In 1994, a neighbor volunteered to create a Web site for my newly founded promotional-products company. Back then, Prodigy was bigger than AOL, AltaVista was king of the search engines, and Google was just an idea forming in a couple of college kids’ minds.
The same neighbor managed that Web site for us for the first year, and we saw zero results. I remember thinking, “Is this whole Internet thing just a fad?” But lucky for us, we knew in our hearts that it wasn’t and that there was real potential for it to help expand our business. So, we decided to take control of the site—and that proved to be one of our greatest business decisions.
Today, we have a strong, vibrant Internet presence. We get to benefit from the beauty of an active Web site that works for us even when we’re not working. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year—it’s there for our clients. Even while I’m at home spending time with my family, the site is humming along, attracting new customers, and providing valuable information and services to our existing clients. It elevates our company by making access more efficient and convenient. Our clients get to choose when they want to interface with us, whether they’re having their morning coffee at their laptops or wrapping up a long day of work at the office.
We’ve grown with the Internet, and we’ve established the type of relationship with our clients we could never have imagined in 1994. Through our sites, blogs, forms, e-mails, social-media links, online store, surveys and a host of other channels, we maintain a constant line of communication with our customers that helps direct our business and evolve our company into the responsive, flexible promotional agency that we are today.
Jeff Jarvis, author of the book “What Would Google Do,” suggests that smart businesses should go beyond the basic use of the Internet to push a message. Quality online operations provide you with a means for listening to your clients and can even function as a vehicle for active collaboration. In the past, customers were mostly valued for their deep pockets but, now, technology enables us to tap their potential as sources for information, guidance and insight through comment forms and surveys. Such value is incalculable.
To truly reap the benefits of an online presence, it’s essential that your site offers at least some of the following features: a blog, social-media links, surveys, forms, events and e-mail marketing. Together, these components will help you reach clients and involve them in the future of your business. Customers—if given the opportunity—will gladly contribute to your development and ultimate success. That’s why we’ve found having a Web site that we can control is so vital to our business success.
When I say control, I mean constantly updating all aspects of your site for relevancy and accuracy. Doing so is far more feasible than many people assume, and your familiarity with your industry is too useful to waste. Don’t leave everything up to a random Web designer who knows little about salon ownership and even less about tanners. No one is better equipped to meet your customers’ needs than you are, so your involvement in the execution of the digital platform must be a priority.
There are three common options for achieving ongoing control over an effective Web site, listed here from most to least complex:
In-house design and programming. Keep in mind that quality designers and programmers are very expensive to retain, and for a really strong Internet presence, you’ll need a designer, a PHP and MYSQL programmer, and a search-engine optimization (SEO) expert. This is the most difficult and expensive option, and it’s probably best left to large chains or franchises who can support the staff.
Outsourced design and programming. This entails hiring an external firm for your Web site needs. A good one will cost quite a bit of money up-front, and all future modifications will be tied to its team. You can have the firm create your site in a program such as Dreamweaver—then, you can purchase the program’s sister software (in the case of Dreamweaver, that would be “Contribute,” which costs roughly $150), which is designed to allow you to make minor updates and exercise some control over the site’s operation yourself. However, the learning curve is steep, and you will need to have at least a basic understanding of Web coding in HTML and FTP. This option is less expensive than the first, but it still involves significant ongoing costs in terms of programmer time and expertise.
Content-management solution for design and programming. This is the least expensive option—you simply use a content-management solution, such as Accrisoft, which provides the site’s basic “skin,” or the overall look and feel. From there, you take complete control of your site through a user-friendly content-management system and control panel. This option allows you to begin with a very inexpensive version and add as you grow, implementing modules along the way such as billing, employee intranet, podcasts, photo albums, online appointment booking and an array of other features. For many salons, the low cost and high flexibility of this option makes it the most attractive.
Note: Check out Accrisoft's Web site for a special offer for Looking Fit readers by clicking here.
Whichever choice you make, the only way that you’ll realize the full potential of your Internet investment is by taking full control of your Web site and setting it up in a way that allows you to be in constant communication with your clients. As we move forward into this era of globalization and interconnectedness, the way we communicate with our clients will determine our success. Lace up your shoes and embrace the race, or you’re likely to be left behind.
Dan Levin is the president of Gallant Inc., a full-service promotional agency, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2009. For more information about Gallant’s branding and promotional Solutions, visit www.gallantgifts.com. Click here to learn about Gallant’s Simply Selling Program. Check out Accrisoft's Web site for a special offer for Looking Fit readers by clicking here.
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