I’m still amazed about the stance that Gerry Harvey and Co adopted during Australian retailer’s summer of discontent earlier this year.
Instead of using offshore sales as a call to arms for local retailers to get their act together with a professional eCommerce website (the real reason for the trend), instead they blamed everyone else for their predicament and in the process provided the best promotion for offshore shopping we’ve ever seen.
It’s now a case study in PR disasters.
But its not just retailers that need to invest in this proven customer magnet. All businesses need to ensure that their website is as top shape as they can get it or risk losing valuable sales or enquiries.
By top shape I mean a website which:
If it meets these standards, here are the benefits you can expect.
In many cases web users have no other criteria on which to judge the quality of your service than what is presented via your website. So it stands to reason that a poor quality website will suggest a poor quality business behind it.
Therefore if it’s down to your business and a competitor as to who will win the sale, it may well come down to the one with the better website.
This reason alone justifies the investment in your website. The notion of providing your business with passive, free business enquiries is unprecedented. If you don’t have a good website with plenty of keyword-laden content, your competitors get this free stream of willing customers instead of you.
I’ve seen a recent trend in my own business towards clients wanting a website to enhance their credibility. Business operators are realising that unless they have a good website, they just aren’t taken seriously by prospective customers.
In other words, prospects now see it as being as mandatory as a phone number.
How amazing is a virtual shop window that makes sales (or at least enquiries), without human intevention, while you sleep? But that’s what a good website will do for you time and time again.
In the past “round the clock” information about your business was provided by the advertising that you would often have to pay significant sums for. Even then it might only have satisfied the “Awareness” stage of the Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action steps required.
A good website will allow prospects to go the whole nine yards.
I’ve never understood those signs you see on the vans of tradespeople and other mobile service providers. “Find me in Yellow Pages” they said. But why on earth would you send prospects to a place which also promotes all of your competitors?
Of course, what the sign should have said is “Find me in White Pages” because they would just be looking for your business name and not your competitor-filled category.
And of course the notion of remembering a phone number is plain unrealistic. So websites provide the perfect memorable call to action as you remember the name and then, typically, Google-search it.
Unfortunately some don’t get these certain customers because they can’t be found on Google et al under their own business names!
Another unprecedented capability. At no time in business history could you have a globally accessible and 24/7 mechanism to capture prospect details to either follow up directly and/or add to your list for future communications.
Given these benefits, even those with just a glimmer of business nous will understand the need to make their online presence as professional as possible.
Do you fall into this category?
In addition to being a leading eBusiness educator to the smaller business sector, Craig Reardon is the founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which was established to address the special website and web marketing needs of SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.
Smart Company is the leading online publication in Australia for free news, information and resources catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
