[Andy Hayes is someone I’m thrilled to have made friends with. He is scary smart, very business savvy, and also just a fun guy. He’s done lots of work and research about making websites work better, so I welcomed his guest post on small business websites. -Becky]
Last week Becky ranted about the classic small business website problem. She highlighted the number of options and opportunities for small businesses to get a website online, and the pitfalls therein. The whole thing really is enough to give one a headache.
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| Photo Credit: tm-tm |
Websites are a really thorny issue. I deal with it every day because that’s where most of my business comes from. And many of my customers struggle with this question too.
I’ve got the one single question you need to answer that will start to help you solve all that confusion and ikky feelings in your stomach about your online presence: What is Your Website For?
Most business folks have no answer to this question. It’s important though, because knowing this drives all of your other online activities.
- Maybe your site is your commerce platform – you’ll actually sell/deliver goods on it. Sounds like it’s kind of important, eh?
- Maybe your site is just an extension of your sales team – guess you better focus on what it says, no?
- Maybe your site is where many people first hear about you – I hope they like what they see, don’t you?
Businesess exist for many reasons, but the primary one is simple: to make money which puts food on your table. How, exactly, does your website contribute to that goal? If it were a member of your staff, would it be earning its salary?
Andy Hayes is a travel and tourism entrepreneur and social media geek. He’s also the author of Why Your Website Sucks, which helps small businesses answer the tough questions about their own websites. Does your website…suck?
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Andy,
I love posts like this because they really drive to the core of an issue.
When I was designing websites for a living, I was often asked how much a site would cost. My answer was always, “It depends on what you want your site to do”.
That always threw people for a loop.
Truth is, I got out of the website business because many saw websites as a commodity instead of as an integral part of a marketing strategy; as something to just “throw up there” because you’re supposed to have one.
And all they really needed to do to avoid that was ask, “What is my website for?”
-Matt