Recently, I had a detailed chat with a promising young lady who was interested in getting a website developed for her new business. Working as a freelance WordPress developer for ten years, I have had the chance to create a number of small websites for various small businesses. So she almost came to the right person. Unfortunately for her, now I run a slightly bigger software development team, I personally won’t be able to develop a website for her.
However, like every small business, she was interested in getting directions and ideas. Now this lead to a very useful discussion. We were able to exactly pin point the problems that prevent small businesses from going online.
I made few notes that I am going to share here, because knowing the problem is half the solution. Our discussion helped her and I hope someone else might be able to learn from it too.
Do I really need a website?
Yes, Facebook and Instagram might be a way to start and yes you do need them too. But they are not a substitute for a website. With your own website, you can offer many features, offer discounts, apply filters to search your products, categorize, bundle products together. Sky is the limit!
But having a website is just 25% of the job
What people don’t know is that one thing is to create a website and the second is to bring traffic to it. Even if you are able to make a website, you are not able to bring any traffic which leads to no sale and the website eventually becomes an over head.
How to bring traffic?
Again, two things, one is SEO (organic growth) and second is PPC (pay per click advertising). To make it easy, Google the term “digital print” as an example. First few links are the advertisements (PPC) and below that might be some “legitimate” website (thanks to great SEO) that would be offering Digital prints.
Now, we have all been Googling, most of us don’t pay attention to the ads and skip to the first or second link (legitimate website). As you might have already guessed, people pay some fee to Google Ad and Google shows the business ads in search, this is PPC. What about the “legitimate” website, how did that get this “ranking”? Assume I create a new website with the name “Digital Prints Lahore” would it show in the ranking tomorrow? No, it won’t! First of all organic/natural growth takes time. It could even take a year or two. To speed things up, there is a things called “SEO Optimization”, it helps your business go up in search engines.
Problems with SEO Optimization
Two things again! There is a ‘one time’ activity, and then there is an ‘ongoing activity’. When you hire an SEO, he is going to fix up a few things on your website right away. He might even have to change a few phrases here and there. On going activity is about you updating your website regularly with the right keywords. That does not mean adding more and more products all the time. Just write a blog or keep a news section, and initially keep updating it, every week. That blog has to go through the eyes of the SEO person as well. In fact, ask him about the kind of articles or subjects that you should write about.
I will write a separate blog on the science of SEO. For now sticking to the issue of small businesses, where to find such a person? Shall I do it myself? Is it really worth it? In my honest opinion, don’t try this at home 🙂 I mean, if not done properly, you might end up ruining your website so better to hire a part time expert. Thanks to the new digital era, use UpWork or Fiverr.
Challenges with PPC
Its expensive! But it works! There are plenty of social media websites and search engines that you can start from. If you are offering Digital Marketing services, I doubt it that Facebook is the platform to target. But if you are selling clothing then yes it is. Insta, almost sells everything. I personally find Facebook the cheapest. LinkedIn is expensive. PPC service providers usually allow you to put a daily budget, lets $5 day. You pay 0.1$ a click on Facebook (for Pakistan, not sure about 2022). So you are not paying, if no one is clicking. Best thing is that you don’t need an expert to do the job. Its quite a simple step process.
WordPress or Shopify?
What platform to create your website in? WordPress websites are so easy to make and maintain. Just go to Godaddy.pk, buy a domain and hosting (Yes, they are two different things). Then follow simple steps and GoDaddy will install the WordPress automatically on your website. But of course there are cons. To start with, it becomes a pain when your website is growing. You get a lot of spam. Since it is free and the source code is publicly available, it is not so secure. There are many plugins available for almost every problem. But nothing is eventually free. In the end, you end up hiring an expert.
Shopify is a good option, especially if you have a running business. I personally think that it is not ideal for Pakistani market. They have a monthly subscription and on top of that they charge per transaction. But they do bundle a lot services together and that takes a lot of burden off your shoulders. For example, domain/hosting and website set up are just one thing. They are definitely safe.
For new business though, I find it expensive.
But what about a custom website?
Don’t even think about it! You cannot afford it 🙂 I’m not kidding, custom software is built by charging by the hour. In Pakistan, nearly all of the freelance developers and the software houses get paid in dollars. Every change is costly. Not recommended unless your business is already making a lot of money!
Unless you have a new idea, like very different, there is no just no point in reinventing the wheel!
Freelancers
I have been a freelancer myself, but I know how hard it is to find a reliable one. Plus, a freelancer might or not be able to provide you all services. Based on the above points that I have shared, get in a discussion with one and you might know if he/she can help.
I hope it was some useful information and you are able to make the right choices for your business. But this is all my experience, please feel free to comment your experiences. After all, we are all in this together, for a bigger brighter Pakistan 🙂