Are you starting a new business?
Starting a new business is exciting and a little bit scary at the same time. But with Island Web Design's all-inclusive START-UP DEAL, at least your website, logo, branding and email are sorted for a low monthly payment and no upfront costs!
Every year we put aside some time and money to take on a select number of Start-Up projects. Here at Island Web Design we strongly believe we need to look after aspiring entrepeneurs and help these brave people as much as we can.
Why? Well, in truth, some of our most loyal customers are those we helped with a special deal at the very start of their self-employed careers, and we have grown as they grew.
According to FundSquire, a global startup funding network, over half a million businesses start up in the UK every year. True, around a quarter of these fail in year one but we're confident yours won't be one of those! 🤣
SmallBusinessPro, a website that "offers new and prolific entrepreneurs a host of tools, guides and information to assist them in starting and building successful businesses", tells us that the most successful businesses are, in order:
- Couriers
- Coffee Shops
- Car Washes
- Catering Companies
- Internet-based Companies
- Landscaping
- Food Delivery & Restaurants
- Sandwich Bars
- Manned Van Services
- Professional Services like Accountants, etc.
Check out their website for a host of advice, tools and ideas for starting and growing a small business.
Marketing your new business is the first step.
Marketing is key to the success of your business. It doesn't just refer to 'promoting' your products or services - it is all about your customers and figuring out what they want emotionally and how you can give them what they want through your products or services.
This is not a marketing blog but if it was, we'd now be talking about the 4 Ps (or the 6Ps or 7 Ps, depending on far you want to go). Also referred to as the Marketing Mix, the 4 Ps are Product, Place, Price, and Promotion of a product or service. The other Ps are People, Process and Physical evidence.
Let's not get into too much detail here but try and remember one thing about the 'Product', the first P. This should be split into 3 levels: the core product, the actual product and the augmented product.
- The core product is not the actual product (or service) you are selling but the BENEFIT the product offers the client to satisfy their need. Think of anti-ageing cream advertising. The makers don't 'sell' the cream, they sell the idea of youthfull good looks.
- Only once they have you hooked on that, do they show you the actual product that is going to help you achieve those looks. This is why most of the models shown in anti-ageing cream advertising don't actually need, not have they ever used, that cream... #justsaying!
- The augmented product is the non-tangible elements that add value to the physical parts, such as warranties and guarantees, customer service excellence, finance options for purchasing delivery options, installation services and post sale customer care.
Why are we talking about this here? Well, it is the first step to take when thinking about your marketing. Often, non-marketing professionals will start by looking at branding and corporate identity from a design point of view ("ooh, that's a pretty colour" or "that's a cool name") and doing this could cost you a lot of money in the long run.
For example, let's take a look at what you make, do, or sell. If you haven't yet settled on a name for your business, let's do some quick keyword research related to your product or service to see what the most searched terms or long tail keywords are. Is there a possibility of using some of these words in your business name? If so, that could prove a serious leg-up in your Local Search Engine Optimisation efforts to rank high for those keywords in a Google search. After all, keyword stuffing in your Google Business Profile's business name field is not allowed. It has to reflect the actual name of your business, as it is on your business card or above the door.
An example:
When John & Ryan decided to go into business together doing home repairs and renovations, they called themselves JR Services. They seriously missed an opportunity using that name. After all, home owners in need of repairs to their garden wall were never going to do a Google search for JR Services. They might look for Isle of Wight Builders & Home Repairs or any combination of those words. That would have been a better name for John & Ryan's business.
So the name of the business is important and in the case of John and Ryan above, 'Isle of Wight Builders' would have probably given us a theme for the logo - it's not a great stretch, is it?
From there, a domain name, a colour scheme and now we're ready to start building the website.
Looking for colour palette ideas and inspiration? Have some fun generating colour palettes with Coloors
How does Island Web Design approach a brand new business website?
From the very start we will be considering what it is you want your website to do for you. We want to achieve the right balance of information, design and search engine optimisation (SEO), and make it friendly, easy to navigate and perfect for viewing on a PC AND a mobile phone.
We'll learn everything we need to know about your business and we'll allow the structure of the website to be dictated by the amount of services you provide, products/ranges you sell, or the keywords we're trying to rank for.
We're not fans of single page websites. It costs as much to host a single page website, as a 5,6 7, or 100 page website, so why waste the opportunity? More pages = more chances to rank = customers can find you online!
We'll also disucss if you need any additional functionality, maybe an appointment booking facility or an event calendar.
Next is images. Original images are the best. If you're going to spend money on anything, make it images, so get yourself a good photographer (we can recommend some if you like).
Once the content is in place, we'll start the design process and you will get as much input in that as you like. You will get a link to preview the site and together we'll create something wonderful!
Then, we'll sort the privacy pages, the Consent Management Platform (to keep you on the right side of UK Privacy laws) and before you know it, we'll be ready to publish and put your shop, product, brand or service front & centre!
It's not all about the web design...
That's your website sorted! Now we get to work on all the other things we need to do such as:
- Set up your professional email hosting and, if needed, set your emails up on your devices.
- Claim or create your Google Business Profile
- Claim or create your Bing Places for Business profile
- Submit your website to Google Search for indexing and set up Google Analytics
- Set up your business Facebook page, if you haven't already got one.
Unless you pay us an obscene amount of money, we're not going to manage your social media for you, but we'll show you some tricks to make posting to Facebook, LinkedIn etc. effective and easy, encouraging traffic back to your website.
We'll show you how to get reviews (reviews are especially important for Local SEO, see our article) and what you do when you get some.
Finally, we'll show you how to keep your Google Business profile fresh and exciting and after that, we're always on hand if you have any questions or run into trouble. Think of us as part of your team, an IT person who doesn't cost you a yeary salary.
Keep your website updated - update, don't stagnate!
A website that does not get updated, is not going to do anything for you. Depending on the package you choose, you either get full access to the Content Management System (to make your own edits) or you get up to an hour of our time every month for updates and edits.
At Island Web Design we highly recommend you go for the latter. Regardless of how good your intentions are now, soon you will start running out of time and before you know it, your website will the last thing on your mind.
Ready to make the jump?
If you are ready to make the commitment to start your new business, give Island Web Design a call so that we can give you the support you need to make your new venture a roaring success!
You can contact us here or use the button at the bottom of this page to book an apointment straight into the diary. We can meet, have tea, and discuss how we can best help you. And it is completely free of any obligation!
See you soon!
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