Barriers to Entry to Web Site - Example

[Kieran]

I was talking to a friend of mine last night and she asked me if I would design a web site for her women's clothes shop in Cork city. I was glad to help her out and will do it for a greatly reduced rate as she is an old close friend plus if I ever become a cross dresser I will get a discount

However I was surprised that she did not already have a web site and asked her why. She shared some interesting perspective on why they had not done so. Here is a rough summary of why she and her business partner had not done so.

1. Every week someone comes into the shop offering to design a web site for them and they were fed up of people pushing the product. Obviously these people are not selling correctly but I wonder what their approach is?
2. Neither of them are technical and although they want a web site they don't know what it will DO for their business. Short answer of course is as little or as much as you want it to do. I shared a simple idea for instance of a newsletter to loyal customers who sign up in the shop for special offers. Her eyes opened wide with delight at such an idea.
3. Cost - she had no idea as to how much it would cost her. Obviously the people in point 1 had not mentioned how much it would cost to set it up. My eyes opened wide with surprise here.
4. Time - She also had no idea as to how long it would take. When I said she could be up and running in 6-10 working days with a basic functioning brochure site she was also surprised.

All of this was before we even got to how we could promote and push here site online to certain levels.

What are your experiences?

 

[Pixelcraft]

that's all fair enough, but it is up to her to research at least some of the information. How can anyone give her a quote if she doesn't know what she wants or took the time to have a consultation with anyone? I realise being non-technical/computer literate can be a huge barrier to someone, but if you pick the right designer or agency this shouldn't be a problem.

My experience is there are a lot of people who say for example, please forward a pricelist for a website design, and it's just not possible. Then in some cases when you probe further, they never get back to you.

It's not all their fault though, there are a lot of amateur designers who list on their site/correspondence 'a site will cost X' regardless of the details or lack of, they receive. This is never the correct way to price such a job, and will ultimately mean bad value for the customer

 

[Tom]

A friend of mine of mine who started a business a few years ago is only getting around to getting a website now. He's been kept busy with referrals so hasn't bothered with one until now. During this time he's observed how some of his competitors acquired work through their website alone and now with the recession he's decided to look more into advertising and of course get a website.

One tip to any business person without a website, don't wait until tomorrow! Even if you think a website won't do anything for you today (and it most likely will), you might feel differently in a year or two so don't lose out on that growth time.

 

[Kieran]

I agree with both points above but what stood out for me was that nobody did the explaining I was really surprised.

Agree that a price list is difficult but for someone like me who does it as a sideline I can tell straight away how long it will take me to do a basic brochure type site with home/about/contact/products/e-mail addresses type.
for more advanced work it is pencil and paper, excel, conversation type of effort.

Thanks for the feedback!

Kieran

 

[StuartC]

I know a few ppl who's businesses have been suffering as of late. These would be of the older age bracket who wouldn't be the most computer literate. They are now looking for a website as a means to get out of the slump. I think thats what most small web design business' are pushing. Theres a lot of competition out there for low end web design these days aswell

 

[link8r]

I hear ya Kieran ... I've had this conversation so many times.

The worst part is that I've heard it from people who've engaged web designers with a lot of experience. My theory is thus - there a lot of people who are capable of putting together a website - and they fall into the following categories:

1. Graphic designers - who tend to rely on their Graphic Design capability to create aesthetically pleasing sites. To a lot of people, particularly brand focused, this is crucial and good designers can command good fees and get a lot of referral work. They are possibly least technically interested or SEO-aware (blanket statement I know, no offence, there are obviously those good at everything)
2. Web designer/developer group - more interested in functionality, may team up or employ good designer types
3. IT People who can build a web page - are familiar with web components such as .net, HTML or dreamweaver.
4. Give-it-a-go-hero's who will struggle away on Wordpress, HTML, dreamweaver, notepad, whatever it takes - and they can produce anything from anywhere in the spectrum of good to bad - including self-build or even "professional as a service" model
5. Brand-type marketeer/agency types - usually 4 - 25 people, using strong design, some development components, huge focus on brand, AdWords experts, some SEO - all-in-one "web marketing house

The problem is that very few people have actually had a successful web business --- so how can they share experiences or advice?

I think web owners have to realise that the web is the future - its not easier. There is no €100 fix. You can't order an online business like you do a pizza. Just because you can file a VAT return or create your own logo and letter headed paper doesn't mean you can run a business. The web is just a new branch which you have to engage with. I know many web people who two years ago didn't understand the web and have to engage with many different web people until they learnt themselves.

The same has been my experience with accountants and solicitors. You'd think that they would all be good given the training they've had and the high pedestal they are placed within society (albeit larely by themselves) - but I've come to realise that most of them are just technical and charge a lot for the sake of it. I haven't ever met a solicitor who could just understand my case - in many times I've felt I can understand things better than they can - sure, they know the technical parts of the law but they're rarely creative or innovative and I've found that largely dissappointing.

In summary, if people aren't willing to engage the people they employ as consultants, then leave them off - they'll learn.

 

[Coyote1]

Finally the Enterprise Boards are catching on

The City and county enterprise boards are pushing the whole website for your business thing at the moment.

They are offering support for up to 50% of the cost ( used to be 70% ) of the development up to €1000 so that could be a good point to use when pitching to clients.

They are also running SEO training for Clients I deliver this for them in Limerick and so far it has had a great response.

There are a lot of companies and small business with no idea of the basics of SEO or even where to begin so a very basic 1 day course is a good starting place for them.