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Since 2000, prior to the .com boom and bust era, the uptake of IT and e-commerce was heavily promoted but at that time understanding was poor and a web presence was generally considered to be nothing more than an online brochure.
Through national initiatives such as the DTi's ISI (Information Society Initiative) and subsequently the UK Online for Business programmes, considerable public sector investment was made towards developing more awareness of opportunity through value added integrated site development such as e-commerce, CRM, accounts etc but uptake and full implementation in the main was ill-thought through and once investment was made, many companies then stopped working on their website wrongly assuming that all the work was done.
Between 2002 and 2004, Adrian Bereziuk was the Regional Champion for the UK Online for Business Programme in Scotland and the North East of England. As an advisor, he saw the challenges at ground level, dealing with over 200 companies during 2001 and 2002 and as Regional Champion, dealt with the strategic end of programme management to promote the national awareness of Information and Communication Technology uptake in this generally unregulated industry.
Throughout the years since then, he has been on a continuing quest to promote the benefits and strategic methodologies of online trading and the resulting wealth that can be generated - this effort in part contributed to an uptake of best practice in companies he engaged with leading to the acceptance that well developed and marketed websites are the vehicle to drive additional sales to companies.
However - in the general business community, there was always a very important missing link that would ensure Scottish businesses could truly reap the benefits of Internet sales.
This missing link was website evolution.
In such a dynamic and ever changing world and in the current economic climate, now more than ever the need exists to fill that missing link: There is no point in having a truly great looking website if in the first place it cannot be found intuitively. With Search Engine algorithms constantly evolving, there is an absolute need to educate Scottish businesses to the issues and pitfalls that are in evidence in Internet Marketing terms through poor keyword research, optimisation, analytics, copywriting and link building strategies.
To prove the point, Adrian (partnered by Brian Mathers) demonstrated the benefit of adopting a structured approach to website marketing by running two consecutive projects led and run by them through Scottish Enterprise South.
A group of 36 selected companies had enterprise level web audits carried out to benchmark areas of varying concern and without exception, every one failed miserably on aspects that should otherwise have been delivering much better results.
The companies also attended specific workshops to educate their ‘Champions’ and the learning journey led without exception to a situation where the companies now have not only the additional knowledge required to direct their web developers/marketers, but they have a clear view of what needs to be done to improve sales opportunities making their original and ongoing development investments show a return on investment.
Within 18 months of the project starting, these companies have seen a £3m increase in turnover (and still growing) in web based sales for businesses operating in a rural environment – we are very proud to have been part of that awakening.
We have thought beyond the negative recession-based headlines the media generously provide and as a result, we have launched the OnlineXcellence programme with Central Scotland in Glasgow to overcome the now inherent feeling of helplessness and lack of confidence in online sales potential.
There are always a few glowing exceptions to the rule – those who have captured their market, those who understand what needs to be done – those who have invested wisely etc but unfortunately these as I say, are the few.
Businesses that contact SMART Partnerships for support advice are crying out for assistance to improve their online positioning in the marketplace.
We know without doubt that this is neither a small nor localised matter.
The Scottish business community is frustrated because they know that consumers are spending billions of pounds every month online in the UK and they are not getting a decent slice of this action.
The problem comes down to the websites they have which are not ‘fit for purpose’ in today’s marketplace and the marketing knowledge they need is critical to ensuring web visibility and gaining online visitors.
Consequently, companies are losing out on additional profit for their business by not being at – or even close to - the leading edge of internet marketing.
What can SMART Partnerships do to address this issue and educate businesses to improve their online presence and wealth?
Assuming all things are equal and if marketing conditions are right – (product, price and placement are not barriers to success) –education in this area WILL deliver greater opportunities for online sales with modest investment that can be converted to a tangible return on investment.