Brochure web sites
Many businesses just need a simple and professional web site to promote their business - a clear, easy to use web site that shows everyone some basic information about your business such as:
- who you are
- what you do
- testimonials from your customers
- how to contact you
I call this a brochure site. It is the online equivalent of a printed brochure and it can be working for you 24 hours a day attracting new customers.
A brochure site forms part of your marketing activities but has no e-commerce facility (see e-commerce sites). A brochure site is intended to help customers find you, find out about you and contact you. So I define brochure sites by their objective (marketing only).
Why do you need a web site?
Some businesses say they don't need a web site – they're already getting enough business by other methods like "word of mouth". But even these businesses could benefit:
- a professional brochure web site promotes your business continually, to a wide audience, twenty-four hours a day
- your web site communicates very clearly who you are, what you do, and how to contact you
- your site can bring in new customers and establish your credentials for potential customers, also showing what sort of work you are looking for
- many customers do some research online before deciding which potential suppliers to contact – do you want to miss out on this opportunity?
- a brochure site reassures your customers – they are reminded of your abilities and know you are still active
- a brochure site enables you to compete effectively with other businesses who are also online
- once established, a web site can easily be updated with details of your new products and services, latest news stories, photographs
- your web site can handle other communication issues – like advertising job vacancies and answering frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Are brochure sites all small and unsophisticated sites?
Some people might use the term "brochure site" in a very narrow way to indicate a small and unsophisticated site. But "brochure sites" don't have to be small – your site should have as much content as it needs to present enough information about your business to achieve your objectives. And they certainly don't have to be unsophisticated. They can be built using content management systems and can present information in sophisticated ways.
Here are a couple of examples of much more substantial brochure web sites:
- Story Homes' web site is a large and sophisticated brochure site presenting information about all this housebuilder's development sites and each individual property for sale. Navigation includes interactive siteplans, with popup information on each property
- The local newspaper "The Cumberland and Westmorland Herald" has a brochure site intended to position the newspaper as integral to the local community. It contains over 100,000 historical articles. But by restricting access to the most recent news articles, it is intended to promote the printed version of the newspaper – not compete with it. This brochure site is certainly not small!
Who can benefit from a professional brochure web site?
Amazingly, as recently as the end of 2008 over a quarter of the UK's small and medium sized businesses still did not have a web site (source: Report entitled "Putting the economy back on track: Transport, Environment and ICT", Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Nov 2008).
"Almost 28% of companies did not have a website..." (this could also be a sidebar?)
But many businesses would benefit from a simple and professional "brochure" web site describing their products or services. And there are very many types of businesses that do not require e-commerce functionality.
