Artefact 2 Evaluation

Following my first artefact of the questionnaire from business owners, I wanted to look into the extent of how much they used their online presence to sell their business. I looked into 15 of the 30 companies from the results of my first artefact I wanted to find out more into what they used digital media for e.g. advertising themselves or selling their products. How well do they use the opportunities of the web and establish the levels of effort, investment and relevance the business put into their website / social networking site. I also looked at companies that had both a website and Facebook page and then either or to see if this made a difference. The image created of comparing the sites can be seen in a previous post, I looked at how relevant the information was, the general design and layout, how often the site was updated. It was surprising that even though all companies from the questionnaire answered that their business had some sort of online activity that only 2 out of the 15 I looked into had a generally good website that was used to the full degree. Narborough Hall and Marks Electrical had the ability to not just view products but also order them online. Companies that ticked they had a Facebook page, the majority of them didnt actually use them at all. Claire's Cakes had 700 like on her Facebook page, often updating images and introducing competitions for her online views.

Marks Electrical were a business I interviewed for my actual research project and they said how much social networking had improved their business. Angela Adams, manager of Marks Electrical explained that the website which was set up 10 years ago for customers to buy the products online has massively boosted sales, with around 70% of sales being online. The Internet as a whole has a massive impact on the profits of Marks Electrical. The website allows an online booking service for the product to be installed the next day. An automated email or text is then sent to the customer to tell them of delivery times. It allows it to be quicker and easier for both the customer and business. This shows me them using the web to a full extent, being the local business that has the highest turnover (annually of £18 million) that I researched into leads me to question if using the digital media opportunities reflects on the success of the business.

The results also showed that some businesses established 15-20 years ago use social networking, some don’t although do have websites. Showing me that time businesses established doesn’t effect online presence. My results show that all local businesses have an online presence of some sort, however the extent to which they use them to good degree isn’t applaudable. Many websites are very basic, simply designed with no links to social networking or ability to buy products. Many create a Facebook page so the content has the potential to generate favourable search engine results for the business and brand.