It’s time to get our hands
dirty in the virtual gardens of cyberspace. This issue, we look
at how far the Internet has come in 10 years and how you can
benefit from some of the basic features of the web that are
now at your disposal - and well within reach of just about any
small business’ marketing budget. We will discuss some
fundamentals of owning and running a website and show how some
simple measures can ensure that money spent online can convert
into increased revenue in the real world.
It’s funny how our society has always
been so dependent on technology, yet we are always so slow to
latch on to any new breakthroughs. Remember when mobile phones
first came out? “They’re for Yuppies” we would
all joke, not for a minute realizing how much more useful they
would be to plumbers than to merchant bankers. And there we
all were 10 years ago, mobile phones strapped to our belts,
thinking; “the Internet – that’s just for
nerds”. It sure was a little less user-friendly than it
is now, but even back then a few good domain name registrations
and simple ideas (like Hotmail, or Yahoo) would have turned
us all into billionaires.
The nerds’ playground soon became
the investors dream, and eventual nightmare when the “dot
com” bubble burst (more a result of ridiculous investment
strategies than any fault of the Internet). Meanwhile, the juggernaut
of technological improvement kept steaming ahead. Now look at
the web. You can’t step outside of your front door without
seeing a web address emblazoned across every delivery van, billboard
and t-shirt. You book your holidays online, do your banking,
plan your wedding, order pizzas – the Internet is finally
a household word – and it’s still evolving. It’s
going wireless, it’s merging with TV and telephones; it’s
even on the fridge door!
Maybe it is a good idea to stay a few steps
behind technology. After all we are never quite sure where it’s
headed next, and the last thing we want to do is waste all our
money on gizmos that are going to be useless in 6 months time.
One thing we can be sure about the web now is that it is a great
communication tool and a great marketing tool – especially
for small business.
An email address and a website are two
useful and cost effective additions to any business’s
marketing toolkit. Every small business can benefit from displaying
their wares online and taking inquiries by email – from
restaurants to gymnasiums, accounting firms to rock and roll
bands, and yes, you guessed it – landscapers! In fact
landscaping is an ideal profession to benefit from a web presence
(as many of you may already know).
Cyberscapes in Cyberspace
What better way to show off your stunning
works of art than a photo gallery on your website? Video footage
even – of your team in action. Your own “Backyard
Blitz” movie could be screened, showing the perfect coming
together of your plans. A horrendous patch of flat, dead lawn
transformed into a magical suburban oasis. You can even have
virtual tours of gardens, before/after slideshows and animations.
The word-of-mouth benefit of featuring your clients’ properties
in your gallery is a definite winner, as they tell all their
friends and associates about your site.
Above and beyond the visuals, a website
allows your company to communicate your standards of excellence,
your design philosophy and your commitment to customer service
by having the text and layout of the site reflecting the way
you do business.
If you sell products or ongoing services
to your clients, a simple online store and list of services
can entice them to do more business with you. Don’t forget
testimonials on your site either – always a great boost
to your credibility. Then there are your awards, industry affiliations
and preferred products – all reassuring your potential
customers that you are knowledgeable, experienced and trustworthy.
This kind of expanded brochure-style website
is ideal for potential clients to discover what you are all
about and to help them make a decision to hire your services,
even before they have spoken to you. This is a common scenario
these days. If the website has worked its magic, a couple of
emails later and the job is on. Even if a client has short-listed
you from a selection of competitors’ websites, it is a
lot easier to make the sale when you talk to them if you have
great content on your site to back up your spiel.
Got a Website?
If you company doesn’t have a website
– get one. If you have one, and you are reading this article
thinking (rather skeptically) “our site has done nothing
for us” – maybe it’s time to look at your
site and reevaluate it, along with your overall approach to
how the Internet fits into your business.
Sadly, many a website out there has been
created without much thought to how it will function as a marketing
tool. Not only that, but since there are no official standards
of website design, a site costing many thousands of dollars
can actually harm your business because of badly planned content
or annoying technical issues. I’m sure everyone reading
this has heard at least one horror story of someone being ripped
off with a bad website. The best sites are simple, easy to use,
concise and visually appealing - and built to an appropriate
budget.
In future issues we will go into much more
detail about many aspects of running a website, but for now,
here are some fundamentals to get you thinking about improving
your current site, or planning your brand new home page.
Domain Name (your website address)
You should have a name that is either your
business name or a shortened form of it. It can be .com.au,
.biz, .com or whatever, so long as it is easy to spell and give
out to people. It can also contain a keyword or two (good for
search engines), but shouldn’t be too long or hard to
type. You can register domain names directly, but it is wise
to consult your web professional.
Website Hosting
To run a Website it must be ‘hosted’
by a company that allows it to stay online 24 hours a day. Larger
companies can host their own sites, but it is usually best left
to specialists, especially with security issues and many other
technical concerns. Economy of scale dictates that larger, well-established
web hosting companies should be able to offer good services
and technical support for a very reasonable price. Once again
your website developer/designer would usually have a choice
of hosts, depending on your needs.
Website Development
There are so many people out there who
build web sites, it is advisable to shop around, especially
since standards and pricing vary so widely in this unregulated
industry. Paying top dollar does not guarantee the best result.
You should look for a firm who understands your business requirements
and has a proven portfolio of successful and satisfied clients.
You should try to obtain ball-park quotes, but if you have no
idea what your site will be like, a quote will be impossible.
You should find out what kind of process the developer will
use to help you plan your site and arrive at their quote.
Planning Your Site
Spend some time looking at your competition,
as well as any sites that you find appealing. You will get some
ideas on what you like and dislike, and the kind of content
you will need to organize. Remember that some sites may have
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your web developer can
guide you with what is possible for the amount of money you
have to spend. It’s getting cheaper every day to do the
tricky stuff, but some things are still out of reach to the
little guys.
Your main task will be collating all the
information. You might need to assign various tasks to people
within your organization to gather what you need. You can then
employ a writer to tie it all together into a uniform style
and you should definitely have the site professionally designed
and mapped out. It should be a design based on your existing
company image.
If you have an inconsistent image, this
is a great opportunity to marry the look of your website with
your off line material (business cards, logo, letterheads etc).
It is also a good time to get some great photos done of your
work, request testimonials from past clients and think about
what your business is really about, so that you can focus on
promoting its unique aspects.
It is very important to ask yourself what
you want to achieve with your site. Maybe you have more work
than you can handle already, so your website will be a mere
token presence. Maybe you plan to market yourself aggressively
and target specific groups – your site must reflect and
support these goals.
Marketing Your Site
Unless people know about your site, it
will just sit there doing nothing. You must make sure your site
is optimized to be found in search engines (there are a few
tricks to this) and is listed in any industry directories (eg
http://www.lcansw.com.au/ ) and other places where you think
your potential customers might go looking for you. This may
involve a bit of research and legwork on your part, emailing
other sites and chasing up links, but it will be worth it. You
might set aside a certain amount of time each week or month
to ensure your site is as available as possible.
Off line, you have to get your site “out
there” – put the web address on your vehicles, in
your adverts, on business cards, invoices, letterheads, work
shirts, caps – anywhere. Whenever you get telephone inquiries,
you can always direct the person to your site and even guide
them through it while you have them on the phone.
Other Essentials
