Transcript Your Business On the Web Why does your business need a Website? • Establish a Presence • Credibility • To Sell - Serve Your Customers 24

Your Business
On the Web
Why does your business
need a Website?
• Establish a Presence
• Credibility
• To Sell - Serve Your Customers 24 hrs
• Serve customers both local & wider
• Marketing tool
• You need to do what your competition does
• A chance to impress the potential customer or client
• In a Yellow pages search ,customers will choose the
ones that have websites
• A website can save you money - downloadable brochures, flyers
or catalogues - reduce the number of expensive printed materials that you need
to have printed up on a regular basis. And update these online
• Make money from your site - sell your product or
services online.
Make it easy for the customer to do business with you
Inspire confidence with a professional,
well-designed site.
The internet Offers your clients an easy way to
contact you and makes it easy for them to learn more
about your company and, most importantly,
generate business.
Tips for choosing Web designer
• Look at their portfolio
• Ask for a free consultation
• Check their quotation includes all the amendments you will
make in the course of construction
• Look at their testimonials or use recommendations
• Cheapest isn’t always best
• Above all – can you work with them? Your website needs to be
active, interesting and fresh with regular updates
• Do you feel they will be helpful without the clock running?
• Are they available weekends / evenings?
Register a URL – web address
• Keep it simple
• If you can, avoid hyphens
• Register the email address / aliases
Building a website
REMEMBER!
5 seconds to capture
Who is your target audience?
How clear is your branding?
• Is the message clear?
Logo – corporate or product
• A strong brand projects an image of
quality in your business
Strap Line
– catchphrase for your business
You’re worth it
Every little helps
Try something new
L’Oreal
Tesco
Sainsbury’s
The World’s local bank
HSBC
Have a Break, Have a…
Kit Kat
Rule = 3-6 words (8 max)
What is the process?
•Initial consultation
•Site design and layout
•Content
•Fit & finish
•Client trial – not live
•Flip the switch – Go live!
•Marketing and search engine
positioning
•Maintenance, support and upgrades
How many pages will I need?
• Home
• Contact
• Legal Information
- Privacy Statement & Data protection
• How to find us
• Links Page
• Services / products
• Sitemap
• About Us
• Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ
Other Items
•Date
•Search Facility
•Portfolio
•Gallery
•Testimonials
Navigation
• Keep it simple and easy to use
• 3 clicks to get to information
• Make sure your visitors can
always get back to the home page
• Add forward and back buttons to
photo gallery
Home page
• Websites need a central page to act as the main
entry point.
• The beginning of site navigation (menus, links, etc.),
• Add enough information, as text or graphics, to
show a visitor that they are on the correct site
• Can be an opening screen with minimal graphics
and a navigation menu, or the latest news of the
company, current specials and sales, or other items
that are updated regularly
• The home page should be laid out simply: keep it
easy to navigate, make sure it is uncluttered, and
project your best first impression of your company
Legal Information
• Privacy Statement
• Data protection
• Company Registered address and
number
Contact page
• Never use a mobile number
• Never print your email address,
always use a button or form
• Give something free in return for
prospects details
• Create a database to email prospects
IF GATHERING PERSONAL DATA YOU MUST BE REGISTERED UNDER
THE DATA PROTECTION ACT AND THIS STATEMENT
MUST APPEAR ANYWHERE YOU COLLECT DATA
Links Page
•Links to & from your site - great for
Search engines
Your website has to be
DDA compliant
Your website has to be visible
to the blind!
DDA – Disability Discrimination Act
Working on Content
Pose the question/s
Is this your problem?
We have the solution
Images
• Use relevant images to
enhance the site
• Beware of copyright issues
• Beware of using individual’s photos
Nobody likes buying!
THEY LIKE WHAT THEY BUY
The website must
meet your goals and
the site users needs
How do we get the message across?
• Play on emotions in a positive way
• Use images or words, or both
• Communicate the idea, feeling
• Your target market only wants to
know why its worth buying your
service or product – how they will
feel after parting with their money
Colours
• Research the effect of colours on emotions
Orange
vitality
Gold
wealth
Red
Used in food industry, especially
sweets, because it makes you feel
hungry or sexuality, passion. Also
used for danger – e.g. Road signs
Green
Natural, strong, colour of money
Yellow
Joy, happiness, sunshine
Light blue
Associated with health, healing,
tranquillity, understanding, and
softness.
Dark blue
Knowledge, power, integrity, and
seriousness – used a lot in corporate
logos
White = purity, cleanliness, goodness
Purple
Associated with royalty. It symbolizes
power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It
conveys wealth and extravagance.
Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity,
independence, creativity, mystery, and
magic.
Light purple
Evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings,
spirituality. Good choice for a feminine
design. You can use bright purple when
promoting children's products. 75% of
pre-adolescent children prefer purple to
all other colours.
Black
Power, elegance, formality, death, evil,
and mystery.
Black is a mysterious colour associated
with fear and the unknown (black holes).
It usually has a negative connotation
(blacklist, black humour, 'black death').
BUT fantastic as a contrast to bright
colours, becomes very powerful
Consistency in your marketing
• Branding must be consistent
• Important that your customers
recognise you immediately and
remember you
• Follow through using same
fonts, colours, logos etc. on
your publicity material
SEO – Search engine optimisation
Now you are on the web
– how are you found?
• Ask if your web designer will do
basic SEO
• Labour intensive– therefore very
expensive
• Ask if SEO will be an additional cost
Tips for your site
• Clients are looking for solutions
• Clients need to feel reassured
• Avoid Flash animation unless it is relevant
• Photographs – Great! But remember copyright issues
• Easy to navigate
• Easy to print – test the pages print
• Mimic the corporate’s ideas – no one knows how big
or small you are on the web
PROMOTE your site
• Have a launch day
• BE VISIBLE – URL should appear on everything
• Use editorials, local papers, news, local Council
newsletters, talks etc.
• Use the website!
Useful Links
Computer Confidence - www.comfi.co.uk
Photography – www.posandneg.com
Effective selling -www.intelligentsalesclub.com
Tel: 0845 408 1366