How Your Firm Can Use The Web

Should every family business have a Web site? No! But every family business should evaluate whether a presence on the World Wide Web would contribute to its overall marketing and advertising strategies.

The Internet is like a phone system that connects computers worldwide. The World Wide Web is a user-friendly portion of the Internet where organizations and individuals post sites filled with information and opportunities. And it’s growing like wildfire.

Due to the Web’s popularity and growth, there is an assumption in business today that a company should have a Web site. Whether one makes sense for your business comes down to two simple questions: Will a Web site extend or enhance your business? Will a Web site allow customers and potential customers to learn more about you than a brochure, print ad, or other promotion?

Only you can answer these questions for your business. In doing so, you should study the potential of a Web site as you would any other promotional or sales vehicle. Most companies use a Web site primarily to advertise products and services, provide information about themselves, and develop sales leads (see “How growth companies use their Web sites,below). Though direct sales are increasing as secure means for transmitting credit card numbers improve, worries about possible theft still loom.

If you determine that the Web could help you, then the task is to design a Web strategy and create an effective site. Many sites fall short. Creating a productive site is not so much a matter of fine art or good science, but of good planning and execution.

In building my own organization’s Web site, helping family businesses build theirs, and reviewing hundreds of others, I have come up with a straightforward process family business owners can use to develop or revamp their sites.

Step 1: Get a useful address

Most owners who decide to create a Web site jump into creating its content and graphic look. A crucial step must be taken first, however: determining and registering your site address. This should be done as soon as you contemplate setting up a site.

In the Web world, a site address is called a domain name, or URL. It is the string of characters that people type to reach your site. Those who like your site will “bookmark” the address on their computer, so they can readily return to it without having to retype the address. A domain name typically begins with “www” and ends in a suffix such as “com,” which signifies the site is hosted by a commercial venture (versus the suffix “edu” for educational institution, or “org” for nonprofit organization). The period, or “dot,” separates portions of the address.

The reason to register a name early is because many names are already taken, and thousands more are being claimed each day worldwide. An effective address is easy to understand and recall, and, if possible, should incorporate some part of your company’s name, or at least an aspect of your business. The shorter the better. A good example is www.powells.com, the URL for Powell’s in Portland, Oregon, which sells books over the Web, and claims to be the largest family owned bookstore in the world.

Contrast the simplicity of Powell’s address with that of Cummins Nursery in Geneva, New York, which is www.dabney.com/CumminsNursery. Dabney is a commercial Web site developer that runs the Cummins’ site (and presumably others) on its computer. But how many customers of Cummins Nursery would know to look for “Dabney” first, or would remember the long name? If Web users can’t easily find a site, or deduce an address, or remember one, they won’t bother to track you down. Although you might be tempted to join with an association or your community in placing your site, burying your name under any other heading will make it just that much harder to find.

Some businesses may not be able to use their exact name in an address because it’s already been taken. For example, if you run the (hypothetical) Maple Inn in Keene, New Hampshire, it’s likely that some other innkeeper in your state, or in Vermont, has already taken www.mapleinn.com. In this case you might consider www.mapleinnkeene.com or www.mapleinn.nh.com. The point is to register your name as early as possible.

Internet addresses are registered either through Worldnic (www.worldnic.com) or Internic (www.internic.com). All you do is submit your name to see if it is available. Unless you register it, even your trade name isn’t protected from use by another entity. Worldnic and Internic will also identify the owner of any existing address, so you can think of another name, or try to buy the name that you want from the current owner.

If you can’t get an address that has your company name, consider alternatives that make sense. If your company name is Widget Corp. and you make the hardest steel widgets around, but www.widgetcorp.com is taken, consider a name such as www.hardwidgets.com or www.steelwidgets.com. Adding a key feature of your product or service, or your location, might provide you with a name that is available—and perhaps one that also portrays the image you want customers to remember. The Dot Com People (www.thedotcompeople.com) will provide ideas for alternative names, based on keywords you supply.

Step 2: Choose a Web strategy

Even though a Web page may seem like a flashy, high-tech venture, it is nothing more than another part of your promotional or sales strategy. You have to determine the best use of this vehicle, just as you would any other medium. In parallel, however, you should find ways to utilize the unique capabilities of this online medium. Too many family businesses, for example, simply recast their print brochure as a Web page. This is a mistake because pages look different on the computer, and browsers don’t navigate in linear order; they jump around based on their interests or needs.

When settling on your Web strategy and delivery, start with a brainstorming session of key players, and address questions such as the following:

• Who will be the key users of our site: customers, suppliers, recruits, employees, media?

• What will the site’s prime functions be? To inform visitors; market; sell; recruit; entertain; engage customers in feedback or a dialogue?

• What do we want to include on our site?

• How sophisticated do we want the site to be? First-generation sites are essentially electronic brochures. A “next-generation site” might include order forms, customer help information, company documents, databases, and integration of graphics and video. There is a lot of territory within this range.

• Do we want to include unique effects? For example, do we want to splice in an audio message, which can personalize a site more than any kind of text or graphics?

Resist the temptation to jump into writing and design. In early 1998 we decided to revamp the Web site for our Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University. Our heavily used, three-year-old site had been recognized as creative, especially for one of its features, the Tour of Family Business Web sites. But we felt it was out of date and not aligned with the state-of-the-art technological goal of the College of Business at OSU. We hired a team of experts from within a newly established service at the university. Over the next year, we found ourselves addressing more basic strategic questions than ever before in the history of the program. Especially puzzling, for example, was the question of who we served, and what our market was.

Although we really didn’t want to undertake a second major project consecutively, it soon became apparent that we also needed to transform our traditional 10,000-entry database so it could provide information directly to people using the Web site, to better serve clients. Even with six months devoted just to planning, we still made multiple revisions before we had what we wanted on the first two levels of the site.

Step 3: Focus on the home page

You don’t have long to grab the attention of a Web surfer. What you present up front, on your first page or two, is especially critical. Consider this question: If you only have a person for 10 seconds, what do you want them to learn in that time?

Some companies put an ultra-fancy picture or graphic on the front page. Even on fast computers, these may take a long time to download. On older computers they are albatrosses. My response, as an impatient user, is, “I’m outta here,” and I head off for another site before I even see the whole first page.

The critical items that should be presented quickly on your opening, or “home,” page, are: who you are; what you do; what you stand for (core values); and an index of what’s on your site. You should also convey, briefly and strongly, what the payoff is for someone who spends the time to browse your site.

Rich Products in Buffalo, New York, the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen food products, does a stellar job of presenting this information on its site (www.richs.com). Bonsal Aggregate Products in Charlotte, North Carolina (www.bonsal.com), has a mission statement worth reading. Unfortunately it is hidden in the sixth paragraph on an interior page that is reached after hitting a special Bonsal button on the home page. However, the rest of the Bonsal site has easy navigation to detailed information.

A second part of the upfront material should be the basics on how to find you: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail. I have come across several sites that were frustrating be cause they lacked a phone number. Some don’t even tell you the state or country of the company’s headquarters. You can’t assume that every user wants to correspond by e-mail, or somehow knows what part of the globe you occupy.

If people may be visiting your facility in person, then good directions and a map are helpful. Consider the information provided by www.nicholsvillage.com, under the heading “directions” on the main menu. Since this four-star hotel located in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, hosts many events, including weddings, clear directions are important. Nichols takes reservations online, using a secure system to handle credit card numbers, which are required for reservation guarantees.

Step 4: Provide good links

Most owners view their Web site as a destination. But in the long term, your site can attract many more viewers if you provide a list of good, related Web sites. If you run a children’s clothing store, for example, consider listing Web sites that provide information on new children’s fashions and materials, children’s sites that feature kids’ views on clothing, the latest colors considered “in” by the fashion world, and so on.

Many people who have Web sites don’t provide these “links” because they fear browsers will leave their page and never return. On the contrary, if you provide a good list of links, people will be more likely to revisit your site because they will bookmark it as an authoritative source of information about the entire field. Furthermore, it is likely that if you link to other sites, they will link back to yours (you can even ask them to do so), sending more traffic your way. A site with no links is like a quiet cul-de-sac at the end of a lone street; a site with good links can become the main intersection between highly traveled thoroughfares.

Another kind of link is to an advertiser. If you run a local bike shop, you might sell space to another local store that sells camping gear, since a lot of the clientele may overlap. Though carrying advertising can provide a new income stream, it can also dilute your message. Whether to cross-promote is a traditional philosophical and strategic business question that you may already have considered. Just don’t forget to ask it about your Web site.

Step 5: Consider family identity

Once you get beyond basic content, a big strategic question looms: Do you want to emphasize that you are a family business? This is not a question just about your Web presence, but a strategic question important to the entirety of your marketing plan.

Most family business owners align with one of two opposing arguments about whether there is an advantage in promoting the “familiness” of the company. Some think there is a risk of being viewed as a mom-and-pop concern, an image that suggests they are a small company, probably low-tech, and perhaps unsophisticated. Others think that a family company connotes an image of quality, reliability, and superior customer service.

Having been immersed in this field for some time, I have to say that most of the commercial world today has gotten beyond the stereotype of a family business as a mom-and-pop concern, or at least the negative connotations improperly associated with that image. I also think a family business is making a mistake if it doesn’t at least consider what can be gained by conveying the fact that the company is owned or run by family. If nothing else, this sets you apart from competitors, and offers many ways in which you can create a competitive advantage. Surprisingly, many family firms don’t really think about this question. If you don’t promote the familiness of your company, you should have a good reason for not doing so.

Promoting the family nature of your business can be particularly effective on a Web site because the appearance of the site itself can debunk any mistaken notion of a lack of size or technical sophistication. First of all, if you’re on the Web, you’re clearly high-tech. Second, if you fashion your site properly, even the smallest company can look big and savvy. Why not gain these advantages as well as promote all the great payoffs of being a family company?

There are several basic techniques you can use on a Web site to identify your company as a family business:

• Use the terms “family business” or “family owned.” If you want users to know you are a family business, saying so is an obvious way. Put the family name right up there with the business name. Or you can mention your familial relationship, as in Seven Sisters Inc. (www.sevensisters.com), an electrical contracting firm in Sedro Woolley, Washington. The Brentano family, which runs a waste disposal concern in Woodburn, Oregon, spells out their family relationship in the “About United Disposal” section on their site (www.uniteddisposal.com).

• Stress “in business since…” or “serving Lane County for….” This points to longevity and commitment. Even if you don’t speak Italian, you’ll understand the home page at www.antinori.it, which conveys that the winery in Florence, Italy, has been run by the family for 26 generations. Can you beat that?

• Introduce your family, especially through pictures. This signals to users your interest in developing a relationship. Make sure the pictures are engaging, for example by placing people in work situations. Nothing is worse than mug shots. Pictures should be relevant, reflecting your intended tone and style. Look at Skyline Manufacturing’s site (www.skylinemfg.com); their pictures not only spell out the family’s involvement, but show the members in dressy casual shirts with friendly, smiling faces, which together convey the image of a tight-knit group that works well together.

• Relate company history. An instructive history teaches others how businesses survive, and leads users to feel they can rely on your company no matter what the economy brings. Historical photos can add graphic nostalgia. The history of Perillo Tours (www.perillotours.com) is well presented. McCutcheon’s Apple Products in Frederick, Maryland (www.mccutcheons.com), makes great use of historical photos.

• Tell the stories that form the family heritage. This is another way to make users feel they know your family and company. The stories at www.vermontcountrystore.com are good examples.

Start with perspective

Before you develop or refresh a Web sight, visit several others. I invite you to visit our site (www.familybusiness. orst.edu), which will be updated by January 15, 1999. Don’t limit your tour to your industry or region, however. Good ideas are everywhere. Be sure to look at competitors’ sites and other family business sites too. See if you can tell what they are trying to accomplish, and if the the site relates this effectively.

Also look for sites that work for you, given your preferences. In redesigning our own site, we looked at hundreds of others, and ended up gathering the most ideas from a cosmetics company.

The cost to erect a site can vary greatly, but a basic site can be completed for less than a thousand dollars. Most local companies that provide Internet access also do Web site design, as do freelancers. Look for ads in your newspaper or in the Yellow Pages under Internet or Web. Ask other business owners for referrals. In addition, Web site development tools are readily available from software makers, are affordable, and include “hit” counters that measure the number of visitors to your site.

Developing a family business Web site takes lots of creativity. It is thus a superb project in which to involve young family members, especially in the brainstorming. And, yes, it is possible that someone in the family, maybe even a young someone, has the capability to actually build the site. As with any work assignment, make sure the person’s capability matches the complexity of the task. If it does, encourage the person to run with it.

Patricia A. Frishkoff is founding director of the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

How growth companies use their Web sites

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 1998 survey of CEOs of 446 small, fast-growing U.S. product and service companies, from $1-$50 million in revenues. Half described their firms as high-tech. Companies were not distinguished as public or private.