Over two thirds of small businesses are dissatisfied with the performance of their website, according to recent research as reported in the Oct/Nov FSB magazine 'Business Network'.
61% have no actual web strategy.
45% believe the primary goal of their website is to generate leads, 22% think it's brand building, but only half of them actually measure the website's performance against those goals
I suppose this all makes a change from not long ago when we were hearing that a large chunk of the SME market didn't even have a web presence. But it illustrates how far there is still to go.
When I talk to fledgling businesses about making the most of the internet, I always remind them that a website is just a tool, not an end in itself. Getting its web presence right is often a big investment for a new business. Just like everything else you spend time & money on, it makes sense to have a rationale, even if you don't want to call it anything as high-falluting as a strategy.
Not only that, but you need to have control over your own site. For example, the site owner should be able to:
- install Google Analytics so you can measure visitor activity (NB not just 'traffic')
- update the content yourself – it shouldn't require any special technical skills
- optimise the site so it can be found in searches: that means being able to edit the meta tags, especially the page Titles
These are the minimum criteria that will make a site easier to measure, modify and improve over time, without additional cost down the line. Businesses should insist on them.
