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Blog posts tagged online presence
Should I focus purely on online?
December 13, 2010
Having spent the past two weeks carrying out research into potential retail stockists, I was starting to think much of it had been wasted, when I came to the realisation that perhaps the high street is not quite right for my business, Mama Jewels, at this time.
Following some sound expert advice, my aim has been to steer clear of the bigger retailers for now and slowly build up capacity and turnover, approaching smaller stockists at a slower pace. This is a wise but difficult decision, because I’m quite impatient and would like to see results much faster.
My research has been aimed at finding smaller high street stores that stock products that would complement mine. With a couple of dates in my diary, I set about making appointments, firstly at local businesses I could easily visit and get a feeling for their interest without making long journeys to other parts of the country. A great plan – or so I thought – until I started to make appointments and came across an overwhelming response that these shops were closing down premises and moving purely online.
I quizzed one of the shop owners, in the midst of a closing down sale, why a lovely shop based in one of the most affluent areas of Nottingham would be closing down. Their response did not entirely surprise me: they could not make it work offline; competition from the web meant that they too were planning to become purely web-based.
After contacting two more shops, another based in the city centre and one more towards Leicester (facing the same issues) it was time for a rethink. I’d already been successfully approaching online boutiques; maybe this was now where I needed to focus. Yes the World Wide Web is potentially a black whole, but if that is where shoppers are specially looking for my type of products, together with those associated with maternity and nursing – then that is where I need to focus my very limited time and resources.
At the time of speaking to store owners, I had a sinking feeling, but actually this research has given me clarity and spurred me on to explore online marketing in much more detail.
So, my business continues to grow slowly, week by week. Sales are rising via our own website, auction sites and online boutiques. The feelings of panic and the enormity of not knowing whether I’m pitching enough or at the right people have subsided for now and I am so glad that I spent those two weeks in research rather than blindly pitching to any shop that would see me.
Amanda Waring, Mama Jewels
You can find out more about Amanda on the interactive business website www.inafishbowl.com
How to commission a website designer
July 26, 2010
The first thing a potential customer is likely to do after meeting you, or hearing about your business, is look at your website.
If it makes the right impression, hopefully, you can move onto making your first sale and build the relationship from there. If your website falls short of the mark, it’s likely to put them off and they will go elsewhere.
So where do you start? If this is the first time you’ve needed a website, it can seem overwhelming. But, if you get a good designer onboard, it shouldn’t cause you any problems. You can benefit from their knowledge and experience, providing you commission them effectively. But how?
Your website must reflect your brand. It should be a tool that enables you to achieve your marketing goals. So before you even think about commissioning a web designer, you must know what your brand stands for and how your website fits into your marketing strategy, otherwise, you’ll waste precious money.
What’s your brand?
So what’s your brand? Think of it as your business’s personality – how it speaks, looks and behaves. It’s something far greater than a logo, typeface or a few colours.
The essence of a brand is voice, look and behaviour. Often, these are defined by brand values, so take time to work out what these are. Before you ask a web designer to start work on your behalf, be clear in your mind about your brand values. Draw up a list of five or six brand values, if necessary, seek advice from those with knowledge of your professional or commercial values.
Now think about your marketing strategy – how you will sell your products or services. Your website will be part of this, even if you don’t intend to sell online. Your website must seamlessly complement your other sales efforts, whether that’s cold calling, distributing leaflets, direct mail, newspaper adverts, using online social media such as Twitter or quite possibly a mixture of these.
Be clear about the contribution your website needs to make. Do you need it to sell, generate sales leads/enquiries, capture information or simply tell people more about your business and its wares?
Choosing a web designer
Your choice of web designer will depend on several factors – and budget will be a key. Big agencies don’t work for small fees, while a self-employed web designer could create just as good a website for your business anyway.
Decide on your budget and stick to it. You could search online for web developers, but I’d recommend seeking recommendations from other businesses you trust. Give them a call and ask about how happy they are with the service and value for money they received. Ask whether they encountered any problems.
Shortlist at least three potential designers/agencies; check out their work and ask what solution they recommend for your business. One of the important questions, of course, is price. That’s not to say go with the cheapest – it’s more a question of value for money. Negotiate a set price before any work commences and get all work set out in black and white. There should be no unexpected additional charges. Most web designers often offer ready-made packages, so make sure your website will meet your individual needs.
Briefing your designer
Once you’ve decided on a supplier, you’ll need to brief them properly. A good brief is the cornerstone of any successful design project. They don’t have to be wordy, multi-page documents; aim for concise and clear guidance on the form, look and content of the site you want, totally in step with your brand and marketing strategy.
When it comes to key decisions (eg site structure, fonts, colours, images, etc), the designer should explain your options, which will enable you to make well-informed decisions. If you’ve picked the right one, you should have confidence in your designer’s ability and opinions, but that doesn’t meaning settling for something you don’t like. You should also be prepared to have your choices criticised where necessary, as long as this is accompanied by suggestions for better alternatives.
The process might involve having to make a few changes (hopefully minor) along the way, but soon enough, come launch you should end up with an important tool that enables you to start and grow your new business.
Brian Copeland, creative director of the multi award-winning agency, Graphic Clinic
Treat your website like an employee
September 08, 2009
For many Start-ups, the website is an early investment, and for many more an early headache. To avoid common mistakes, it can be good to adjust the way you think about your site. Rather than thinking of it as a project or a tool, think of it as your first employee – a valued member of the team to be nurtured and developed.
Key ways in which a website is like an employee:
- It has a specific set of tasks to perform
- It needs a development plan if it is to continue to perform at its best
- It needs regular updates to stay current – like a training plan
- It relies on input from various other team members to do its job
- Not everyone will like it all of the time
A website has a permanent, full time, role in your business: It never ceases to amaze me how many small businesses think of a website as a self-contained project – with beginning, a middle and (even more worryingly) an end. You wouldn’t recruit someone into your business and think that, once they’d signed the contract, their job was complete or that they’d stay exactly the same as the day they walked through the door. Neither should you think the same of your website.
A person comes to your company with some skills and knowledge, but over time they will gain more specific knowledge about your company, and become more skilled as they learn on the job or undergo formal training and development. A website is just the same – however well conceived and delivered, it is only when real people start to interact with it that you’ll know what really works, and what doesn’t, on your site. Through reviewing analytics and undertaking user-testing and feedback, you will be able to constantly refine and improve your website’s performance. Which brings me to performance… you’re likely to set of minimum performance standards for your staff, have you done the same for your website? And, do you have the tools to measure against those standards.
And of course, things change. Think also of a scenario in which your employee’s area of the business is subject to some sort of change (legal, environmental, new product, etc.) – they’ll need to adapt and respond. Your website is no different. Just because it was beautiful when you launched it, it may not be in a new context. What’s more, this is technology we’re talking about. The tech big boys work to a circa 6 month product development cycle – the pace of change is fast and furious. If your website is to stay current, you’ll need to keep an eye out for the new trends, like Twitter, Tag Clouds, etc… and whatever is just around the corner.
But, it many ways it is even better than an employee:
- It never sleeps
- It doesn’t take holidays
- It won’t sue you if you change its role or replace it with a new one
Useful people management techniques you can apply to your website:
- Write it a job spec
- Set a basic salary (hosting, support, regular updates)
- Set a commission plan (invest a percentage of the revenue it delivers back into traffic generation and improvements)
- Have a weekly one-to-one (update content, check stats)
- Conduct a monthly review (stats, performance targets, etc)
- Conduct a quarterly appraisal – consider a 360 appraisal where you get feedback from all users
- Set a ‘training’ budget – essential updates, spring cleaning, new features
For many businesses, the website is probably quite an early investment – thinking of it as your first ‘employee’ is a healthy starting point – meaning you’ll feel happier with seeing it as an ongoing task rather than a one-off project. For other businesses, particularly ecommerce businesses, your website is more like a team of employees, rather than just the one – and just like a team of people you’ll need to think about the way that individuals interact, etc.
This is even more critical in a Startup. By the very nature of your business being new, you’ll need to test and learn. And what’s more, money is tight at the beginning of any business – if you simply invest and ignore, you’re wasting precious funds. By going into a relationship with your website, based on the certain knowledge that it is an ongoing task, your initial and ongoing investments are money well spent.
So, if you think your web project has come to an end because you’ve gone live… I advise you to think again. I advise you to think of your website as a valued member of your team and to treat it accordingly.
10 ways to get visitors to trust your company website
July 10, 2009
Trust and credibility are big, big issues on the web. There are millions of websites out there, and not all of them are reputable. We web users are a suspicious bunch. How can your new start up website win our confidence?
Here are 10 ideas:
- Prove your authenticity by outlining the company background in the 'About Us' section: tell the company story.
- Make sure your content is fresh: add new content regularly, and date it so readers can see the site is not stale.
- Use 3rd party evidence - testimonials, endorsements and case studies from your customers. Highlight these and update them regularly; they're a really important credibility builder for your business.
- Show there's a bona fide company behind the company website: give full contact details and an address.
- If people get in touch via your website make sure they receive a swift reply.
- Cut the gobbledygook: use plain English, not jargon, business waffle or marketing speak.
- Tell them about the people in the company: create bios; use photos; participate in online social networking and link to these sites.
- Make sure the copy is free of typos and grammatical errors.
- Fill your site with authoritative, educational content focused on solving customer problems.
- Invest in professional-looking design, intuitive navigation and clear company branding on all pages of the site.
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