If you are a business owner or starting up a new business then you likely have very little spare time and even less spare cash. If you are looking to invest in a website you need to ensure that your investment will pay off and that the website will meet the strategic goals for your business venture.
Website Design for Small Business
The first problem with most website design companies is that they are exactly what is says on the tin: website design companies. They may be able to create you something that looks the part, but is it strategically aligned with your business objectives? Is it saving you time and money by cutting down on support enquiries? Is it bringing in those all important enquiries that lead to new business? is it helping you sell more products and services to your existing customers? To put it in a nutshell - is it doing it's job?
The Blind Leading the Blind?
As we see a shift from traditional advertising mediums towards digital media many existing design and print companies have been forced to adapt and support the digital age. This leaves us with an army of small to medium sized design companies that are building websites for business based on their existing experience of flat design for brochures, leaflets and the like - this situation is not ideal.
The World Wide Web is not Flat
What's wrong with this approach? Well, the web is so much more than a brochure and is the first truly interactive advertising medium. Suddenly, when your prospective customers are viewing your website you have a chance to interact with them, qualify their area of interest, collect contact information, communicate with them and slowly coerce them into making that first purchase. Once you have made that initial sale, you can then further interact with your customers and offer them related products and services.
This is the kind of direct, targeted approach that turns that first, marginally profitable transaction into a highly profitable, mutually beneficial life long relationship with your customer.
The problem is...
Well, the problem is, that your website design company will likely build you a flat, brochure style website that advertises your products but does little else. People may come by (if they can find you) but they will just as likely go again, most likely never to return. You then gradually fall into the expensive trap of trying to beg, borrow or steal more traffic through search engine optimisation companies, paid advertising and the many other sharks all after your money until you eventually give up on your website or even worse, start the whole, thankless cycle again with another 'web design' company.
More Than a Website
To be successful online you need more than a website. This is important so I am going to repeat it: your website alone, even the very best ones, will not do the job all by itself.
So what's the secret?
It's kind of a cliché to claim that there is one single solution that can put an end to all of these woes, but from a high level perspective, there is: dialogue.
You need to engage your site visitors. Don't expect them to come by, be wowed, remember you and pop back when they are ready to buy. Your website needs to be more than just a list of the products and services you offer, you need to start a conversation with your prospective customers and start answering the many questions they have.
Does your website do what you do?
When you talk to prospective customers, do they ask you questions? And, do your answers to these questions help them make a decision with regards to exactly what product or service is suitable for them? Is your specialist knowledge of your business a factor that helps build your credibility in the eyes of your customers? Is this nurturing over several distinct encounters by phone, email or in person what helps build the trust necessary for the prospect to become a customer?
If so, does your website do any of this?
What Your Customers Want
If someone has arrived at your website, there is a good chance that they are looking at the service you provide now or at some point in the future. You now have to introduce yourself, clearly state your competitive advantage and unique selling points and provide the means for your customer to compare your offering to that of your competitor.
Doing this all in one go may be difficult so you need to provide some means to obtain your visitors email address so you can slowly build this picture of your credibility and competence through a series of further interactions.
To get your visitor to give up their email address you have to provide a strong incentive and the best way to do that is through some free content that is of a strong relevance to their enquiry. If you were a hotel you could offer a free guide to the city's top 10 attractions, a gym could offer a couple of free visits and a restaurant could provide a printable menu with discount offers and coupons.
The actual content you offer to start this dialogue will depend upon what you can determine is of value to your target audience. This website offers a free guide to search engine optimisation and a free website planning document which allows us to build a list of prospective customers for each area of interest. The guides on this site also provide valuable information which clearly demonstrates our competences and helps build our credibility.
With these lists in place you can then send a regular weekly newsletter that provides further valuable information to your prospect whilst also building your own credibility and promoting the unique benefits and advantages of your product or service.
What to look for in a web design company
So, if you have taken this in, hopefully you will understand that choosing a standard web or graphic design company to build your website may not be the best course of action. You should be looking for a company that can help you build and implement a strategic plan to use the internet to build relationships with your prospective customers.
It's going to cost a fortune, right?
Whilst this sounds complicated, and for larger businesses with a huge range of products and services it can be but for most smaller companies this should be a pretty simple process.
We need to:
Determine overall goals
Develop content strategy & roadmap
Identify premium content used to gather email addresses
Build Website with content management capabilities
Implement tool to gather email addresses
Implement a tool to send email to your lists
Website promotion to start bringing in traffic
So, you can go about this one of two ways. You could hire an internet consultant, content writer, graphic design company, marketing company and search engine optimisation expert. Or, you could find a website company that provides all these services.
£1000 - The Magic Number
We think that you should not have to pay tens of thousands of pounds for such a service and if you want a website it is common sense that the website should push your business objectives and be a tool and asset.
With this in mind we are launching a new kind of web design product. A product that includes the consultation, strategy and planning required to make your site a success. A product that provides a modern web 2.0 style website with a comprehensive and easy to use content management system. A product that identifies the best way to promote your site online and includes search engine optimisation, social media marketing and link building to ensure you get that all important traffic. And finally, a product that includes a tool to harvest email addresses and deliver cost effective email marketing messages to your site visitors.
A Website and Marketing Solution
If you have been shopping around for a website and marketing solution for your business then look no further, for £1000 we can provide all the strategy, website, promotion and marketing tools you need to get the very best from the internet.
This is all backed up by a complimentary year of free web and email hosting and a free domain name for new businesses. if you are an existing business and want to migrate your existing site across to this new approach then no problem, we can also funnel any existing search engine rankings into the new site to give you a quick fire boost in the rankings.
Find Out More
This is a new product for 2010 and one that we are convinced will change the face of website design and development. If you would like more information or a free 30 minute consultation where we assess your requirements then please get in touch with me directly at
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Marcus Miller - Managing Director
Bowler Hat
