I read some research a year or so ago which said that German small businesses tend to see the whole country as their home market. The French looked to their own region. But British small businesses have a very local focus. A generalisation of course which masks all sorts of variations, and I’m sure there are also all sorts of historical and cultural influences at play. Nevertheless, on this basis, the majority of small businesses in this country are fighting with one arm tied behind their backs.
That’s why I am so excited about the Getting British Business Online initiative. It’s a great deal of course, free website, free design, free domain name, together with a range of support to help businesses get the best from these resources. More importantly, it opens up new possibilities and new markets for small businesses. One and a half million businesses in the UK do not have a website, yet 41 million people - 41 million potential customers - are online in the UK. Indeed, why stop at the UK? All sorts of international trading opportunities open up with an online presence, and the tools to exploit them.
Some people have said to me that GBBO will damage the host of web designers already in existence, and I suppose that is a risk, especially in the short term. But bringing the benefits of the Internet to 100,000 non-user businesses will surely open up opportunities for the wider web design industry as it will feed the demand for more and more sophisticated websites.
And for NFEA members, there is various ways of getting involved, ranging from simply signposting, to delivering seminars and indeed qualifications. So it’s a great addition to our range of services; it puts us at the forefront of innovation, and places up there along with a great set of partners, including Google, BT and e-skills-UK. The public launch is imminent and I hope we will all embrace this initiative with enthusiasm. Although this is an indefinite campaign, the aim is to maximize the number of events in April and I hope as many of you as possible will come aboard.
I am much more mixed about this. Firstly if websites are given away free is it likely that thee will be any real thinking about marketing strategy and how the web fits in. Will web 2.0 and social media be given any consideration? It appears that we will be instantly giving google data on another 100 000 British businesses. Is this necessarily a good thing?
Just because the man from the ministry has done a deal to get free websites doesn’t mean it is the best investment of time and energy.
Business development without proper diagnosis rarely results in a great outcome.
While the idea of getting more British businesses online is great. In practice this is not the way to do it.
Most of the sites come out looking like generic free template sites (which they are). There is no planning a Web site strategy or training on how to write good Web copy.
Most of the sites look like they would do your business more harm than good.
Plus I’ve tried to set one up and there are still a number of bugs and broken pages.
GBBO has now launched and I was amazed to see that the invitation to the launch at Google, organised by Enterprise UK who managed the initiative, was vastly oversubscribed for the 250 spaces available for small businesses. Of course all businesses can now use the resource and despite the comment above from Mike, any resource that gets British businesses recognised on Google has to be a good thing to help those businesses thrive and compete.
Just because the web resource being offered doesn’t do everything ‘marketing’ doesn’t mean that what it does do isn’t a fantastic step forward for those businesses without any web presence whatsoever. Don’t forget that our economy is made up of thousands of single traders all trying to grow and get their products or services known in the market place. When the www started it didn’t do everything it does now, but that didn’t stop a small beginning turning into something much bigger.
Well done GBBO! A big boost for UK small business!
I completely agree with both Mike and Nick here. Knowing that the initiative involves both Google and BT should tell you all you need to know about the thinking behind it.
We are sadly still stuck with a legacy that tells us that having a website is actually an objective in itself. There are all sorts of free tools out there for getting your business online. Most of them will look better that the sort of template-driven fare this initiative will churn out.
Most importantly, many of the available tools can actively support your marketing objectives. I actually believe that GBBO will damage businesses’ ability to harness the power of the web rather than benefit from it.
I find it hard to believe that in 2010 so much fanfare has surrounded the launch of something that looks about a decade out of date.
Well my GBBO experiment has been going for a while now. Technical problems (hard to beleive of BT and Google but there yo go) meant that the google site I developed (isn’t this a free service anyway?) never made it to the domain name I had reserved through GBBO. When I did finally get the google site on the required domain they had lost most of my content. Great!
David’s naivety is touching. Like the advice that a LEGI gives about buying a professional website and then paying monthly hosting fees. http://www.bradfordkickstart.com/node/12828
We really think in an era of web 2.0 and social media that the default position, without any analysis should be a free google site? Or a ‘professionally’ designed bit of web brochureware.
Nonsense.
The sooner so proclaimed enterprise professionals and their institutions start to show that they have an inkling about emerging trends on the web - the better. Either that, or recognise the boundaries of their own professional competence and take care not to cross them.