Small firms investing in their websites

New Business magazine reports that small businesses are investing in their websites in a bid to combat the economic downturn, according to research by Amplify Research.

The survey found that 43% of small companies in the UK are now investing in improving their websites in a bid to increase online sales. Just under 30% of respondents said that social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are good business-to-business networking tools.

It is important to understand what you should be looking to achieve with your website and this might not be what you’d think. Simply having an online brochure will get you nowhere.

Many businesses don’t actually sell anything on their website. And those that do will receive a huge number of visitors who aren’t ready to buy – they are simply browsing or looking for information about something they think they may buy in the future. All well and good you may say - when they’re ready to buy, they’ll come back. Only they won’t.

When it comes time to purchase, or to use your services, they’ll have forgotten all about your site, and the others they looked at. They’ll either start again, or they’ll naturally return to the one site that bothered to take their details and then kept them up to date with news about the product and regularly sent interesting snippets of information. In short, the company that bothered to nurture a relationship by giving you something of value for free - sharing their expertise and information, without any hard sell.

Whether you sell online or not, the main purpose of your website should be allowing you to begin that relationship with your prospect. You need a way of capturing your visitors’ email addresses and a compelling reason for them to provide it, with their permission for you to email them later. Any business can do this, and any business can create information that the prospect will value. Be generous with your knowledge, keep the selling to a minimum and when the time comes to buy – it’s you they’ll come back to.

Turner Associates can help your business evolve its website into an effective marketing tool. Call us on 01483 283810 to discuss further.