I was talking to a local business owner who runs a new Takoyaki place in town. I mentioned he didn't have a website. We had a good conversation about it, and he was hoping to get one up but wasn't quite sure what he needed. He's a young guy a pretty savvy overall, having acquired around 4,000 Likes on Facebook and frequently updating it.
I told him (and he seemed to agree) that he needed a simple website that was the following
- No Flash, just HTML5/CSS.
- No music/sound at all
- No long story about the owner, style, etc. If I'm here, I'm likely already sold, just let me know how to get there. At most, a short line on what Takoyaki is, since many Americans in Ohio are unfamiliar with it.
- One page only (SEO people will cringe, but its better than Flash likely and easier to maintain.
- Basic information given upfront: Name, address, Google Maps widget, phone number, hours and their standard menu which consists of 5 items. Mention to check Facebook/Twitter for specials (thinking of maintainability). Making sure none of the items are done as photos, which is a favorite of auto repair and sales places for unknown reasons.
- Very basic colors and formatting. Ugly? Yes. But if I'm on my iPhone and looking for dinner, I don't care. I just need the details.
- Links to their Facebook and Twitter accounts (maybe widgets for each if he wants to get fancy).
- Google Analytics for long term tracking
- Maybe a photo of the front of the establishment, didn't need to be fancy, just something a person who looked online would recognize when they were looking for it. No photos of the owner, etc.
I don't claim to be an expert here, but this is what I want to see when I visit a website. Again, some of these are technically bad for SEO, but that isn't the point. Functionality should always trump SEO in my opinion.
I actually even offerred that I do this for him for some free Takoyaki, since literally it sounds like 20 minutes in Textmate and then just throwing a static page up. Might stop by later this week to confirm the details. I'd rather see a local business do it right than wrong.
There's a genius business plan - well, perhaps "business" plan is slightly over-selling it.
Spend a little time creating some really nice restaurant websites for a small number of your favourite local places (ones with either no website or a terrible website), offer it for free, with free hosting, and free updates, in return for free meals.
Get a few of those done, and spend a few days a week eating out for free, in the knowledge that you're helping friendly local businesses whose services you've always enjoyed.
Nope. I just do a lot of CMS work (as a freelancer) and am always on the lookout for inexpensive solutions that I can direct people to when they can't afford me :)
I told him (and he seemed to agree) that he needed a simple website that was the following
- No Flash, just HTML5/CSS.
- No music/sound at all
- No long story about the owner, style, etc. If I'm here, I'm likely already sold, just let me know how to get there. At most, a short line on what Takoyaki is, since many Americans in Ohio are unfamiliar with it.
- One page only (SEO people will cringe, but its better than Flash likely and easier to maintain.
- Basic information given upfront: Name, address, Google Maps widget, phone number, hours and their standard menu which consists of 5 items. Mention to check Facebook/Twitter for specials (thinking of maintainability). Making sure none of the items are done as photos, which is a favorite of auto repair and sales places for unknown reasons.
- Very basic colors and formatting. Ugly? Yes. But if I'm on my iPhone and looking for dinner, I don't care. I just need the details.
- Links to their Facebook and Twitter accounts (maybe widgets for each if he wants to get fancy).
- Google Analytics for long term tracking
- Maybe a photo of the front of the establishment, didn't need to be fancy, just something a person who looked online would recognize when they were looking for it. No photos of the owner, etc.
I don't claim to be an expert here, but this is what I want to see when I visit a website. Again, some of these are technically bad for SEO, but that isn't the point. Functionality should always trump SEO in my opinion.
I actually even offerred that I do this for him for some free Takoyaki, since literally it sounds like 20 minutes in Textmate and then just throwing a static page up. Might stop by later this week to confirm the details. I'd rather see a local business do it right than wrong.