{"id":2008,"date":"2011-04-06T20:03:26","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T01:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2008"},"modified":"2017-11-19T18:55:42","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T23:55:42","slug":"is-your-business-ready-for-cyberspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2008","title":{"rendered":"Is your business ready for cyberspace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s digital world, if a company doesn\u2019t have a website, it practically doesn\u2019t exist. But Bronwyn Hammell, the owner and creative director of Ottawa\u2019s Cinnamon Toast New Media<\/a>, says not every company is ready to take its products into cyberspace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bronwyn Hammell helps businesses create an online presence. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes [potential clients] get really excited and everyone is saying \u2018you have to have a website\u2019 and I agree,\u201d says Hammell whose company designs websites. \u201cBusinesses need to have a website, but businesses need to have good websites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Constructing a website can be expensive and time-consuming, which is why Hammell says business owners need to be really dedicated and know their product before they start designing and building a site.<\/p>\n

On an initial consultation, Hammell discusses what the client wants in a site and how much they\u2019re willing to spend to get it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re looking at upwards of $5,000,\u201d she says, though her company sometimes makes simpler sites for $2,000-2,500. \u201cIf it\u2019s not in the budget, I would tell them that they have to create a web presence perhaps without a website to begin with, using social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building the website is only part of the cost, which is calculated, based on the number of unique pages the site includes. If a client doesn\u2019t have the content for the website, Cinnamon Toast New Media will hire professional photographers and writers at an additional cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell people that the quality of their website will directly reflect the quality of their content.\u201d<\/p>\n

GO FOR A SIMPLE DESIGN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ottawa jewellery maker Diane Lalonde spent more than a year thinking about and researching a design for her company\u2019s website before launching it late last year.<\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not busy with her day job at a high tech company, Lalonde makes custom jewellery pieces through her small business, Wired & Unwired.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people when I was doing shows would say, \u2018do you have a website? Is there somewhere I can go to see what you do?\u2019\u201d explains Lalonde, \u201cIf people didn\u2019t ask, I probably would have waited.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, Lalonde tried to find a spot online where she could build a site herself, but the simplistic templates for sites weren\u2019t what she had envisioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sort of stymied because I didn\u2019t really know exactly how to put it together. I\u2019m not exactly tech savvy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when she received a flyer for a local design company, by chance, at her day job.<\/p>\n

The woman running the company met with Lalonde to go over ideas for the site and came up with an initial estimate of $1,800.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses need to have a website, but businesses need to have good websites.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her: I\u2019m sorry. I can\u2019t afford that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually Lalonde negotiated some simplifications to the designs and the significantly lower fee of $750. The site<\/a> doesn\u2019t include an online store, but it\u2019s custom-made to showcase photos of various design collections and information about the artist.<\/p>\n

DO IT YOURSELF<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Julie Laframboise of ConceptArt Glass Studio<\/a>, creating a website was very important to having a successful business. When she opened her store in Rockland, ON, three years ago, she also created her website.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy prior job was as a graphic designer and web development, but I did this [website] very basic,\u201d Laframboise says. \u201cIt takes a lot of time. You have to have the tools to design it and develop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though she had computer programs Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and web design experience, it wasn\u2019t an easy experience for Laframboise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely!\u201d she quickly responded when asked if small businesses should hire someone to build their first site. Cost was a key factor in her decision to do the site on her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very expensive to get someone to do your site. You can get the guy who lives across the street to do it for a thousand bucks, but if you want it professionally done, you\u2019re looking at $3,000-5,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing she says is definitely worth the money is buying Pay Per Click advertising, a service that posts text-based advertisements on search engines to increase a site\u2019s web traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pay $30 a month, which isn\u2019t much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Julie Laframboise works on a piece of stained glass at her studio in Rockland, Ont.<\/span><\/p>\n

OPTIONS IN E-COIMMERCE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The logistics of mailing stained glass was difficult enough to deter Laframboise from creating an online store for her business.<\/p>\n

Entering e-commerce means paying monthly service fees or commissions to websites like PayPal or Shopify which allow customers to pay for items using credit cards.<\/p>\n

The best option depends on how much a client plans to sell. For a business selling at least ten different items, Hammell suggests Shopify, a site that provides an online storefront and payment options for a set price as low as $29USD per month (or as high as $699USD per month) and a percentage transaction fee.<\/p>\n

If a business is smaller, Hammell sets it up with a PayPal account, which handles credit card transactions, but doesn\u2019t provide a storefront.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people that have a few products get excited,\u201d explains Hammell, \u201cand unfortunately they don\u2019t realize that to actually run the website because you\u2019ll end up spending more money on the site than the product.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Lalonde sets up an online store, she thinks she\u2019ll take a different route.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably would look at Etsy because that is very popular,\u201d says Lalonde, pointing out a website that allows artisans to set up a free storefront while paying fees to post items and complete transactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really popular with a lot of artisans. They just think it\u2019s great \u2013 and it works!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not inexpensive but it is essential. Retailers who want to survive need a presence on the web, but how to do it and with whom?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-2008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-personal-finance-2011","tag-elyse-skura"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4414,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions\/4414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}