BBO BLOGS

Credibility is essential if your website is going to work. In today's market virtually everyone jumps on the net to check out a new business they have heard about. We know that local business owners check us out on the web as part of their decision making process.

Key things we have used to increase the credibility of our site is having a professional design, a blog, a newsletter, announcements and testimonials. All these elements let people know that we are an active business, we have real local clients, we are serious about our marketing and looking to grow. Most importantly it shows that we are here to stay and that people can safely form long term relationships with us. 

I recommend that any business seeking to build credibility should invest in a professional website that incorporates some or all of the above elements. 

The four keys to having a commercially successfull website can be summarized as content, credibility, conversion and customer. Content is what first brings people to your website, Credibility brings them back, Conversion leads to sales and Customers create a business.
In regards to content  it needs to:
- Address peoples need for information immediately
- Appeal to people's emotions
- Encourage others to link to your site

Once you do this you will be able to own your own traffic. This means that rather than relying on pay per click advertising to direct people to your site, people will come of their own accord. Web traffic that you own is a huge asset that you can leverage to generate income.

I will cover the other three C's in upcoming blogs.

If you live in Toowoomba and are interested in avoiding web development pitfalls then make sure you attend the upcoming seminars which Quadtech and Better Business Outcomes are presenting on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry. 

At only $66 for all three evening seminars this represents the best way for you to rapidly learn how you can profit from the web and avoid wasting money on common mistakes. 

The first seminar is on Tuesday 4th March from 6:00pm to 8:30pm at the Downs Business Centre, 4 Little St, Toowoomba. The seminars will also be run in Dalby at a date yet to be determined.

For further information call Toowoomba Regional Centre on (07) 4698 9800 or click here to view the registration form.

It is always tempting to get excited about all the possibilities that a new website can offer. There are blogs, forums, announcements, FAQ's etc.  All these are great ways of increasing traffic to your site providing you have the time to be regularly using these features so they don't go stale.  My suggestion to others based on our experience is to purchase a website solution that can support all these features however start with just a few. This is so your site goes live in a reasonable time and at a contained cost. This also gives you a chance to see how much work is involved in maintaining your site before you start adding too many additional features.

Most websites solutions give the client the ability to maintain and update their website content using an editor. This can sound appealing to clients who wish to save money by taking a DIY approach to developing their website. We originally decided to purchase a template website under the understanding that we could use the editor to brand and customise it ourselves. We saved money on the initial purchase but learning how to use the internal editor took considerably longer than we expected and the end result still looked unprofessional. When we approached developers to try to "fix" up the site we were told it would be cheaper to start from scratch. This is what we eventually had to do which caused us to pay twice for our site. The key lessons I would like to pass onto other people considering a DIY approach to developing their site are:
1.    It is never as easy as it sounds.
2.    Have a professional web designer/developer to set up your templates, styles, images and overall design first.
3.    Limit your DIY work to text (not graphics, design or layout).
4.    Know what you can and can't do when editing your site, to avoid making a mess of the underlying code.
5.    Be conscious of the need for a credible looking site, particularly if you are expecting people to make on-line purchases.
6.    Put a value on your time. Attempting to design your site using an included editor can be terribly time consuming and frustrating while you are learning how to do it. (Note: professional web developers use more advanced design and development tools such as Dreamweaver)
7.     In conclusion, I am very sceptical of any small busienss owner who has achieved their objectives via a DIY approach to their website development.

All this being said, I am only sharing my personal experience, I am therefore keen to hear your opinion so please post a comment.

As our Better Business Outcomes website recently went live for the third time I can confidently say that we have gained a considerable amount of experience (the hard way) in how to establish a website for a new business.

Fortunately we feel that this latest version, developed with Quadtech, will achieve our objectives and allow us to move onto other forms of marketing.

We have learned from practical experience that there is a lot more to establishing an effective website than calling up a web developer and paying some cash. There is a considerable amount of work in establishing an online business that a client must do such as deciding on site objectives, developing content, testing the site, finding products, setting up order fulfillment processes, learning how to administer and maintain the site and finally marketing the site to find customers.

I would be interested to know what sort of lessons you have learned through establishing a website for your business.