Spending ten minutes writing an email on the off chance of getting a new customer would be worth it, wouldn’t it? All it would cost you is your time.

Why not spend ten minutes writing an email to Collingham Website with the information, drawings or photographs that would expand your entry on the site?  Come to think of it, do you even know if you have an entry on the site?  Perhaps you should have a look?

So far you’ve done nothing then, and maybe you have already got an entry on the site, it probably looks something like the one pictured above, sparse, minimalist, devoid of any character or shape and about as appealing as a wet kipper on your pillow.  In the screen shot on the left though, you can see we’ve added a little value to the entry, made it more appealing, and included the company logo and a photograph; all of which came from the company’s own website and slotted in with a minimum of fuss. The whole idea is to grab a potential customer and make them want to find out more.  (Click on the screen shots to visit the relevant pages.)

“But I don’t have a company website,” I hear you whine.  All the more reason to have an entry on this one then!  You can even refer to it in your advertising, quite apart from potential customers looking you up.  How many people moving into the villages would be looking for plumbers, builders or electricians?  We may not get as many hits as Google or BBC News, but we’ve passed ¾ of a million page hits, so someone must be logging on, they can’t all be mine!

The next bit applies to Clubs & Societies too, worse than having no information is having incorrect information!  Check your entries, make sure addresses and phone numbers are current and correct and that any links included still work.  We do our best, but all we can do is follow links to make sure they aren’t broken.  The information should be relevant too, can you believe that there’s an IT company listed that doesn’t even give an email address?  What sort of message does that send out to potential customers?

I can hear it now, the eternal question, “So what’s it going to cost me?”  The answer is… nothing, nada, nought, in other words, it’s free!  Just because it’s free though, don’t confuse that with valueless.  This website was set up with public money to serve the people, businesses, and clubs and societies of Collingham and it’s immediate neighbours.  In the current economic climate any resource that has the potential to bring in new customers has got to be a ‘Good Thing’  for local businesses, and in an increasingly ‘on line’ society finding information about local events, clubs, societies, and meetings often begins by visiting websites like this, it’s a free resource, use it!.