Small Business Survival - Do You Have a Website?

This week, I needed to get in contact with a landscape contractor who I'd spoken with in the past.  I didn't have his phone number or name in my mobile phone, and I couldn't remember the name of his company.  I did a few google searches in an attempt to try to find him, and could not find him.

Fortunately for him, I was able to find his advertising postcard later that day, so I was able to contact him in the end.  Apparently he does not have a website for his company, which surprised me.  So many of the smallest businesses all have websites now, which it makes me wonder why he doesn't have one.  I'll have to  ask  him about it...

I also have a friend who owns a small business and we've talked about websites for her company many times in the past.  This week she contacted me about doing a website for her, so that project will be in my very near future.

I'm sure the slow economy has caused the death of many small businesses over the past several years.  I wonder how many of them had never bothered to create a website, thinking it was an expense they couldn't afford.  Perhaps some of the ones that survived were the ones that had websites and/or other technology tools that they were using effectively (email marketing, client databases, mail merges, accounting software, etc.).

Creating a website doesn't have to be expensive, and you don't need to be an expert.  Don't assume that you can't afford to hire someone to do it for you.  It is always worth it to ask around and get some quotes from providers that others have recommended to you.

If the price for a custom site is out of reach, then there are services available now that you can use to do it yourself.  Beware - sometimes a really bad website is worse than having no website at all.  Ugly sites with loads of text and colors that clash will not help your business to attract customers.  Try to focus on the most critical, minimum information and use a simple but attractive design.  Even if you just have a home page with your contact information and some basic details of the services you offer, that's a useful tool.  Give people the ability to find you in those google searches, and good things will come your way.

Transferring Your Website to a new Hosting Vendor

Unhappy with your current hosting vendor for your website?  Running out of space or paying too much?  If you're thinking of moving your site to a new home, please keep these questions in mind:

• Where is your domain name registered?  Find out, because you'll have to login to the account with your domain registrar and tell them the new DNS (server name) of your new website host.  If you don't do this, your site will not actually be "moved" because people will still be seeing the contents at the old location when they go to your domain name.
• How much space do you currently have?  How much do you need?
• Do you need any special tools, such as PHP, web statistics, or others?
• Do you know how (and have access to) to move the contents of your site (text, images, etc.)? 
• Or do you have a support vendor that will need to actually copy your site contents to the new location?

If some or all of these questions are completely confusing to you, please contact me.  I can educate you on what is involved in a website move, and assist with moving your site, if needed.

Non-Profit Organizations Can Benefit Greatly from a Website

I have quite a few website clients who are non-profit organizations.  They need to communicate to their members (as well as to the general public) about their events and programs in order to generate the maximum funds to support their cause.  They also want to grow their membership in order to better serve their cause.

Recently, one of my clients had this to say after their first year using my services:

"You fixed many of our problems. Membership is increasing, participation in events is way up.  We had the best fundraiser event in many years, one of our highest attendances ever, and possibly our most profitable. We have more cash than in years, largely due to the website."

If you are part of a non-profit organization, I can help you with a website, as well as other technology tools.  I often do Access databases, email marketing, Powerpoint slides and Excel spreadsheets for my non-profit clients.  The board of directors of many non-profits may not have members with the right technology skills to help with certain tasks, and that is where I am able to assist them.

Please contact me for more information.

Important Things to Consider When Choosing a Web Developer or Hosting Company

I've recently heard the term "refugee client" used to describe website clients that come to me from another provider, typically after a bad experience.  That got me thinking about what I would advise any small business owner when they are considering vendors to create them a new website, update an existing site, or host their site content.

When it comes to hiring a website developer, there are several issues to consider.

First, of all, as the owner of the business, you need to be SURE that you will OWN your website.  By that I mean, you need to be sure that you (or your company) own both the domain name and the contents of the site itself (all of the images, text, links, etc.).  I have had clients lose all of the content of their entire site because their former vendor "held it hostage" due to a billing or support dispute.  It is a very sad (and expensive) situation when a client has to start from scratch and have a totally new site created, all because they didn't know that their contract with their vendor did not give them ownership of their own website (or the domain name where it resides).

Secondly, be sure that you are clear on the pricing, timing and duration of the contract to develop a new site or update an existing site.  Is the pricing based on an hourly rate, and if so, does it have a cap at a maximum amount?  You wouldn't want to get an unexpected bill at the end of the project because the vendor couldn't create the site as easily as they thought.  You also wouldn't want to be waiting for months to get your site live on the internet.

Third, you as the business owner need to be involved in the project to develop or update a website for your business.  You'll need to collaborate with your vendor to find a design that appeals to you and is appropriate to your business.  You'll likely need to provide logos, photos or other images for your site.  You also may need to provide some or all of the textual content of the site.  Your vendor may be able to write some of it, but you'll need to review all of it at the very least.  You can't give total control to a vendor who does not know your business or you may not get the results you want.  The more that you are involved, the better your site will reflect and promote your business.  You'll also need to plan for periodic maintenance of the site, in order to keep it current, so make sure that you have a person at your company who is prepared to take this role.  Even if the vendor is going to make the changes, they'll need someone to tell them what to update on a regular basis, and also to provide new prices, photos, etc. as appropriate.

When you are looking for a hosting vendor, there several additional important things that a business owner needs to know.  Your hosting provider is essentially renting you "space" where the content of your site will reside so that it can be seen by internet users (like a rented storage unit).  Your site's domain name is linked to the specific location of the vendor's server where it resides.   This link is recorded with a company that keeps the record of your ownership, or registration, of the domain name (such as GoDaddy).  That company is called a domain registrar.  You will typically renew your ownership of the name on a periodic basis, typically annually.

In order to change from one hosting provider to another, there are two steps - you (or your website vendor) have to change the link where the domain name points to be the new location, and then you (or your website vendor must) move the contents of the site.  If both of these things are not done, your site will still be accessed by internet users on the old location, and it may be turned off by the old vendor if you stop paying the bill.  You could actually be paying for two different vendors without realizing it, or be paying the new vendor while your site still resides with the old vendor (or resides with both vendors).  Any of these scenarios can lead to losing your site and/or duplicate charges.

You need to either have a vendor who gives you the login credentials to your domain registrar, or have a strong enough trust in your vendor to know that they will take care of it for you.  It helps if you insist that the contact information for the domain name includes you (or your company) as the administrative contact and the vendor as the technical contact.  Then the domain name registrar company can contact you if needed (and not just your vendor).  You should always "own" your domain name, not your vendor.  If your contract with your vendor includes them renewing your domain name for you, make sure that it also says that you "own" the name itself.  Then if you leave that vendor, you hopefully could at least sue them to get your name back if needed.

Please feel free to contact Tepato Systems if you find yourself in any of these unfortunate scenarios.  I can try to help you to rescue your domain name and your website, even if you don't need my services for other website work.

Payments Processing for Low Volume - PayPal Buttons

If your small business or non-profit group wants to be able to sell products/services online, but you'll have a very low volume, a full blown e-commerce solution may be too much.  A full e-commerce site can be complex, expensive to maintain, and requires special skills of your webmaster or service provider.

Tepato has several non-profit clients who sell event tickets to one or two events a year on their websites.  The total ticket sales for each event are a few hundred, with about 10 - 25% of the ticket sales being done online.  Since they have such a low volume (both in sales and in frequency), they use PayPal buttons to satisfy their needs.

Most people who shop online are familiar with PayPal and its usefulness in paying for your online purchases.  It also has a merchant function which allows you to create buttons for use on a website.  The buttons can be for a variety of functions, including "donate", "buy it now" or "add to cart" functionality, and can be customized with your specific item names and pricing.  After creating the buttons, your webmaster can copy/paste the code needed to place the buttons right into your website.

PayPal will provide all of the security, data collection and processing on their website, so your organization's website has very minimal impact.  You don't have to pay for security certificates or complicated sales processing pages to be created.  PayPal will process all payments for a fee, similar to any credit card processor.  You can withdraw funds from your account to another bank account electronically at any time.

PayPal allows buyers to submit an instant payment using a bank account or credit cards, whichever they prefer.  Your buyers don't even have to create a PayPal account if they don't wish to do so.

Two small conditions apply when using PayPal:

1. If you are a non-profit group, you may need to provide proof to PayPal (such as a copy of your 501c3 form) to use some of its functions.
2. If your company or non-profit sells anything gun-related, PayPal will not allow it.  You can sell any other items that are not guns or gun-related but they have a restriction on weapons (including raffles which have guns as prizes).

If your company or non-profit organization has a need to do payment processing on a small scale, I recommend PayPal buttons for their ease of use and competitive processing rates.

Websites for Non-Profit Organizations - For Example, Safari Club International Chapters

The owner of Tepato Systems is a life member of the Safari Club International.  She is also a former board member of her local chapter, SCI Novi (Michigan).  Tepato Systems has been creating and supporting websites for SCI chapters around the United States since 2001.

 

Chapters of Safari Club International usually have similar organizations, goals and challenges.  As a volunteer organization, it is often difficult to promote a Chapter effectively.  A web site can be a strong tool in establishing a Chapter’s identity.  It is extremely valuable as a marketing tool and it can add credibility to your organization.  A presence on the web is a great opportunity to get the word out on the important work that your Chapter may be doing.

The Chapters supported by Tepato Systems have found their websites to be effective tools, both for communicating with their members and for promoting the Chapters to the general public.  Some of the most common uses of a Chapter website include:

• Posting the dates and times of Chapter events, including links to the location for directions.
• Publishing the forms used for membership and fundraiser donations.
• Promote the Chapter’s various educational programs, including application forms for participants.
• Publish a list of auction items and raffle items for the annual Chapter fundraiser.
• Offer donors a free link from your website to their website.  This free advertising for the donor can sometimes be the motivator to encourage a 100% donation rather than a 30/70 or 50/50 split of auction proceeds.
• Enable donors to contact the Chapter about potential donations, including unsolicited donations from previously unknown donors.
• Automatic forwarding of website email to existing private email for Chapter departments or board members (to avoid using actual email addresses on the site and hopefully minimize spam).

The Board of Directors of a local Chapter often does not include anyone who has the skill set or free time to create and maintain a website. Tepato Systems can offer full support to any Chapter, with the help of a designated "coordinator" from the board who will serve as a point of contact and provide content on an ongoing basis.

If you'd like to create a website to serve your Chapter, or if you currently have a website but are unhappy with the support you're getting from your current vendor, please contact Tepato Systems.  We can develop a new site according to your specifications or modify an existing site.  Our prices start at $150 per page.

For long term support, we can provide maintenance and web hosting at very competitive prices. Our support packages are priced according to the amount of maintenance involved and the size of hosting space required. The packages also include the annual renewal of your domain name registration. Hosting is available without any maintenance or support, if desired (but hosting price is discounted with a maintenance agreement).

Website Projects with Tepato Systems

As an overview for new or potential customers, here is some background information on how Tepato Systems normally handles a website project, from start to finish.

Phase - planning

• Initial meetings with Client are held to discuss content, design, timing and budget (can be in person or over the phone).
• Tepato creates requirements document and initial design ideas, including pricing.  Tepato can also provide an example of our standard development contract if desired.
• Tepato provides a link to a test site where the designs can be viewed online (will also be used throughout the development process for client to review site progress).
• Client reviews and any adjustments are made to the documents and pricing as needed to meet requirements and budget.
• Client and Tepato come to an agreement to move forward with the project.
• Client appoints a single point of contact to work with Tepato on the site for the rest of the project.

Phase - design

• Client contact works closely with Tepato to refine the design as needed.  This can occur over the course of a couple of weeks via email exchange, or during just a few working sessions over the phone.
• Once design is final, Tepato sends final contracte to Client for signature, along with invoice.
• Client signs last page of contract and returns a copy to Tepato, along with first payment (usually about half of the total amount due).

Phase - construction

• Tepato begins work on creating all of the pages of the site to prepare for content.
• Client contact sends content for entire site (usually in small chunks over a period of a week or two at least).
• Tepato inserts content into site pages as it is received.  Any formatting, image editing, photo cropping or other design work to fit the content to the site is done at this point.
• Client contact reviews the site as the development progresses and gives feedback to Tepato as needed.
• Client requests any design changes if needed (Tepato provides quote for additional cost if any).
• Tepato keeps client informed of progress on site and requests feedback or additional content if needed.

Phase - approval

• Once site is fully created and all content is inserted, Client gives final approval.
• Tepato sends final invoice to Client for payment.
• Upon receipt of invoice, Client sends final payment.
• Tepato publishes site to domain name (so it becomes "live" on the internet).

Phase - hosting & maintenance

• If hosting is to be provided by Tepato, the cost is included in final invoice.
• If long term maintenance of the site is needed, Tepato and Client will sign a separate contract and an invoice will be sent. 
• Clients who sign an annual maintenance agreement get a discounted price on hosting if needed.
• Tepato can also handle the renewal of the site's domain name for the Client if desired, for a nominal charge.

If you'd like more information about creating a new website, or if you have an outdated site that needs an overhaul, please contact Tepato Systems at crt@tepatosystems.com.

 

Technology Tips for Small Business

If you own a small business, do me a favor. Look at one of your business cards right now. Does it include your website address? Does it include your email address? Do they match?

If you don't have a website, you need one. Even if you aren't going to be selling products online, it gives you a more legitimacy to your potential clients. People are using the internet more and more to find vendors, research products and shop. If they can't find you online, they may go to one of your competitors instead. A website also completes your marketing and branding efforts, by coordinating and complimenting your paper marketing materials. I can create a site for your company which will give you a professional web presence without a large investment.

If you have a website but your email address doesn't match, I can fix that for you. It looks much more professional to have your email be owner@smallbusiness.com than to use your personal account, which could be something goofy like xyz123@aol.com or sweetbaby@gmail.com.

If you have a website but don't put it on your business cards - WHY are you wasting your money?? You've probably invested a lot in your website, so you should be including it on every piece of correspondence that you produce (email or paper). Put it in the footer of every document, spreadsheet, every email signature, every brochure, business card, flyer, etc. - you've paid for it, so take advantage of it!

To discuss any of these issues, please email me or post to my blog.

crt@tepatosystems.com