Partner Article

The realities of setting up an online business

Ian Griffiths, from Morpeth, launched www.whocanfixmycar.com six months ago, as a site where drivers can post jobs and compare quotes from local mechanics and garages. The site now has 2,700 mechanics listed on the site, with over 3,000 jobs posted by drivers.

What are the most important points to consider when setting up an online business?

I think once your market research is complete, you’ve identified a “problem that needs solving” and your online idea is the solution, there is a single important point that requires consideration: search. The internet is now overloaded with information and everyone is competing for the top three search engine results which attract approximately 60% of traffic for any keyword search. Therefore as a start-up online you need to have a good understanding of the keywords you want to target, how competitive they are and how you plan to get into the top three. Who Can Fix My Car targets terms such as Car Repairs, Ford Service and BMW Service which are hugely competitive but we’ve managed to reach the top ten for these terms within six months.

Where is the best place to start for advice about the logistics of setting up a site?

There are plenty of good resources for setting up a new site, covering everything from financial modelling to venture capital, and search engine optimization to HTML5. I would suggest reading the Business Link website after which I would definitely recommend speaking to an accountant regarding company set-up and financial planning. Once this is done, the key is then to find a good and reliable web developer. We found our guys by word of mouth, and after reviewing their work and meeting the team we were happy to proceed with them and have been extremely happy. Make sure to decide whether you want your developer to work on a fixed price basis or a T&M (Time & Materials) basis. With a fixed price contract you will define an explicit list of deliverables, and if the project runs over it is at the developers’ risk. However, these contracts can cause disputes over what was actually included in the original scope. A T&M contract means the developer gets paid hourly and you run the risk of projects running on and your work not being a priority. There are definitely pros and cons with both options and you should consider which works best for your situation.

What are the main challenges involved in providing an online service, rather than meeting customers in person?

I think new online ideas continue to be met with a lot of scepticism, particularly if they are in sectors that historically haven’t used the internet to generate or facilitate business. We have encountered this with Who Can Fix My Car, but during the website build we continually reviewed the design to make the service as intuitive as possible at every step, and we are finding that our customers are embracing the site due to its ease of use. The biggest challenge, however, remains the issue of getting the site found for relevant online searches as mentioned before.

Have you experienced many misconceptions about what it takes to run an e-business?

Yes the two main misconceptions are:

A. You need to understand code and computer programming to run an online business. You don’t. It’s extremely easy and a good developer should make the running of your website extremely easy, allowing you to concentrate on growing the business.

B. You can pay to appear at the top of search engine results. You can’t. Search engines use complicated algorithms to decide which websites appear at the top of their results for any given search term. While there are many things to do to ensure your site has the best chance of being found, there are two things that need particular attention. Content: your website content should be good, authoritative and regularly updated or “fresh”. Links: inks to your website are treated like recommendations, and links from strong relevant sites are worth more than links from sites which have no relevance to your content.

How important do you believe a customer forum or feedback function is to e-commerce sites?

We believe customer feedback is essential, particularly given the way social media is engulfing the internet and the way people can now post interactions online via Twitter and Facebook. We have a feedback mechanism on Who Can Fix My Car and users are invited to share their experiences with the “community” allowing our customers to build online reputations whilst also warning other users about bad experiences.

How do you think e-commerce will change and develop over the course of 2012?

I think given the current economic climate and challenging outlook we will find lots of people looking online for “a good deal”. Sites like Who Can Fix My Car which allow users to receive multiple, competing responses from suppliers will become more and more prevalent in 2012. However comparing suppliers on price only can be dangerous, hence being able to compare feedback on suppliers in addition to price is also essential in making an informed decision and getting what is truly the best deal.

What would you list as the main benefits of a career in e-commerce?

It certainly provides a challenging and ever changing workplace. The dawn of social media has brought more and more people online and traffic is only going one way.This will create so many opportunities, provided you have an idea people are going to love and provided you execute it properly.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .