Ask HN: What is the role of a modern business website? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the role of a modern business website?

3 pointsjdimov92 comments

I'm not talking about start-ups. Think your typical traditional SME, which is the core of the economy: cleaning service / beauty salon / accountant / dentist. Is social media presence now more important than actually having a website, or are these complementary? How should a business website be structured to properly reflect its modern role? What things no longer belong on a business website? What things have not traditionally been found on a website but should be? Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.

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Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, I just play one on the Internet :)

In my opinion, websites do not bring much to the table to that kind of SMEs, unless they offer some added value (online booking or something). They're just the modern equivalent of a Yellow Pages listing. A creative company probably can add a lot more value though, but I don't think a website drives business unless it becomes a part of a wider marketing strategy (my experience is not in the U.S., it might be a lot different there).

You're also mixing two very different kinds of services, professional services like accountants are VERY different from someting like a beauty salon or a cleaning service.

Social media in general and Facebook in particular, on the other hand, bring a lot of value to the second category of business owners (beauty salon, cleaning service), and make engagement with customers a lot easier.

I think Yelp or equivalent listings are also important for SMEs to monitor.

In spite of a lot of effort by several startups, there still isn't a great solution for "local" services.

I would make sure there is good contact info: Name, address, phone number, email address, possibly a map. I would also include hours of operation.

I might treat it primarily as a kind of internet business card (at least at first, even if I had no idea what else to do with it), but if I had a small local brick and mortar business, I absolutely would have a website. The reason I would do this is because so few SMEs do this that it means when people are looking online for local small businesses that are not a franchise of a large chain, if you have a website of any kind, you will stand out from the crowd.

It is shocking to me how little info there can be online about locally owned businesses. I live without a car and have for several years. So I use the Internet a great deal to find information before I make the long walk to check things out in person. Thus, this is something I have a lot of familiarity with: There is a dearth of good info online about local businesses that I might be inclined to go to if I had any idea they were there and what they offered.

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