How to get business from your web site

This courier handbooks info sheet covers the most important points to help make your web site more effective at getting you business. It does not cover the details of how to build web sites.

first catch your domain

If you haven't got a web site already, here are some things to bear in mind before you set one up:

• choose a good domain name

  The most obvious name is not always the best.

  If you are Joe Bloggs Couriers you might want joebloggs.co.uk but if you are in Banbury then something like banburycouriers.co.uk might be better. After all, if they already know your name they probably won't be looking on the internet for you - somebody is more likely to search for 'couriers in banbury'.

  Or you could register both names. This will give you the advantages of both, and an email address like joe@joebloggs.co.uk.

  You can check to see whether the domain you want is available at http://www.nameroute.co.uk/cgi-bin/multidomain.cgi. Just type in the middle part of your chosen name, and it will tell you whether it's available in the different endings. You don't have to register, or buy your hosting, from this company.

• choose a good host

  As with anything else, the cheapest isn't always the best, and what looks like the cheapest is sometimes dearest in the long run.

  Ask friends who their host is, and whether they're happy with them, and search google groups for any mentions of the host before you sign up.

  Some hosts offer cheaper packages if you have your site hosted in the USA or other countries. There's nothing wrong with this, but it will be a bit slower for your customers when they visit your site.

  Make sure you find out the full costs - registration, hosting, any extras. If it's dead cheap it's for a reason - maybe they will put ads or popups on your site, which will annoy your customers.

then you need something to go on your site

Your domain name is now yours, but there's nothing at that address. You need a site with some content to tell your customers about your business, and there are a couple of ways you can do it.

• build your site...

  Some hosting packages come with a free site-building wizard. You pay to register your domain name, and you get a hosting package which includes a step-by-step 'wizard' for you to build your site, based on a template they provide.

  This is a quick and easy way to get your site up and running, but it will look a bit like everybody else's, might be more complicated than you need, and might not work properly in everybody's browser.

  You could build the site yourself. Even if you haven't done anything like it before you can build a simple site fairly easily and extend it later. If you can type an invoice you can builld a simple web page, which is all you need to start getting customers on the internet.

  Try searching for "html tutorial" on google and see if you get on with any of the sites which tell you how to build yours, or get a book from the library.

• ...or get one built

  Or of course you can pay somebody to build a site for you, and they will probably take care of registering your domain name and sort out a host as well.

  If you want to do this find out what the cost is, is it one-off or an annual charge, will they update your site when necessary, will they help you get listed on directories and search engines?

• but is it legal?

  You might already know about the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which makes it a legal requirement for you, as a provider of services to the public, to take reasonable steps to make your services available to people regardless of any disabilities they might have.

  The law applies to web sites too. Nobody has yet been prosecuted for having a non-accessible site, but it makes sense to make your site accessible and easy to use for all your potential customers.

  The most obvious disability to cater for is poor eyesight - can the user change the size of the text? Or, if they are blind and using a screen reader, can it read the pages correctly? And if a user can't use a mouse, can they navigate around your site using the keyboard?

  Most sites on the web are not fully accessible - have a look at some you know, and see for yourself. For a quick test, try changing your internet options to turn off pictures and press the refresh button: is the page still readable? Change the text size (in IE it's on the View menu): does it work?

  It's true that not many people need these features, but if your competitors' sites are not accessible and yours is, that makes you more competitive.

get yourself on the directories

You've got your site, but now you've got to let people know you're there. The easiest and quickest way to start publicising your site is to get listed in the various directories. Another advantage of being listed on directories is that search engines will start to find you and you'll show up in search results within a couple of weeks.

• courier listings

  There are some directories just for couriers. Try searching for "couriers" or "sameday deliveries" etc and you'll find some. Just visit each one ask them to add your business.

• business directories

  Search for business directories in your area, or other areas where you want to do business. When you find ones you want to get listed on, add your site. And get yourself listed on the national directories like yell.com and kellysearch.

  You might already be on some of these directories, so update your listings to add your web site address.

get linked from other sites

This is another way to help people find you. You won't get many customers this way, but it will start getting you onto the search results.

• the couriers web ring

  The first place to go is the couriers web ring which is a 'ring' of courier sites. It gets 'spidered' by google and other search engines all the time so your site will be picked up quickly.

• the courier owner driver forum

  If you are an owner driver you can register at the COD forum and get your site listed on the links page. This is another site which regularly gets spidered.

• freight exchange sites

  If you are a member of a freight exchange site (like Courier Directory, Courier Exchange or MT Van) you should be able to update your profile to show a link to your site. These links are not always as useful as the other types because they can't usually be seen by non-members and might not get picked up by the search engines.

• other sites

  Have a good look around the web for any site that has lists of links to courier or transport sites, and get yours added.

get listed on the search engines

If you want to, you can visit the main search engines and ask them to index your site. The link for this is usually buried deep in the site so you'll have to look for it.

But it's not really worth the effort of registering, because if you've followed the advice above they will find you within a week or two. When you've been indexed it will take a couple of months to creep up the results so that people start finding you on searches.

You can improve your position by doing more of the actions above - get links and get listed.

There are also things you can do to your site to make it more attractive to the search engines, and this is called search engine optimisation or SEO. These techniques are not covered in this information sheet, but will be in a later one.

advertise on the web

While you are waiting to get higher up the search results, you might want to pay for advertising to get noticed.

The simplest way to do this is to sign up with google adwords, which will get you listed in the ad boxes on the right hand side of the google search results page. You don't have to commit to any long-term contract, just set up some ads and set a budget. You can play with the settings as often as you like and see how it affects the results.

As long as you keep an eye on your budget it won't cost too much - probably about the same as a couple of stamps and envelopes, and a brochure - but only for the times your ad is actually clicked, which means the customer is definitely looking for a courier in your area.