Common website fears and misconceptions costing you a fortune?

We’ve found that just about nobody goes to the trouble of explaining the steps involved and people usually fear looking dumb /  unintelligent (everyone knows what a website can do, right?) by asking, so they rather just keep quiet. But this lack of basic information is not only frustrating, it can also end up being expensive!

One woman we spoke to told us she was wary of having a website because “Someone did come to see me. He spoke a huge amount of technical jargon and I didn’t understand one word. Then he charged me R30 000 and has now left me with a thing I’ve no idea what to do with. I felt embarrassed and stupid and told him to take it down and now I have nothing.” Ouch!

It’s all good and well to be told “you need a website” but unless you know what for and how you can use it in your type of business (and each business has its own unique aspects) you’re just about guaranteed to start off on the wrong foot.

A lot of people, however, seem to be under the impression that to be able to understand how to make a website work for you, you need to understand all the technical detail involved with computers, the internet and whole bunch of other complicated stuff. But you don’t!

One of the comments I hear often is “I can hardly turn on the computer so a website will be just far too difficult!” Mmm, let me ask you this: can you drive a car? Yes? That big intricate machine on four wheels that has hundreds of different parts all working together to make you go from A to B – you can actually drive it? Yes!

Besides the absolute basics, like knowing the wheels turn to make it move and it needs fuel and water, do you really know how it all works? Probably not. But you can still drive! You can still make it work!

So why would you have to get into the technical side of a website to make it work? You use a mechanic to make your car work and a web developer to make your website work. Technical know-how and the desire and ability to do it all yourself isn’t necessary to drive in either instance. (Of course, for those who are interested, there’s nothing stopping you from “getting your hands dirty.” :) )

As for what you need to know to get started with “driving” your website effectively, it’s all quite straightforward. For a basic overview of the main “parts” of a website, click here. A quick look at what internet marketing means and is all about, is here and a very easy explanation of terms like internet, ISP etc can be found here.

Once you’ve read these short articles you’ll have enough information to make a good judgement call on whether the website you’re getting is going to best serve your needs or whether someone’s just trying to pull a fast one on you.

Two other common misconceptions about having a website are

• “I’m / my business is too small for a website” and

• “I’ve got enough work at the moment. I don’t want to do anymore advertising now because I won’t be able to cope with the work.”

Websites aren’t about advertising, they are about building relationships. Good and lasting client relationships are essential for long term business success. A website gives your client a place to come back to, a place where they can tap into your valuable advice and expertise, a place to see what you have to offer, even when you’re not physically available or your shop is closed.

A lot of small business have a constant battle between trying to reach enough people to make the business survive that month and keeping up with the work that does come in.  A typical cycle is to embark on a “massive” advertising campaign, using pamphlets (most of which get thrown in the bin, often without a glance), adverts and possibly some cold calling. This usually generates some work, so all marketing efforts come to a dead stop while the work is being done. Then the work is suddenly done and the money too and now we need clients again. Freak! Embark on next gruelling advertising campaign. Repeat until breakdown or bankruptcy.

One of our local business owners is a carpenter. He has a beautiful selection of cupboards, tables, cabinets etc at his warehouse / workshop. Unfortunately, his premises are way out in an industrial area so clients never go anywhere near there. He feels he is both too small for a website and he is snowed under by all the work he has at the moment.

The funny thing is, when we went to see him a few months ago, he was panicking because he didn’t have enough work and didn’t know how to reach people. Then there was a huge show in town, he paid twice the price of a website for a stall and displayed his goods to everyone who walked past. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only guy at that show with his type of product and very few people go to a show with the idea of buying a cupboard or a table. A couple of people placed orders (hence the fact that he is now snowed under) but a great number of people saw him and because they have no way to “return” to him, simply walked away and forgot him. What a pity!

If the carpenter had had a website, he could have collected the e-mail addresses of all the people who were interested in his work, but who didn’t want to buy immediately. Then he could have contacted them on a regular basis throughout the year, sent them to his website where he could display his latest work and so generated work for the whole year. But because he thinks he’s “too small” and he’s got “enough work for now” he’s going to have to wait for the next show once his current projects run dry. Not a good situation from a cash flow perspective.

A website, combined with a planned internet marketing strategy, allows you to make regular contact with existing clients (Pareto’s Principle says that 80% of our income comes from 20% of our clients so it makes a great deal of sense to keep in contact with them) as well as to market to new clients, in a far more efficient and effective way than the usual hit-and-run cycle that is usually followed.

For a small business, especially one consisting of only one or two people, a website allows you to automate a lot of your “cold-calling” and “advertising” which frees up a chunk of time to focus on building business relationships and to do the work that comes in. A steady stream of work over time can do a lot to calm ragged nerves!

Small businesses, which normally don’t have a ton of money to throw at a traditional marketing campaign, especially on a regular basis, are the businesses most in need of a site! However, many people have told me that they don’t want to invest in a website because they’re scared it won’t work and they’ll have wasted their money. But...

• if you are using a professional to help you build your website,

• someone who not only knows how to build a good site that takes the needs of your business into consideration, but
  
• who also supplies you with regular internet marketing advice and suggestions, and
• you spend some time actually trying these approaches,
  

  ...what do you think are the chances that it won’t work at all?

And if it does work, even just a little bit, what are the chances you can reach more people, more regularly, than you can with pamphlets, brochures and radio ads (which cost a fortune every time)?  It may seem like a bit of a challenging prospect, but isn’t it worth a try?

To make sure you get the kind of website you need and want, a website that will be successful, there are

• certain questions you need to ask yourself.
  
• There are also questions you want to be sure to ask your website developer to make sure he knows how to build you an effective and professioanl website. 

In our short e-course, Will My Website Work? , we show you what you need to ask - and what the answers should be! This information will save you literally thousands of rand on bad websites and lost customers!

Send me my free e-course now - I don't want to get my fingers burned!