Through my newsagency software company Tower Systems we have a web development team that creates websites for local small business retailers, including newsagents. We have been doing this for years, and have hundreds of websites under our belt.
It surprises me that here we are in 2022 and I am seeing newsagents make the same mistakes from years ago when setting up a website. Not everyone makes these mistakes, but enough do.
So, here is the top 7 mistakes I see newsagents make when setting top a website for their business.
- Not knowing the target customer. The target customer for a website connected to any shop should not be considered to be the person walking through the r=front door. rather, it should be the person you want to reach, the person who would never walk past your shop. Knowing who they are, where they are and what they could be looking for is key.
- Making the website a copy of the physical shop. If you copy what you sell in your shop online you are not likely to find new customers and the best website for a shop is one that finds new customers for the business. Nice is best. Niche is appealing and easily found through online searching. Stand for something – not not everything you currently sell.
- Thinking it is easy and once the site is live you are done. Creating and maintaining a website is hard work, relentless work. Think of a website and a hungry beast, and you have to feed it.
- Believing a web developer knows what is best for your business. Web developers are not retailers. They may have opinions about what looks good or works well, but do these opinions match the needs of your business. It is best to find a web development who genuine understand your type of business and what you want to achieve online.
- Failing to understand the total cost off ownership. Paying for a website to be developed is on thing. What is the cost of maintaining it. be sure to have this documented before you begin because once you are into it you are on the hook for future costs. Knowing this upfront is key.
- Different is good. Too many retailers are lazy, loading images and product descriptions from suppliers. Search engines see this duplication and mark sites down that copy others in terms of content. The more of your own content the absolute better for you and for your business. Sure, this is hard work, but it pays off.
- Your website is not a destination. Okay, it is a destination for online shoppers, hopefully. But, it is not your online end point. The website will have to evolve and, eventually, be replaced. Go into it knowing it will not be your final online presence, that it is, rather, a stepping stone on a pathway.
I see so many mistakes made by small business retailers, including newsagents, expensive mistakes, mistakes that dishearten and, eventually, see businesses go offline. That’s not the future. Online is key to every retail business.
Invest time to get it right. Move only when you are sure, and ready. And, remember, buyer beware.
Footnote: I know about this not only because I own Tower Systems but because I have created plenty of websites for my businesses. The most useful ones have been those that failed. The successes are terrific. But it’s the failures that are educational.