When Does a Local Business Decide It Needs a Web Page?

"When Does a Local Business Decide It Needs a Web Page?"

I would say before the store first opens for business. If the store existed 10 to 15 years ago, it should have had a simple Web presence 10 to 15 years ago.

It's certainly a lot easier now to have a basic Web presence for little cost. As Ryan mentioned in the other thread, a Facebook fan page is free, and fan pages can be heavily customized.

Start a blog at Wordpress or Blogger for free. It would have a URL with something like "andyscarryout.wordpress.com".

Or buy a domain name like "andyscarryout.com" for one year at Network Solutions for $35. It's cheaper if reserving the domain name for more than one year or buying from another domain name provider.

Then pay Wordpress $10 per year to have the domain name point to the Wordpress blog. That way ".wordpress.com" won't be in the store's Web site URL. This makes the cost for a simple Web presence at $45 per year.

Wordpress provides many site themes for free, but it's likely that the blog/store owner would want more customization. Using custom CSS at Wordpress costs $15 per year. Now the total yearly price for a Web presence is $60 per year.

But it's unikely the store owner will know how to customize the blog design. The store owner may have to buy a custom theme or pay someone to do the design. Cost for this? Unknown.

Facebook, Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress, and some wiki hosted solutions and hosted CMS apps provide an easy or a fairly easy way for the site owner to add and edit content. That's the key. It should be simple for the store owner to modify the content on the site. The store owner should not have to go to someone else to change content on the site.

The store owner can post regular store hours, holiday hours, location, directions, phone number, e-mail address, store history, products sold, specials, new items, etc.

A simple Web presence may show up better in search results. Sometimes when I search for a local business, all I get in the search results are directory listings on other sites because the business does not have a Web site.

Play around by going to Wordpress.com and creating a blog for free.

It ultimately depends on the audience the business (no matter the size) is trying to reach.

If it truly is a neighborhood store (and you can back that up with some hard data), then you may not need a website -- particularly if the site will be static.

That said, neighborhoods and service areas do fluctuate and nearly everyone uses search to some degree when planning shopping. So, having a Website, with good copy and other search engine-friendly features will help get new business.

Add to that if the business does any promotions -- like coupons, or other deals -- then a Website is a must.

As far as cost for a good Website (design, copy and at least periodic updating), the cost will vary. I'd say you could spend from a few thousand $$ to upwards of $20,000+, depending on the complexity of the site. For any business out there, if you are building a new or redesigning a site, make sure you are clear with the services and end product you are getting for the money you will be spending.

If much of a business' audience is on Facebook or other network, that could be a quick, easy way to start (until a Website is developed). However, if you are venturing into Facebook, or even Twitter, make sure you take time to maintain it. I've seen a lot of Facebook Pages that start fast but are not kept active and die out.

That's just some initial food for thought (pun intended).
-Mike

(I work in PR/social media/online media and can help recommend Toledo-based Web developers for anyone looking. I've been involved in Web development, but mostly from the copy side. I'm no programmer or designer!)

A website like the one you listed for your local grocery store could easily be done for less than $1,000 with minimal monthly maintenance costs.

I'd echo a lot of what JR posts -- a lot of blog platforms can be customized to look less "bloggy" and more like what customers/prospects might be expecting.

But, for the updating, it's pretty easy (if I can, anyone can).

If anyone does go the Facebook route, PLEASE create a PAGE, not a PROFILE for your business. There are so many more advantages to a Facebook Page than an individual's Profile.

Not to promote myself (too much), but if any business is interested in setting up a Facebook Page, I'd be more than willing to help free of charge. It'd only take an hour or so (more or less) to get you started. Same thing goes for those interested in Twitter or other social media platforms.

-Mike

Agreed with the above, but that being said, a bad or poorly maintained website can be worse than no site at all.

Agree with other posts. If for any other reason to give people info one what you do or sell. Costs are cheap now adays. You can get a vhosting account for less than $50 a year.

The only big expense would be getting the initial site setup but there are plenty of free code out there/template/etc you can use. Chance are most mom-pop places could get away with hiring some college kid to set it up for nickles on the dime.

But like any form of advertising you want it to look nice and should pay for the quality equal to the value of your company. Ie mom pop store small ok site, Owens corning it ought to look pretty snazzy :)