Inoculating your business against swine flu

During the recent bushfire emergency this blog looked at how smarter businesses that were forced to close their physical shopfronts could keep trading thanks to a superior online presence and practices.

Now its Mexico’s turn for a national emergency, and just like parts of Victoria were only weeks ago, its streets are deserted as its population tries to avoid contact with the outside world.

Not only will swine flu decimate Mexico’s important tourism industry, but businesses servicing local markets will also suffer the loss of crucial passing trade.

But just because Mexicans are staying home doesn’t mean they can’t continue shopping for goods and services – something they can happily do online. Providing of course, there are vendors there who are geared to looking after them via a professional and “sale-closing” online presence.

There are two key reasons online shopping will boom in this kind of environment. First, locals are avoiding leaving home, which gives them more time in front of their computers and in turn online shopping. Second, goods and services delivered to their home again avoids the need for them to go outside to shop and thereby minimises the chance of picking up the virus.

Arguably thirdly, they are looking for things to do indoors, and online research and shopping can be fun as well as practical.

Without wishing a similar fate upon Australia, the crisis is a timely reminder that your website becomes more critical to your business in times of crisis – be that a natural disaster or health epidemic.

Right now there will be literally thousands of business operators in Mexico kicking themselves for not establishing an effective online presence so they can continue to service their customers remotely.

Of course preparing for such an event will not just benefit your business in times of crisis but also provide you with ongoing promotion and sales channel benefits at relatively “normal” times.

So what do you need to establish to ensure that your website can act as your saviour when your physical business is out of action.

Here’s a shopping list of the fundamental online requirements during these times.

Get independent and affordable help

While establishing a professional website is cheaper and easier than ever before, it still takes considerable skill to achieve a professional result.

There are now independent providers who help unravel the tangle that is e-business, with your interests in mind and not those of designers or tech-heads. These independent webmasters will be able to set you up with a solution with your specific requirements and budget in mind so that you can rest assured you’re getting the best deal for your money.

Get a professional website

By professional website I don’t just mean one that looks good. It also has to attract search engines, be well written with web-friendly copy, be easy to navigate, must close the sale as much as possible, and cross-sell and upsell -among other things! Essentially it has to encourage browsers to take the next step to engaging your products or services.

Ensure you can make your own changes to your website

If you are paying someone to make basic changes to your website you are simply throwing money away. Sure you may need help to make major changes, such as adding functionality like new sections, an e-newsletter or extranet, but day-to-day changes like articles and price changes you should be able to do quite easily.

Content management systems are affordable and sometimes free these days, so it’s essential you have one. In times of crisis a system like this allows you to keep customers posted on how your business is travelling, and more importantly allows them to continue doing business with you.

Make sure you can be found on search engines

There’s no point having a professional website if the major means of being found – via search engines – is not catered for and you are not listed prominently. Gigabytes of advice has been written about this subject, but fundamentally if you’re finding it difficult to compete in natural search results then you should investigate “pay per click” advertising to supplement it.

Keep a database of customers and email recipients

By keeping your database of clients up to date, you can quickly shoot them emails to let them know how you are progressing and provide alternatives for doing business with you while your shopfront is out of action.

While you’re at it, why not promote goods and services that may be of interest to them. Or like fire affected Immerse Winery of Dixons Creek, put on a “fire sale” to give customers an extra reason to buy from you and circulate the offer to generate further business again.

Close the sale with secure e-commerce or ordering

Obviously if your operations are affected, you will be less able to deal with customers in person. Therefore you should set up your website so that it can close the sale as much as possible – ideally by accepting payments securely and activating a fulfilment process. Like most e-business technologies, secure shopping carts now cost a fraction of what they did only a few years ago, so if you haven’t sought a price recently, do so ASAP!

Provide as much information about your business as possible

Comprehensive information about your business and its products and services not only helps close the sale by providing as much information as possible for the prospect to entrust you with their hard earned, but also attracts search engines, whose “bots” are constantly crawling the web for new and relevant content. Pages like testimonials, product specs and FAQ all help to do this.

If you can achieve these basics, you will have customers flowing through your website not only in a time of crisis, but at any time at all.

But recent local and overseas events just give us another reason to ensure we are prepared for the worst.

Has your website or other web presence ever rescued your business in a time of turmoil? We’d love to hear about it! Just add your story below.

Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond. www.theeteam.com.au