The Voice of Small Business

02/04/2020Oonagh McCutcheon

Grow your business online

An SFA Webinar Date:

Author:

GROW YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE

Oonagh McCutcheonCorporate Communications ManagerIE Domain Registry

Living in a digital world

• Consumers search for goods and services online

• 24/7 convenience

• Increasing drive for government services, utilities etc to go online, which changes customer expectations

• Current COVID-19 crisis demonstrates how online is now the ‘new normal’

It’s a digital world

Your own online space

• You have 100% control of your website

• Better than ‘rented’ social media profiles

• Needs to work well on mobile devices

IE Domain Registry, SME Digital Health Index 2019

Showcase your company

• Tell your story

• Display your portfolio of work

• Showcase your team and their individual skills

• Outline the benefits of your services

• Great visual presentation of your products

Improve your website

Inform your customers

Adapt to the situation

Combine online and offline

Future sales – build your pipeline

• Keep your brand top of mind with your customers

• Vouchers / donations to the arts

• Give your customers useful information / advice

• Get creative - your website is your virtual showroom

Content

• An up-to-date website is essential to stay relevant

• Regular newsletter is a useful to connect and maintain brand presence

• Consider video as a way of getting some face time with your customers

• Focus on unique content

Leverage social

Discounts

Click & Collect

• Allows customer to buy online & pick up at their convenience

• No delivery costs for retailer

• Upsell opportunity when customer visits shop

• Reduced returns for retailer.

www.2flow.ie/news-and-blog/what-is-click-and-collect

Demonstrate your expertise

• Professional qualifications and accreditations

• Examples of projects/work

• Awards

• Membership of professional bodies, organisations and industry committees

• Events / conferences you have spoken at

Testimonials - trust

• Important in building up your business

• Grow brand trust / Show brand trust

• Will help with conversion rate

• 92% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after reading a positive online review

• Include them on your site

Listings

• There are many local listing platforms springing up to support independent businesses

• Small and local

• Buyirishfood.ie

• Nrgstore.ie

Walk in your customer’s shoes

• Great opportunity to review your customer’s online journey

• Minimise the number of clicks to purchase completion

• Fix any broken links

• Be ready for future sales

Improve SEO

• Make sure your potential customer can find your site

• Good time to optimise

• Are your keywords up to date?

• Are your meta-descriptions relevant?

• Get a security certificate

Google My Business Page

www.google.com/intl/en_ie/business/

Best practice in web design

How will a website support your business

• Your website is an integral part of your overall business plan

• List out your priorities and what you want to website to do

• Understand who your customers are and their needs

• Customer journey mapping

Good UX is essential

• Be clear about what you want website visitors to do

• Organise your content in a way that makes sense

• Allow visitors to navigate easily

• Be concise

Design Approach

• Contemporary design and layout

• Keep it clean and simple, less is more

• Be consistent throughout the site

• Use paragraphs & headings, break up long pieces of text

Be easily contactable

• Clearly display your contact information on every page

• Offer multiple points of contact

• Ensure response time is appropriate

Contact Information

Security

• SSL is a standard security technology that creates a trusted environment where potential customers feel safe and confident

• Websites that have a SSL certificate will display as HTTPS

• Google penalises sites without SSL

• Talk to your hosting provider

•

Support

• FAQ page where customers can get questions answered without having to contact you

• Ensure the page is easily found – in bottom footer and top navigation

• Categorise as appropriate

Sources of funding or assistance

Upskilling

Digital marketing and skills courses

• Irish Times Training

• Local Enterprise Offices: Check in with your local office to see specific courses

• Digital Marketing Institute: Courses can be done online

• Thinkwithgoogle.com

Website funding & supports

• TOV Trading online voucher scheme - www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Trading-Online-Voucher-Scheme-/

• Supporting government online tool - www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Supporting-SMEs-Online-Tool/

• Microfinance Ireland - https://microfinanceireland.ie/loan-packages/covid19/

• IE Domain Registry Accredited Registrars - www.iedr.ie/accredited-registrar-list/

• Ecommerce Association - http://ecai.ie/public/ecai/taskforce/taskforce-info

• Think Business by Bank of Ireland - www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/start-selling-online/

Content and resources

• E-books

• Choosing a domain name

• How to get an accurate website quote and website development tender template

• Website costs for SMES: How much should you pay?

• Blogs

• Top 10 tools to work smarter and grow faster

• Research

• SME Digital Health Index