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View Full Version : Small Business Owners, Websites & Succeeding Online



Gabe
10-28-2012, 12:08 AM
Hey everyone. This question is directed at small business owners and those who are experienced with building or designing websites for them.

Does it seem that a majority of small business owners are interested in taking an active role in their websites and learning more about how to succeed online? Or would most business owners prefer to have someone else do the work even though it's more expensive?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that a majority of small businesses owners are more than happy to pay someone to design their website and maintain the more technical aspects, but would prefer to make updates/posts on their website themselves and learn more about what they can do to succeed online (i.e. PPC, copywriting, SEO, on page and off page link building/optimization, etc.) Would you all agree? What trends have you seen?

I know small business owners run the gamut, i.e. from 100% DIY to 100% outsource, but I'm curious what the most common mix is.

Freelancier
10-28-2012, 06:29 AM
There's a set of creative web designers that is finite.

There's a set of people interested in creating for-profit retail web site.

The sets overlap a little, but not a lot. And it has nothing to do with PPC/SEO/copywriting, etc. It has everything to do with having something to sell, providing customer service, managing inventory, etc. Creating a web site stops when the design is complete. Creating a retail storefront never ends and has all the same issues as a regular storefront, including having to deal with returns, having to make sure customer orders get delivered on time, having to constantly refresh you products/offer sales/improve site visibility through affiliates/ads... all the while trying to make a profit. Web designers love design, but the rest of it often isn't that interesting and it's very time-consuming.

Gabe
10-28-2012, 06:34 AM
What about a small website for a plumber or an accountant A relatively simple website (non-ecommerce) with a few pages, a contact form, maybe a blog and a quote/estimate form. Nothing too complicated. Do you think customers are interested in writing their own articles, learning how to improve the search rankings for their websites, etc? Or would they generally prefer to outsource that kind of stuff?

My thoughts is that most would be willing to learn and try to do most of the work other than design/technical maintenance themselves. I just don't have the experience to to make a reasonable guess.

Freelancier
10-28-2012, 06:38 AM
What you're talking about now is small marketing stuff. And they'll likely outsource that as well IF they even think they need an online presence. And they won't care about copywriting, etc. They'll just take the YP ad they created and get the designer to fill in the blanks. And then it'll sit dormant for years.

What are you really asking? You're dancing around something here.

Gabe
10-28-2012, 06:47 AM
I'm curious how most small business owners manage their websites. I've never really worked in the industry except for some work for friends and family. From what I can surmise, most are willing to pay for website design and the technical stuff (i.e. server maintenance, software updates etc.) but prefer to do the rest (copywriting, SEO, etc.) themselves. I'm more interested in brochure type sites that act as an online presence for brick and mortar type businesses. I'm trying to be vague because I really don't have enough experience here.

I want to know what most web designers/website firms deal with, particularly after a website is finished. Are most customers interested in building more content on their website and learning how to grow their online presence or do they prefer to outsource it completely?

MyITGuy
10-28-2012, 09:18 AM
Are most customers interested in building more content on their website and learning how to grow their online presence or do they prefer to outsource it completely?

While I'm not a designer, most of the businesses I work with in an IT capacity follow what Freelancier suggested. The site is built and meets their expectations, then let it sit dormant and only make changes if absolutely needed. They don't know or care about the rest such as SEO, copywriting or etc.

Generally, small business firms focus their marketing tactics elsewhere (Door to Door, Yellow Pages, Review Sites and etc) and just have a website for informational purposes, not to draw in new customers on its own.

billbenson
10-28-2012, 09:53 AM
double post

billbenson
10-28-2012, 10:02 AM
The problem is time vs money. Most small businesses will write their own website. I lost my career in 1998. Got married in 98. Stupid thing to do with no income. I fumbled around for a while and figured the future of selling was on the web.I got some web design books and php books and somehow managed to get a job as a web designer in 2002. Shortly thereafter the company I was working for went bankrupt. Same reason I lost my career. The telecom industry died. I called up one of the companies that the bankrupt distributor was selling and asked what it takes to become a distributor for them.They told me $20k in orders.I wrote an extremely ugly oscommerce site (yes, ugly sites can sell), got 20k in orders, got the product line, became a distributor, and slowly grew into a fairly profitable business. I place 2 on G. Adwords got me by when I was first starting.

The problem here is that in the economic crash of today, like the dot com crash, people have no money. They need to write and manage their own site. I'm having my site rewritten by someone on this board for a more professional look and better seo. It's ready to go live. I'm in no hurry because I'm still swamped with the old site.

The problem I have is time. I can work from 9 am to 9 pm just answer phone calls and emails from the different time zones..I'm swamped.In the middle of that I need to clerical stuff, accounting stuff, invoicing, write php scripts...

A large part of my problem is I started heavily in debt. There are several others on this board who manage their own sites. I suspect they weren't in debt at the time. I'm still in debt.

Then their are others who had 5 page sites written. None are dentists but it makes a good example. Whats a dentist need? Qualifications, awards, directions, and to show up 1 in a local search. That can be improved on by adding information from seminars, tutorials etc., but doctors aren't known for being great marketers.

So there, you got my story. Hopefully it gives you one class of client in the middle of a recession.

My new site will be a wordpress based site with Shopp as a shopping cart.The way I will handle updates and new pages is I will write them myself, but have my web designer tweak the pages after the fact.

Gabe
10-28-2012, 10:20 AM
Thanks, that provides some pretty good insight. As you mention more folks will likely be willing to pay for more services once the economy picks up, but I'm sure there are many others who are DIYers to limit costs.

Also, like MyITGuy siad many will just leave their website dormant for long stretches of time.

Thanks guys.

Harold Mansfield
10-28-2012, 04:39 PM
Hey everyone. This question is directed at small business owners and those who are experienced with building or designing websites for them.

Does it seem that a majority of small business owners are interested in taking an active role in their websites and learning more about how to succeed online?
No. Not a majority. A minority. They want it. But they don't want to really learn it. So there is opportunity there to do it for them if they are willing to spend. But many who ony know what they've heard somewhere have unrealistic expectations...so you need to bring them down to earth.



Or would most business owners prefer to have someone else do the work even though it's more expensive?
Yes, they would rather have someone else do the work, but they don't want it to be more expensive. I have a couple of clients that I don't think have ever logged into their dashboard, which is fine..they are continuous business. And some really get into it and I check back months or weeks later and they are humming along as if they've always run their own site.



Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that a majority of small businesses owners are more than happy to pay someone to design their website and maintain the more technical aspects, but would prefer to make updates/posts on their website themselves and learn more about what they can do to succeed online (i.e. PPC, copywriting, SEO, on page and off page link building/optimization, etc.) Would you all agree? What trends have you seen?

Different business owners are vastly different when it comes to that. Most do want to be able to make their own changes and have some clue about how their website operates. The trend I've seen is that people are tired of being locked into one person to do every little thing and feel taken advantage of when they are in this situation.

I've seen some real horror stories where people have no idea where their domains are registered, where the site is hosted or how to access any of it. Don't make changes or updates because they are tired of paying someone $300 just to change an image, or now can't find their web guy.

I can say with certainty that people getting savvier and are reading more about what is possible. And all it takes is for them to see one of their peers that don't have that problem anymore, and they start looking to dump their web guy. Service providers that don't keep up with what people want, are doomed.

There is a big difference between people who are starting a business and want thier leads to come primarily online, they will work... and people who already have businesses that aren't web based and just need a website...they are too busy to spend the time.

Gabe
10-28-2012, 10:54 PM
Thanks Harold, that makes a lot of sense. I'm at the beginning of forming my business and I think I'll be going for the lower end and targeting the DIYers. I'll make less revenue per customer, but I think I'd like to focus on the educational aspect of it. From what I've read here it sounds like it's a viable market.

Ronald Dod
11-29-2012, 10:54 AM
My business does all the marketing for small business owners and startups. I generally have two different clients. One doesn't care, he just wants more sales and calls me when he wants something done. The second tries to understand a little bit, but doesn't care too much, he just wants it done. I guess the third type doesn't need me to do the marketing :).