Is Your Website Working for Your Business?
- Are you just starting out, have no website and have no clue how to begin?
- Or do you have a website, but the phone doesn’t ring and no orders come in?
At networking events, the number one thing we hear is website struggles. Nearly everyone has their own horror story. “When I upload my picture, it gets distorted so I look like Ichabod Crane.” “I spent 4 hours creating a detailed calendar and when I went back to edit it–it was GONE. How do I get it back?” “My shopping cart broke–no one can check out.”
Meet Sally. Plan A – Do It Yourself
A typical entrepreneur, Sally is full of ideas and a can-do spirit. But bootstrapping her business has mutated her “can-do” spirit into an “I’ve got to do-it-all-myself” monster. Face the facts: no one can do it all. Worse, that mentality makes it so easy to fall prey to the “build your website tonight” scams.
And, sure enough, Sally fell for the “You Can Do It Yourself” myth.
It didn’t take long for Sally to realize she was in over her head. She was bombarded with decisions to make: “What makes a good web hosting service? How do I choose the ready-made theme that will work best for my business? Are my photos the wrong sizes for this template? Why can’t I find the colors that match and enhance my logo?”
Every decision Sally made seemed to create more problems for her to solve.
Unfortunately the DIY approach backfired. The cookie cutter template may have saved her time but it felt like she was wearing a straight-jacket that stifled her creativity and limited her options.
Plan B – The Friends and Family Approach
With growing concern, Sally asked the people in her circle if they knew anyone who could help. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who has “done” a website. As so often happens, a friend told Sally her son had done some web work and could help her out.
Right. He made the few changes she asked for. But he didn’t know anything about search visibility. Or website security. Or how to install the shopping cart she needed. Or designing a site that looked as good on her 23” monitor at home as it did on her smartphone.
The site was looking more like what Sally wanted, but she was no closer to a website that was built to bring her business.
The Last Straw – The Offshore Option
By now Sally was getting desperate. She got the cold shakes when looking at her bank balance. The critical holiday season was looming and she had a website that couldn’t accept orders!
Enter the low-cost off-shore web developer.
Sure, the low price made the most of her dwindling dollars. But the time difference meant she paid the price in lost sleep. She forced herself to be available around the clock to respond to questions from the developer. Worse, it was clear there was a deep cultural divide between what she was looking for and his execution. He had no experience with what her audience found appealing.
With so many wrong choices, what’s a business owner to do?
Where did Sally go wrong in her quest for a business website?
She focused on her limits: small budget and a pressing deadline. By focusing on what she didn’t have (time and money) she made poor choices and ended up overspending and out of time.
What’s Wrong with Local?
Sally ignored the local web developers, naively assuming they would be too expensive. That isn’t necessarily true. There are affordable local resources.
And InSource is one of them.
Why InSource?
All our projects start with a discussion about your business and goals. And your limits. Understanding the limits you are facing allows us to offer you options. A scaled back website? A website built in phases? Elimination of ideas that are “nice to have” but won’t move the needle as far as your business is concerned?
No more online chat sessions with a stranger or round the clock emails to an offshore web developer. We live and work in Marin County. Meet us at our downtown San Rafael office. Stop in for a cup of coffee or working session. You always know where to find us!
- We can start with what you have and make it what you need. Whether it is a failed attempt to build your own WordPress site or an unusable site from a hired developer, we can work with you.
- We respect what it is like to be a small business on a budget with too many things to do, too much to learn and not enough sleep! We are not some techies who speak geek and have no understanding of the challenges you face. We are business people with a combined 72 years of experience.
- We think beyond just building your website. We know the minute it is finished, your website is on the road to being obsolete. You need to make updates to the site, add new content and keep your site current. We include one-on-one training sessions plus friendly, easy to follow documentation—with pictures—for any of our projects!
- A website in isolation is a deserted island. We don’t want that to happen to you so we offer social media guidance as well. We have a strategy for you to find the right social channels for your business, the right way to get started and a doable plan for keeping it all going.
- You don’t have to do it alone. We are here after your website is completed. Technical questions? Security issues? Google’s search algorithm updates? The ever changing social media landscape? We are only a phone call away!
Best of all, we offer an initial no-cost consultation session. We’ll help you determine how to get your website to be what you want.
If your website isn’t working, you are losing customers.
If you are on Facebook and your audience is on Pinterest, they aren’t hearing you.
Call or come visit us at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center.
