Having a website for your retail business is terrific – as long as the site is terrific. That means serving a need, being easily found, being enjoyed and integrating seamlessly with your business.
Here at Tower Systems, we develop websites for our POS software customers. Websites that integrate with your POS software.
To help you consider what your retail business website could look like and could be used for, here are some suggestions that we and our customers have found useful for those considering a website to engage with …
- Look carefully at competitor sites online locally and overseas as it is beneficial to see what someone else is doing.
- Only use unique images. If you use supplier supplied images, they may be on other sites and Google will know this. Google likes fresh content.
- Write your own product name / title. Use search keyworks in the name. Google likes fresh content.
- Write your own product description and think about what shoppers search for.
- Do not load everything. Too much stock makes a site hard to navigate.
- Consider using a website name that is different to your business name. Online can benefit from a different brand to your in-store situation.
- Be open to additional sites. You may make more money from having multiple.
- Support the site with active social media. A Facebook page with a name the same as the web name.
- Promote the site with an email monthly at least, through MailChimp or similar.
Too often we see small business retailers think their website needs to reflect an online version of their shop. While that may be okay, it may not be the best business move. Sometimes, exploring a new category of product or service online could be a soft and good way to explore expanding the business without disrupting the existing in-store business.
A website connected to a retail business can be a good way to explore the expansion or evolution of the retail business. Tower Systems as its webstore team can work with you, helping you to explore options and opportunities that may align with your current business and the goals you have for it and for yourself.
This is where an engaging and consultative approach could work to help you walk to an online solution that is more nuanced and enjoyable to your personal and business needs.
