Website - Mom & Pop or big biz?

Hi Nicole -

In my opinion, represent your company as it is :) If it's just you, highlight yourself and your great abilities! If it's you and a small team, perhaps have a page about your team with pics/bios. Make it easy for visitors to navigate and find the information easily. I personally don't like the "corporate-y" websites, I feel that they are cold and impersonal.

-Hil

Nicole, this is a great question. I submitted an article to the Learn section that outlines these issues and should help you in considering the right approach for your business. It's called "Are you the Wizard of Oz?"

Hope you find it helpful when it posts.

I think it's important to make the distinction between using the voice of a Mom and Pop and purposefully using the Mom and Pop persona as a way to avoid implementing a brand strategy and/or great website.

"Mom and Pop" doesn't necessarily have to mean cheap. Not that's what you were implying, but it is a common euphemism!

I've seen all kinds of websites out their and if you site doesn't have a proffesional feel to it everything is much harder. You need a functioning well designed website. That doesn't have to be expensive or make you look like a huge corp. It does have to work the way you want it to and invite your customers to interact with you. Art T.

As a copywriter, I say, "It doesn't matter (although I agree with Daniel's comment 100%)."

You sell receipt paper.

Your customers want to know, "Can you solve my problem? I need to make sure I never run out of receipt paper because it's a small thing but I can't do business without it."

So your company might look at ways to add value. Do you add something to printed receipts that adds value? Do you look at your customer's total paper needs and develop a system that saves time, hassle and/or money? Do you have a reminder system so your customers won't be calling on an emergency basis? Or can you ship fast in case of sudden demand?

"Mom and Pop" is about you. Meeting your customers' needs is about them.

I agree that a beloved small biz web site can have the "voice" and texture of a Mom-n-Pop outfit - BUT it must have the functionality that will help people solve their problem. Otherwise people are way too busy to use your site, and they won't if it does not effectively help them.

The internet is rather disembodied, and I always love it when a site features pictures and bios about who is actually "there". If it's Mom and Pop, then put it out there and embrace it. Just be accountable and help your customers get what they need, and quickly!

I always choose small businesses to deal with whenever I can. I'd rather not become embroiled with employee #502 in department X, since they are probably suffering cubicle stress! I'd rather have the business owner come in from the garden and check emails with dirt under their fingernails, they can give me more personalized attention!

I agree to promote it as it is but don't limit your mom & pop reality to what you can provide to your audience via an online presence.

Go above and beyond so that being a mom & pop business doesn't take away from your services and business.

I do think you can strike a balance between good design, great user interface and at the same time show your personality and leverage your size as a benefit to the customer.

As you consider how big you want to project your business online, the article I mentioned above might be helpful to you. I changed the title since that posting, but here's a link: Is the Wizard of Oz Hiding Behind Your Website?

I agree wih Bonnie, I like to see a photo of the person. Think of how empty biznik would be without photos. The photo helps people connect with you.

I thought I would chime in with my own experience with this subject.

In years past, I would almost always attempt to make myself look bigger than I really was because I felt that was what I needed to do to compete and attract clients.

With experience and growth I now realize how much value lies in expressing my own style and methods and I try my best to convey that to my clients. In short, I keep it real. In doing so I ensure a much higher compatibility rate in the client/designer relationship.

In my opinion when you apply the "Wizard" methodology (credit to Karrie for the great analogy!) you may just attract a target market completely out of your scope.

I agree with Steve with one difference. The site needs to reflect what you offer/do, etc. And it has to be easy to read, easy to navigate, easy to order and make contact. For three years we did not have a picture of us, just a written explanation of who we are. It did not affect the orders one way or the other.

But I want to bring up one more point, maybe I'm write an article about this - you need to update your site as you grow and replace it if it loses it's value to the business. After replacing our site, we have to rebuild it again. I won't go into why here, but that's why I might write an article on this.

As a family owned smaller business ourselves, we have found that people generally appreciate the personal aspect. However, they also want to know you're going to provide them with the quality service they will get from the big guys!
My advice is mainly -- just make it professional. I've learned websites are not the place for homespun designs...unless you really know what you're doing.