We’ve talked before about how your website can either be the best thing that’s ever happened for your business … or the truth that in the majority of cases it’s a very expensive brochure that doesn’t actually improve your bottom line

A website is simply a route to market

In the current climate of lockdown and post hand shake world many are looking to take their bricks and mortar business from physical only to a true e-commerce offering

The sad truth is that in the majority of cases the website build will cost must than they actually make in sales

So how do you navigate what is a new world for you and ensure that your website delivers for you

Here are the 5 main considerations

1. Understanding the right product offering
Bricks and mortar retail requires you to have the right product and price offering for that specific location

Is it time to think about what works and doesn’t?

To do a stock audit? A SWOT analysis?

Is that the same product offering you need online?

Is there room to really expand your range to appeal to a wider online audience?

Online forces you think of your business to date and really refine the values and offering of your business

2. Building a loyal community
Loyalty is at the heart of a great business

You want a community where people feel so loyal to you that they’ll purchase from you time and time again and tell others about it

You’ve seen that during lockdown when people answer the questions of where is the 1st bar or restaurant you’ll go to after lockdown

Does your shop have the same allure if they asked the same question in reference to retail?

A loyal community is built both face 2 face and online in normal times, but with virtual handshakes and virtual hugs you need to build a community online based around shared interests rather than shared locations

3. Have a true understanding of digital marketing
Your website is PART of the digital mix – it not the only thing you need digitally

All roads lead to your website and you need to understand all the different components of digital marketing

– Organic Social Media
– Paid Social Media
– Content Marketing
– Email Marketing
– SEO
– Online Reviews

If you don’t master all those components that don’t expect your shopping card to be full of orders every day

Remember there is no magic moment where the website is switching on and orders flood in

Remember how hard it is to get people walking through your door in real life – and that’s when you’re based on the busiest street in town

4. Realise you take yourself from a local business to a global business (with more competition)
I’m truly excited about this fact, but for some it will be the scariest part of getting a website

Lockdown has turned my business Altrincham HQ into a global business with global reach – I’ve always worked over the UK, but this has made me thing far wider than just Greater Manchester

I’ll tell you why you find this scary

You’ve gone from the only business in town to having businesses across the UK with very similar offerings to you (and that’s not even adding Amazon and Ebay into the mix)

So how do you compete with this global market place?

Marketing, branding and dominating reviews – the latter is really important and it’s why I’m ultra confident when it comes to the increased competition. With 400+ reviews I know my “competition” has just 10% of that on average for social media training

5. Grasp Google Analytics and Social Analytics
If you’re going all in on E-commerce and online you have to understand analytics

You need to measure what is working (or not) so that you can make strategic changes

We recently worked with a FTSE 100 company on 3.5 hours Analytics Workshop and this was from a level where the attendees had basic understanding of the metrics to look for

Analytics might not be as sexy as the creative side of marketing, but they’re goddamn essential

NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation

We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you

Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services

We offer Social Media Training on
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Blogging

We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Zoom / Skype

Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 500+ LinkedIn testimonials and is Ranked Number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.