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Small Business And The Web (of confusion)

by Paula Apynys, July 5, 2010

The internet offers unparalleled opportunities for companies/organizations to communicate and/or market to their customers or target audiences. However, the sheer quantity and complexity of available options can be overwhelming.

The web has spawned a series of discrete disciplines that interact with each other, but that also have unique knowledge sets. In addition to all the specialties and sub-specialties associated with website design and programming, there are now people who specialize in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Web Analytics, Email Campaigns, Mobile, and Social Media. The continual splintering of the web into ever more distinct channels collides uncomfortably with the traditional small business person’s inclination towards DIY.

Visit a large bookstore and take a look at the shelves of manuals available to help unravel the web’s mysteries and you may get an idea of what the Do It Yourself-er is up against. Heck, professionals struggle to keep up with technology changes and advances, so it’s no surprise that people who are trying to mastermind and manage their internet related activities while simultaneously running an organization run into problems, the most common of which can summarized as follows:

• Too much money spent relative to results
• Too little money spent relative to opportunity

Hiring Professionals

If you have any reasonable budget at all ideally you would hire professional(s) to handle your web endeavors. But which professional(s) exactly?

The world of web "professionals" ranges from the teenager next door (who, bright has he/she is, should not be put in charge of your internet destiny), to professorial types with lots of initials after their names, to tech-crazy people whose every third word is an acronym, to slick salespeople who are very convincing and whom you’d like to believe except that you’ve been burned before by other slick salespeople, etc., etc. Web professionals may work solo, as part of small teams/companies, or be part of relatively large companies with correspondingly large price-tags. (And let’s not forget the very aggressive, low-priced, technically skilled companies in India.)

There’s no one "right" template for a web services company, there’s room for all kinds of operators (including, sadly, some who are dishonest or inept). But how are you to evaluate their offerings, particularly when you have very little idea of what they actually do?

Starting Points When Considering Providers

It helps a lot to know the basic jargon. In addition to feeling more confident, you’ll actually be more confident because you’ll know, to some degree, what you’re talking about.

Read our article Internet Terms You Should Know If You Have A Website for a rundown on the basics.

Then, when meeting with potential providers, try to evaluate whether the person/company is interested in/able to focus on YOU. This includes their ability to communicate with you. Can they talk to you about your business/organization and understand what your goals for online activity are? Then, can they clarify for you whether those goals are achievable, and why or why not? Or help you figure out how best to achieve those goals given constraints you may have (budget, time to dedicate, technical skills, etc.)? Do you get the sense they are trying to create a strategy around your situation, or force-fit you into a prefab strategy?

Be willing to learn something. Most professionals are eager to explain their reasoning and strategies. So, meet them halfway; ask questions, get involved. You don’t have to understand the deep technicalities, but you should get a grasp on the broad principles.

If you’re a technophobe, try to loosen up a bit and fight your instinctive tendency to shut down when confronted with technical/computer related information. You don’t need to pass an exam, but you will benefit from understanding the basics. This knowledge helps you to develop a set of goals that are reasonably concrete and measurable rather than so general as to be meaningless.

On the other hand, if you’re a highly-confident person with strong opinions, be willing to have incorrectly-held opinions challenged.

What Might You Hire Them To Do?

It’s important to remember at all times that the promise/potential of the web or web technologies is 50% real and 50% hyperbole. Some of the hyped technologies will eventually manifest as useful and real; some of what’s real now will eventually disappear as the result of newer technologies, consolidations, etc. And many potential solutions/technologies will never develop beyond nifty concepts that can’t fly in the real world.

Fortune 500 companies are currently spending a lot of money on every possible web strategy that exists or is about to exist. Your company may not be able to compete dollar for dollar with the larger corporations, but the good news is it’s not necessary for small to medium-sized companies to heavily invest in these strategies/technologies. Big companies utilize test laboratories, experimenting with possibilities and figuring out which approaches have merit and which don’t. Your company does not have to jump on every trend when it’s new. Let the big guys take the first pass and focus your resources on channels that have already proven their worth. These include a website that:

• has been effectively optimized for search engines;
• has well-written relevant content;
• is interactive in ways that benefit customers/targeted users;
• is connected to some form of analytics program that monitors traffic and related metrics;
• in most cases, is not built in Flash.

Your website should function as the central hub for any and all online efforts. Other undertakings that have proven their worth are:

• well-executed Google Adwords campaigns,
• well-executed email campaigns,
• are fully targeted online advertising campaigns

To maximize effectiveness you should sync all online marketing efforts with any traditional marketing strategies you deploy. Any printed materials should include website information, as should print ads, radio spots, television commercials, etc.

An area that is still developing but showing a lot of promise is Social Media.

Social Media

The term "Social Media" refers to web-based platforms and tools that allow for collaborative and interactive communications. There are many different social media programs and tools, but they boil down roughly to these 10 platforms:

• Social Networks (Facebook, Linked In, My Space…)
• Social Bookmarking (Digg, Stumbleupon…)
• Wikis (Wikipedia, Scholarpedia…)
• Blogs (millions)
• Microblogs (Basically Twitter)
• Forums
• Chatrooms
• Photo Sharing (Flickr)
• Video Sharing (YouTube)
• Podcasts (millions)

To learn more about Social Media visit our Social Media page, and our Resources page where you can download our PDF Guide: Getting Started with Social Media, and listen to our podcast: Social Media, What’s it all about?

We at TH Design are immersed in this constantly changing environment. We can help you navigate your way through tricky decisions and strategy choices. Call us at 330-869-4680.

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Too Much Money Spent

Too much money spent relative to results happens when persuasive providers cross paths with people who know just enough to be vulnerable. Companies are still being caught by the ubiquitous offers to "get your website to number 1 in Google for just $$$ a month!" It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain what’s wrong with those offers, but a lot of companies have thrown money down the "#1 in Google" hole with little to show for their investment.

Others have succumbed to the pitch they should represent their company with multiple websites (in an effort to improve search engine rankings) when one, well-constructed, search engine friendly site with solid content would perform much better.

Still others have paid top dollar for beautiful, Flash-based sites that perform poorly in search engines or don’t provide a user-friendly interface. I think Flash is a wonderful technology capable of creating exciting visual effects. However, it has been clear—for more than a decade—that Flash is a tool better used for discrete animations and games, not as a platform in which to build entire websites. (At least not for businesses or professional organizations. Entertainment-related sites are the exception.)

As new technologies appear, there will always be someone willing to take advantage of companies with offers that deliver far less than what they initially claim or promise.

Too Little Money Spent

Too little money spent relative to opportunity commonly occurs when people decide to save money by "doing it themselves." All those free or cheap tools available for internet activities are a double-edged sword if the results are substandard or unprofessional.

Many companies and organizations make no headway in Google or other search engines because their website isn’t "search engine friendly." But since most folks have no idea what "search engine friendly" truly means, they can’t remedy their search ranking shortcomings.

There are many variations on this theme. Most boil down to companies trying to accomplish objectives without knowing what the proper tools are or how best to use them. As a result, the efforts that are being made don’t pay off, or don’t pay off as well as they should have.

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