Small Business Websites Limousin, Poitou Charentes And Aquitaine

Small Business Websites Limousin, Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine. Does my business need one?


People always want to follow the latest thing - and if it is hyped-enough or full of potential benefits, of course you want at least to investigate - if not even participate.

Websites - it seems - have become a necessity to almost everyone. Companies, businesses, individuals, even teenagers have created personal websites be it for profit, entertainment, or just to chat and swap information.

But does this mean the bandwagon is for everyone? (Or worse in my experience - does it mean that simply having a website somehow showers "no business idea at all" with pixie dust turning it magically into a profitable venutre)?

The thing I find myself repeating over and over to small business owners where I operate, in the South West of France, around the Limousin, Poitou Charentes and Aquitaine, is that you have to think about what your market is and how you are going to market to it. I cover this topic much more in my Masterclass series on "Online Marketing", so I won't go into this again here.

This article is going to assume that it is none of my business to critique the actual business idea, and that I am going to just steer you around the rapids of start-up considerations (and take a tip from me - if you are new to this and you hire a designer who doesn't at least impart some sort of critique or modification of your proposition - show them the door! They're doing you no favours.)

Quite apart from the business proposition and what you are trying to sell to the market, your main factor acround website creation has to revolve around th e package your designer offers you and not only what this looks like in terms of initial set up - but perhaps more importantly in terms of ongoing maintenance. Setting up a site is one thing. But you also have to keep it moving with your business proposition and keep the content fresh.

First about cost. You have to find an affordable Internet Services host. I don't mean cheap (necessarily) but I do mean good value. You need a host that will provide you the basics of adequate hosting capacity plus emails and yet be responsive to service requests. You should take advice from your designer or someone who is already set up and happy. A cheap host rarely gives reliable service. Find one that is good value, has been in business for a while and with plenty of customers (you can check all this out on the web).

Second: is hiring a designer an affordable option for you and what are they actually going to do for you? It is good to know what you're getting into here.

If you are literally going to put an electronic version of your brochure on the web and leave it there, then find a friend who can write simple websites and get them to do it for you. Seriously. You are in great danger that this is exactly all your designer is going to do for you - plus maybe a bit of extra lipstick to make it look pretty. Writing a basic brochure-type website is incredibly simple and there are a lot of template-driven pieces of software that will even do this for you. Be sure that your designer isn't going to just do this before pocketing your hard-earned.

An "online brochure site" as I call them is only typically going to be found online by your friends and associates (who know you already) or via any paper-based or 3rd party website advertising (which will obviously also cost you). To make a site that is truly going to be searchable in its own right requires your designer to know about "searchability". Forget (for a second) what the site is going to look like. Have them tell you exactly what they are going to do to make your site searchable. If they don't mention the word "maintenance agreement" or fail (again) to discuss your proposition with you seriously in terms of website content (i.e. if they really are just going to take your brochure and put it online) this is no good. Again, show them the door.

A simple Online Brochure site that just takes your own wording and puts them online will likely not be competitive in search terms. That is not to say it can't become competitive, but again, you are beginning to talk cost and "maintenance agreement". Take advice, seriously. Pick up the phone to Briquesetclics. We're happy to talk and will even do a free review of your existing website.

If you are considering a more commercial site anyway, then you are inevitably looking at more complex coding. Hiring help to do this is essential. Not only in terms of design, but security is also a key factor in assuring a quality commercial website. If the website is also an "Extranet" type site (i.e an online portal for business information) then security is definitely to be considered.

So, having considered some basic questions before building a website, do you actually NEED one? If you just want an online brochure (and don't knock it, but know what you're buying) then it is unlikely to be effective marketing tool for you in its own right and you are going to have to pay for other types of advertising - even if this is just to drive traffic to your brochure site! If you are wanting a site to attract searches, boost sales and perhaps have a revenue-generating element itself, then you must get a designer who has created such sites and understands about searchability.

Your choice of tools in Web Design is key. I use Adobe Website Premium CS4, which includes Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator Flash and Bridge (plus other really useful utilities). Website designers need tools of this quality. They are more pricey than some utilities, but you get what you pay for. "Free" or "unknown" brands imply risk and low quality. To get Adobe Website design utilities as cheaply as you can, you need only click on the links by this article.

About the Author: Richard Martin of Briquesetclics is a Certified Management Consultant and Accredited Internet Marketing Consultant of 20 years experience in IT. Briquesetclics offers exquisite eBusiness solutions, website design and Internet Marketing with English to French Translation to expat and French Comunities in Southwest France. He serves the Limousin, Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine regions and the cities of Limoges, Poitiers, Bergerac, Perigueux, Angouleme, Cognac, Bordeaux, Niort.

Briquesetclics will create you a website that brings you business. Find out more here.

We're always ready to talk to you. Contact us for details.

Find ALL current special offers on Adobe website design products.

Click below for APEX Pacific's Search Engine Optimisation Software Solutions

Do you know, how much your competitors spend on AdWords? SEMRush.com will tell you!