Do's and Don'ts for Online Small Businesses

What are the most common mistakes when small businesses start an ecommerce store on the internet. We look at what not to do...

No-Name - Many small businesses choose to set up in the online world using a scrap of free webspace from their internet service provider, rather than having their own web address (called a domain), because it's a bit cheaper. Which company would you feel more comfortable buying from - www.someone-else.com/myonlineshop or www.myonlineshop.com? It's easy and cost effective to register your own domain name; and these days the cost is negligible.

The same goes for email addresses. If you're running a small business, it's a great idea to set up an email address that uses your business web address (e.g. me@mycompany.co.uk). Even take advantage of the email address name by placing an appropriate department in front to look more professional. (e.g. sales@yourcompany.com

TIP: When buying a domain name, beware a sneaky scam. Domain names cost from around £20-£50 per year. They become your property so long as you keep paying the annual fee. There are some less reputable agencies who charge a lot less, but register the name to themselves and give it to you under licence.

No-Picture - Sending out a marketing brochure that's all words and no pictures is not the done thing. So make sure your website has enough pictures. Photos of your store or office, your products, your employees make your business feel "real" to online visitors. Images give you a tangible presence and let visitors get a sense of the kind of business you run. Your website is part of your corporate image no matter how small your business is, so give it the attention it deserves. However, make sure your pictures' file sizes are small enough to load quickly.

No-Time - Many small business web sites load far too slowly. If your web pages take more than 10-12 seconds to load over a 56k modem, your business runs the risk of losing visitors. Graphics with large file sizes are usually the culprits and sometimes its those that update their own website's that use these large graphics. Use creative imaging software to reduce the file size of individual graphics on your web site, similar to those you see on this website, or employ a web designer to resize pictures for you. High-speed broadband internet connections is making this less of a problem. Your target customer may also dictate the size or download speed of your website.

No-Customers - One of the most common mistakes is to assume that customers will miraculously flock to your website. Don't wait to start marketing your firm online. It is recommended you at least consider these five marketing efforts when you launch a web site:
Be proactive in listing on search engines
Start an affiliate program to encourage and reward other businesses for sending you online customers
Be proactive in finding sites with which you can trade links
Consider advertising through search engines
Start collecting visitors' email addresses on day one, so that you can lure them back to your website. Perhaps a regular newsletter!

No-Phone - One of the most off-putting things to customers who visit an online business is those that do not seem to exist in the real world. So put your phone number prominently on your website. Many customers look at sites while calling up the company- referring to the site, but buying by phone. Regular online purchasers know this all to well and will look for company contact pages and even addresses to ensure that contact with the company can be made if anything should go wrong. So, unless you are working out of your home, it's also a good idea to put your mailing address on the site. Consumer groups such as Which quite simply tell the public not to buy from website's not displaying contact details.

No-New - Don't make the mistake of leaving dated content on your website. Keep the information on your site current. Remember to update phone numbers and take off dated special offers or coupons. Make sure someone on your staff is responsible for the site's information and checks and updates it routinely. Changing your site to fit the next holiday - Easter, Christmas, and so forth - can be a great way to show your visitors you are on top of things. But, make sure the theme is removed the day after the holiday ends. Similarly, when the calendar rolls over to the New Year, hundreds of millions of web pages instantly appear out of date, because the copyright year isn't current.

No-Site - Did you know that many customers will come back to a site several times before actually making a purchase, and if it's disappeared on just one of those occasions, you can kiss the client goodbye. But it's amazing how many small business website's are here today, gone tomorrow, and back again next Friday. So keep your site available when customers look for it. Make sure your site is up by either assigning an employee to check it several times a day, or using a service to notify you if it goes down.

No-Go - Joining a banner exchange can help bring traffic to your website, but don't use loads of banners on a page this will just make your site look cheap.

No-Business - One of the most common mistakes small businesses make online is neglecting to tell people what they do. Make sure your site quickly conveys the kind of business you are in and the products and services you offer and put it somewhere on your home page (the front page of your site). Use pictures if necessary; and if you can, use logos to boost your image. A good example of this is the many small independent hardware shops who display manufacturers' logos (Bosch, Dremel, Stanley, Black and Decker) to paint a much bigger picture.