancy promises of online riches, instead it is a comprehensive audio and written tutorial for creating a website that can become the hub of all your business. It is astonishing value for the price. Read more about it here.
Seth Godin: Building A Website That Works
Download a copy of Knock, Knock - Seth Godin's guide to building a website that works. You can get a copy from the Seth Godin page now.
