Posts Tagged ‘managing website’

A small company grows and moves on from a start-up status and its’ software and web development needs change. You might have gotten along initially by working with moonlighters or a freelancer because they were cheap. But let’s face it – it is not a long term strategy. Most moonlighters and freelancers will abandon ship very quickly because it’s not their primary source of income and something better usually comes along or they just lose interest. It can be a frustrating experience trying to find a new one and hand over the project to that person. Even with a software web development company you have to realize that you’re not their only client. You hired them to do a project and they did a fantastic job. Now you want to roll out a second version of your product, but that company might be busy working on other projects now and you might have to wait in line to get your new version done because this is a new project and more time needs to be allocated for it.

There is a better way! If you need things done on an ongoing basis you need to work with a company that offers an SLA (Service Level Agreement). If you require ongoing work this is the best solution for you. Main purpose of a service level agreement is to allocate time for your project in that company’s schedule to ensure that work can be done when you need it. It quantifies the minimum acceptable level of service to you by spelling out the time that will be allocated to your project on an ongoing basis, response time for regular work and emergencies, etc. You can then rest assured that your software/web project will be taken care of when you need it.

Technorati Tags: custom software development, managing website, Software and Web Development, Website Design

Website is not a substitute for old fashioned foot traffic and many people still seek human help and customer service, but small business owners should use their website to complement their business. Here are a few reasons why:

• Easy website name is much easier to remember than a phone number. Imagine you are passing by one of those bench ads in your car and the ad is for a local plumber. At 60 km/h you are much more likely to remember www.torontoplumber.com than a 10 digit phone number. If your customer misplaces your business card or a brochure chances are you lost that customer, but with an easy to remember website name they can still find you.
• Your website can provide information about why people need to call your business instead of somebody else. If you advertise in other mediums like yellow pages, newspapers, tv, radio, etc. you are usually very limited in terms of how much information you can put in those ads. Your website on the other hand is not limited in terms of the amount of information you can provide your customers with. You can mention your website address in these other advertising mediums and “close the sale” with additional information about benefits of your products/services on your website.
• Properly managed website will generate online customers and regular foot traffic. Depending on the type of business you’re in you can either add to your sales by selling your products online or attract more foot traffic to your bricks and mortar business. In both cases you do need to promote your website to attract traffic to it. Just like with your regular business you need to think about who you are trying to attract to your website (location, interests, etc.) and promote your website to this audience.
• Today everyone expects a business to have a website and it just means that you are serious about your business. Today people expect to find information they need online. Many people research products and services online even if they buy them at local stores. Not having your information online will definitely harm your business in this day and age.

Technorati Tags: brick and mortar business, managing website, web site