How important is a website for my chilli sauce business? BANK ON DAVE replies

I just started running my own chili sauce business and I’m doing well. I could use a few tips when things dry up.

I mainly sell on Facebook but do not have my own website. Is this something I should definitely look into? I did a party and it went really well.

Dave Fishwick, This Is Money’s company doctor, replies: I definitely think you should have a website for your products. Selling on Facebook means you already have a web presence, but a website serves a different purpose, and I think you need both!

Building a brand is particularly important, perhaps linking your recipe to a well-known local area or landmark or tradition. Create a story around the product.

I did this with The Malkin Pie. I helped a cafe in Sabden, Lancashire create a story around a homemade pie. Christine and Keith made it for their cafe called SanWitches to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the 1612 Pendle Witch trials.

The haunting tale of witches, magic and curses in the shadows of Pendle Hill inspired this carefully researched and imaginative pie.

The Malkin pie is named after the tower, which was the home of ‘Demdike’, one of the witches. I helped Sanwitches generate a lot of media coverage, including local radio and newspapers, and it became so popular that they started selling their pies in supermarkets.

The Malkin Pie was all about the story and branding that surrounded the product and helped the pie sell in significant numbers across the country.

You can do the same – come up with a great local story and build a brand around your sauce. Telling your story about the quality or heritage of the product or using a fun and quirky brand style can help you stand out from the crowd.

Contact your local media and they will gladly print your story. You can then use this on social media and your website – be it a fully functional e-commerce website complete with automated payment and delivery options and real-time inventory management.

Or it could just be a simple site that tells the story of your products and your company. It is essential to have a site that tells customers where to buy your products.

Facebook is still the largest platform in the world by number of active users, with marketing possible from global to hyperlocal. But it’s not as ubiquitous as it once was, especially among the younger demographic. At one point, it was the most important if not the only social media platform for small businesses to sell their goods.

However, competitors like YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram and TikTok all have similar numbers and others are gaining ground quickly.

View your business from a potential customer’s perspective. How do you search for something to buy?

Dave Fishwick helped Christine and Keith launch their ‘Malkin Pie’ in Lancashire

Most likely, you will start by searching for it in a search engine. Optimizing your online presence for the Google search engine is often seen as a bit of science or black art.

Google has always provided advice on how best to structure your site, the basis being to provide unique content that is relevant to the query and updated regularly. This was a big part of their success in their early years, as the competitors’ results were more focused on advertising.

While building a website based on these basic principles is generally the best option, it seems more and more that the search results we get are less and less about relevance than revenue, with fame seemingly being sold to the highest bidder.

People looking for specific or technical information are increasingly looking for it on forums like Reddit.

You can pay for exposure with sponsored search results or Google products, but it’s easy to overpay.

Don’t let pushy salespeople talk you into overspending on your web marketing and don’t try to get to the top of the first page. Web marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot. Keep it in proportion to the size of your business.

Make sure your website always contains as much relevant information as possible. Google’s algorithms like relevant content and as much of it as possible. Download Google Analytics. This will tell you which are the best and most searched and clicked words and terms, and the most relevant words related to your sauces and products.

One tip is to make sure any images you upload are named and tagged with relevant keywords.

You don’t necessarily have to compete with big companies with huge budgets for the most general search results.

Focus on marketing the unique features of your products. The more specific the search term, the less competition there will be. You can sign up for an online Google optimization course. I cannot recommend enough how useful this would be for your online presence.

Selling at a party is a good old fashioned way to market a product, and I think they still have a useful place and are a great social event. It introduces you to customers who didn’t know they wanted your product until they see it and get a chance to taste it.

However, it would help you even here to have a website to support your offers. Small cards, flyers or leaflets with links to your website are cheaper to print than brochures to hand out at events such as parties.

Images with QR code links are more space-consuming and cost-efficient than lots of text.

I wish you all the best in your business, and I will be going to the chilli sauce stand at parties from now on to try your wares. Good luck!