Getting Your Business Online

Originally posted July, 2000
So, you want to put your business online?
It’s true, any brick-and-mortar store is destined to go the way of the dodo bird within the next 5 years if they don’t have an online presence. By the trends I see, I’d say it’s sooner than that. Even SOHO (small office home office) businesses […]

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Written by Raven on October 3rd, 2006 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on E-Business and Webmastering.

Originally posted July, 2000

So, you want to put your business online?

It’s true, any brick-and-mortar store is destined to go the way of the dodo bird within the next 5 years if they don’t have an online presence. By the trends I see, I’d say it’s sooner than that. Even SOHO (small office home office) businesses are seeing that they must have a website in order to be more easily accessible. With a website, your business can be available 24/7 to answer commonly asked questions, let customers browse and comparison shop, and above all - take orders. Imagine getting up in the morning to find that 30 orders have come in while you slept. There’s no way you could have done that without a website.

But if you build it, will they come?

Not necessarily. Just having a website doesn’t mean that you’ll be raking in the dough. People must know about it first. That means advertising in some form, and believe me, there are plenty of sharks on the Net who’ll take your money and promise you big things. Although the Net was made for everyone, when it comes to business online you’re swimming in a shark pool. Don’t be a minnow. Keep a level head, do some research, and prepare yourself so you won’t see your cash flow going straight out the door.

In this series we’ll cover what you need to have in hand before you build (or hire someone to build) your website, what to have (and not) in your website, how to choose a good website host, and getting people to come visit you online.

The single biggest factor in what makes or breaks a website is its content. Users will put up with endless download times and annoying flashy graphics if they can find what they came looking for. Develop your content before your first page is ever made. Get a pen and paper, and get ready to do some research.

Know Your Customer, and Give Them What They’re Looking For

First, decide who your website will be catering to. This depends a lot on your business itself. Here are some examples:

  • If you’re running a telecommuting job from home, most likely the people visiting your site will either be your clients, or people interested in your services. You might devote one page to explaining the benefits of telecommuting and one page each for your resume, services provided, and client list, but don’t go farther than that for the audience. Focus on useability of your site by the clients you already have and make yourself invaluable to them. You’ll need an area where they can automatically send you emails without having to look up your address, password-protected areas for each client where you can place finished documents for them to download, a calendar that will show them projected deadlines, a journal (log, announcements) page to give them updates on the status of the project without having to contact you, etc. These tools will be especially invaluable to you if you have small children, and clients calling every five minutes to ask questions won’t go over that well with an unhappy toddler who’s just been woken up from his nap. Let your clients find their answers online in seconds.
  • If you sell flower arrangements, your customers are going to be people who want to buy flowers. Period. Give them what they want from the instant they hit your front page - a special offer, a few choice arrangements to look at, and then links to your catalog, how to care for their arrangements, how to contact you, etc. Don’t ramble on about your business on the front page; you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot. They want to see flowers and prices, and they want them now.
  • For more specialized or technical businesses, again you have to evaluate exactly who will be visiting your site. Talk directly to that person. If your research shows you that people already familiar with the technical jargon will be your main audience, then use that jargon. Don’t make them feel as if you’re talking down to them by explaining every little thing in layman’s terms. One it will bore them and two, they won’t be sure you are familiar with the jargon and therefore, your business! Give the “newbies” a link to follow that will explain things, but keep the majority of the site aimed at your peers. If, on the other hand, you think “newbies” will be your main audience, keep the jargon at a minimum and get ready to do some hand-holding.

    Using Client Base & Competitors For Research

    An invaluable tool for brick-and-mortar stores, or even from-home businesses, is the client base that you already have. In store, take a poll and ask your customers questions. You can do this with little flyers that they fill out while they’re there (offer a drop-box for completed forms and a prize or two for randomly drawn winners who completes the survey), or casually chat with them about being online while they’re there or ringing up purchases. For from-home businesses, call your clients and talk to them. Tell them you’re preparing to make yourself and your business even more accessible by being on the Net, and you’d like to find out how you can better serve them by being online. You could even send out a small mailing survey, but actually talking to your clients is always the best choice; as you’ll get a more specific answer and show them that you really care about serving their needs.

    Some sample questions to ask:

    • Do they go online?
    • Would they like the convenience of browsing your store (and ordering) from home?
    • What kinds of information would they like to see on your website? (ie: how to care for flowers - tailor this to your service.)
    • What kind of features would they like to see? A used bookseller might offer a way for users to auction off their own collection or trade messages with other collectors. The flower arranger might offer a way for customers to design their own arrangements interactively with the site and then submit it as an order. Someone who sells childrens’ clothing might have a database that will remember each child’s clothing sizes so the customer can simply pick a child from a drop-down list and not have to re-type the information each time they order. Customers might like a “wish-list” where they can add items to a virtual shopping cart and then allow other people to view it and order items (good for weddings, new babies, birthdays, holidays).
    • How would they like to pay online? Remember, not all customers have credit cards. Online check? A virtual pay system like PayPal? Order now and snail-mail check or money order? One note: even though not all customers have credit cards, most banks now offer debit cards that work the same; so always offer a way to pay by credit card, and no matter how the customer is paying, make sure they are confident that their transaction online is secure.

    Now that you know what your customers want, go visit your competitors online. Viewing your competition, put yourself in the shoes of your customer and use the information they’ve given you. How well does this site meet the needs of what your customers have told you they want/need to see?

    How accessible is the information you want? Does the site try to overload you with fancy flashy fluff or does it deliver what you need immediately? Can you navigate it well - get to every major section of the site from every page in the site, or do you have to hit Back? Do they have a way to order products or services online? If so, what kind of payments do they accept? Is there a way to contact sales or customer service directly from the site? For brick-and-mortar stores, do they have clear directions and maps to help a customer come to their door?

    You’ll need to include in your website all of the things that you find useful as a customer from your competitors’ sites, and throw out the things that aren’t. With a critical eye, think of things that these sites are missing and make sure you incorporate those missing things into your own site. Always be on the lookout to be better and more useful to the customer. Don’t worry about impressing a customer with fluff. Give them what they want.

    Now that you’ve done some research and know what your customers are looking for, it’s time to design your site. No, I’m not talking about the graphics - yet. I’m talking about the content. Remember, the web may be multi-media, but it’s built around reading.

    Think It Out

    On paper, outline the structure of your website. It should look something like this:

    Sample Site Structure

    Keep in mind that accessibility to information is king and navigation is the key to keeping a customer on your site. Let them know what they’re going to find when they click on a link before they click on it; and then deliver that content to them immediately once they’re there. Don’t make them go four pages deep to find information on widgets when the link said “What is a widget?”

    Write Your Content

    You know what your customers want and you’ve designed a site to fill those needs. Now grab yourself a word processing program (even Notepad will do) and type out exactly what you want your visitors to see on each and every page of that website you’ve just designed. Read over it and judge it as a customer would. Too much jargon? Too little? Keep in mind who your visitor will be. Run-on sentences? Keep your information clear and succinct; Net surfers have very limited attention spans. Do you clearly communicate what you’re trying to say, or clearly explain the product you’re selling (even if it’s yourself)?

    Once you think you’re done, spell-check it. Keep in mind that spell-checkers (or speel chickens, as I like to call them) don’t know the difference between you’re and your, they’re and their, etc. Proofread your pages. Then put it all aside for at least two hours (overnight would be better). Then come back and read it again with a fresh eye that hasn’t been chin-deep in this content already. Does it still seem as clear to someone reading it for the first time? If not, go back and revise.

    When you’re done, get someone else to read it for you; both as a customer and as an editor. Make sure they’re an excellent speller and know those differences like your and you’re. Using their input, revise again… incorporating only those things you feel are good suggestions. Your mother, for example, may be a great proofreader but she may not represent your target audience. If she feels the content is “above her head” and tells you to talk more plainly, you may not want to do this knowing that your customer is going to know all of the jargon.

    Congratulations!

    You’ve just overcome the most frustrating part of building a web site - getting your content ready. The time you’ve just spent will save you countless hours when actually publishing your site to the Web. As a web designer, nothing is more frustrating than making a site for a client and waiting endlessly for content to fill it. As someone who does their own web sites, nothing is more frustrating than getting excited about a site and designing the graphics and layout only to find that the content you decide to put into it will demand a different layout approach! Without having the content laid out beforehand, either you or your web designer will suffer endless re-writes, and often one of both of you will lose the enthusiasm for the project.

    Now that you have your content and a firm idea on how you want your site structured, it’s time to look into what you will want as far as graphics and dynamic effects; and more importantly, what you don’t want.

    Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold

    There’s one important thing that a web site owner must remember when building a web site:

    Just because you can have it doesn’t mean that you should.

    Sure, an entrance page with a Flash movie makes you look fancy. But honestly, how many people stick around to watch it? Even users with high-bandwidth connections utilize links to skip past movies, because they want information. If they wanted to watch a movie, they’d be at a movie site or watching television.

    As a rule, steer clear of anything that requires your customers to download a plugin, element, or program. This would include Flash, Comet Cursors, Shockwave, special Midi players, etc.

    I know what you’re thinking. “But my site will be so… plain!!!”

    Not at all. Your visitors will love you because your site downloads fast and doesn’t require extra junk to clutter up their system. They won’t have boxes popping up on their screens asking them if they want to download this or that. You can use alternative, faster loading effects such as DHTML and javascript to produce those fancy effects (even Flash-like movies); and you won’t spend extra dollars or time getting something specially-made for you. (Hint: Designers charge in the thousands to make Flash movies for web sites. Doing it yourself requires buying the program and learning it, which is again thousands of dollars and far too much time.)

    Skip The Animations

    A mailbox with a hand popping out of it clawing for email is cute, but what business does it have on your business site? Flashy animated graphics do many things, most of which the site owner never intended. They take attention away from the rest of your page, make downloading your site slower, and (with enough animated graphics in your site) you can overload your visitor’s video memory and cause their computer to freeze up.

    Keep It Simple - But Not Stupid

    The secret to having a professional-looking website is knowing when to say “No” to special effects. Remember, you’re not out to impress your friends with your fancy fluff - you’re there to serve your customers. Give them what they want and do it quickly. Constantly review other websites and ask your customers for suggestions as to how you can improve your site.

    In short, don’t lose your head just because you’re stepping into the ocean of the Net and you’re not sure if the old rules of “sink or swim” with your business apply. Keep it simple, focus on the most basic concept - pleasing the customer - and you’ll do fine.

    Written by Raven on October 3rd, 2006 with comments disabled.
    Read more articles on E-Business and Webmastering.

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