By Katherine Andes
A small business owner decides he needs a marketing piece in a magazine format. So he plans to hire a creative director, a graphic designer, a photographer, and a copywriter. He also knows that he needs to select the paper, a printer, and decide on the number of copies. And he needs a mailing list, postage, and mail handling.
It’s a big project and it’s expensive. So he budgets for it.
When his glossy marketing piece is finished, he holds it proudly, flips through it and thinks, “Wow, this really shows us off! What a great marketing tool for our company!”
But that same owner is likely to nickel and dime it when it comes to his website.
I come across this quite often. Businesses will spend a small fortune on print, yellow pages, newspapers, radio, and television … and then skimp like heck on their web sites.
Perhaps it’s because many owners are still more comfortable with traditional media.
It might also be because companies can get storefront and template sites very inexpensively. As a result, many owners make the mistake of thinking everything about developing their web sites should also be inexpensive.
It’s great that web sites can be inexpensive to set up for a small business.
But, if a business wants an effective profit-producing website, then there will be significant web development costs.
Home pages need to clearly communicate how a business will help prospects resolve their needs and desires. And the site must be easy to navigate.
Each interior page needs to be carefully developed to assist visitors to do something specific. It could be as simple as clicking to another page for more information, signing up for a newsletter, making a phone call, etc.
And social media and search engine optimization must be part of the package.
To do this, businesses need a web development strategist. Nickel and diming it will only make their competitors very rich.
Easy Furniture Web Tip #84: Smaller companies need to stop nickel and diming their web sites, face the hard facts, and allocate much more of their marketing budget to web development.
Katherine Andes is a consultant who specializes in custom content for web sites and search engine optimization (SEO) — especially in the home improvement market. You can phone her at 559.589.0379 or email at Kathy@AndesAndAssociates.com.