WEAVE YOUR OWN WEB
By Dermot Corrigan
No Irish business can afford to ignore the internet. Whether you want to sell products online, offer support and services through the web, communicate directly with existing or potential customers using social media, or just let people know a little about who you are and what you do, an attractive and competent company website is a must.
With so many options available, deciding which type of website they want and how they can go about getting it can be a challenge for many organisations.
Each business will have different requirements and expect different returns from its web investment. However, all will want to ensure that their website gives them a competitive edge in today’s challenging business climate.
Fiachra O’Marcaigh, director and senior consultant with AMAS, said that the foremost aim of any company website should be to support its business objectives and customers.
“The most important point for a business website is that it is aligned with the company’s business goals and its audience’s needs,” said O’Marcaigh. “The site must clearly convey the key messages of the business and allow its audiences to find the business online, and to interact and transact with it.
“Other factors, such as design, content, usability, accessibility, branding, operations and search engine optimisation [SEO], are then there to support this.”
Patrick Bates, managing director of Webtrade, said that a company’s site should be designed around its customers’ needs, not the requirements of its IT department, marketing people or development partner.
“The key thing to remember is that it is your target customer, not you or the web design agency, who will use the website,” said Bates. “Every website should have a target visitor and a target goal in mind.
“For your target visitor, the website will need to give them the necessary information to complete whatever that goal is, perhaps to buy a product or complete a contact form. So keep it simple, easy to navigate and be engaging.”
Joan Mulvihill, chief executive with the Irish Internet Association (IIA), said that each individual company should have its own way of promoting itself online.
“A professional services firm will want a website that generates leads, while volume-based businesses like a bookstore will have a more transactional approach tot heir site,” said Mulvihill. “If you go into a legal firm, the layout of the building might have wood panels and lots of glass, and its website will be reflective of that. Or if you go into a low prices retailer, they will have the same approach and style to their website.”
O’Marcaigh said that, overall, technology developments meant the costs and hassles involved with having a cutting-edge web presence had fallen in recent times.
“The good news for businesses is that the cost of site development projects has fallen considerably,” he said. “Open source solutions, such as WordPress, mean that pure development costs have fallen.
Other costs – graphic design, content, optimisation, technology integration – can also be managed. Following completion of a web development project, clients should be self-sufficient in terms of day-to-day site management, and only have to call on the web developer for site upgrades or to deal with any hosting or support issues.”
