Any small business in London or anywhere else in the UK debating whether or not to invest in a website needs to think seriously about whether or not they want to continue to turn a profit. The internet has become so fundamental in our society that any small business wanting to develop and grow quite simply cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities offered by what is now recognised as the most potent marketing tool on the planet.
Whatever kind of small business you run, a London-based plumbing firm, chain of florists in Ipswich or a car dealership in Glasgow, more and more people are now searching for your products and services online. And what’s more, they are choosing their service provider from the list of small business websites which appears on the first two pages of the search results.
It’s as simple as that.
Even if you’re leaps and bounds ahead of the competition in terms of service or quality, if your website does not appear on these key pages of search results, then you’re not going to get the business.
People want to find solutions to their consumer needs quickly, and preferably while they are where they spend most of their time – in front of their computers. They want to run a search and find an answer in seconds, and any company who can’t provide instant gratification of this kind simply won’t get a look in.
Many small businesses however, in London in particular, still baulk at the idea of a website through mistrust or fear.
There’s a common misconception that investing in a website is a minefield and that it will lead a small business into a nightmare spiral of full of hidden costs, complicated technical issues and mounting invoices which fail to yield any new custom.
We’re here to tell you that this isn’t the case.
“We hear the occasional horror story from customers who have previously invested a lot of money in a website only to find that it doesn’t appear in search engines and they can’t update anything on there without paying for further development work. Clearly there are some web design companies out there offering bad advice and a poor service to their customers.
In general though, most of the small businesses we deal with have a very positive attitude towards the web and the opportunities it presents. We then help them to understand that a website which has been properly designed, constructed and prepared for search visibility is a sure fire way to boost their image, profile and profits.
With the advent of content management systems, small business owners are also learning that you don’t even need to have good IT skills to amend and update a website anymore either. Web technologies are becoming more and more user friendly.”
A word of warning though, you can’t expect your website to work hard for you if you just leave it to languish when it has gone live. All successful websites receive regular TLC.
“We always advise our small business customers on the importance of ongoing maintenance and optimisation work on their site. The addition and development of content is vital in ensuring good search rankings even if it’s just adding the odd search optimised news story.
We want to encourage any small business, whatever their industry or location, to get in touch with us. We are happy to offer advice about the website process and to talk through any concerns that they may have.
The internet is so fundamental to how we communicate and do business now that it just can’t be ignored. For small businesses there is a world of opportunity out there, and we’re all about helping them to access it.”
Paula Mackie
Customer Service Manager
Solutions Four Ltd.