How WordPress can help your local business during the coronavirus epidemic?

wordpress coronavirus help local business

The coronavirus situation is severely hitting local businesses. Rescue seems to be moving to a virus-free Internet. The global situation related to the epidemic is well known to everyone, so we will focus on adapting our activities to new habits, requirements, and economic situation. Aiming not only to save your business but to develop it. I hope this article will help you survive the COVID-19 pandemic and quickly get back on business feet in a new reality.
 

Table of Contents

You are a local small or medium company – this article is for you

Small and medium-sized enterprises, operating local and basing on the live contacts with their customers are businesses,  suffer the most during this epidemic coronavirus, However, even such calamities are the chance that the industry s -commerce make great use of it. 

Download free wordpress website for covid-19 epidemic

However, the chart below shows the trend of how people adapt to the new situation and change their habits in the case of everyday grocery shopping by installing online shopping applications in food networks.

 

Web solutions usage during coronavirus epidemic

Source: Apptopia

 

 It shows the potential of activities aimed at transferring your traditional business to the Internet. It is also worth remembering that the world after the epidemic will be different and the digitization of our world is now reaching even industries that have been resistant to it so far.

In this guide I will try to propose solutions for the time of the coronavirus epidemic for the following categories of companies:

Objectives of the COVID-19 epidemic for local businesses

Objectives of the COVID-19 epidemic for local businesses

Let’s set up some of the main principles that guide us in discussing further solutions for the time of the coronavirus epidemic:

  1. We need to act quickly
  2. We want to limit contact with customers live
    1. Transfer sales to the internet
    2. Serve customers online
    3. Accept and settle orders online
    4. Ensure delivery of orders
    5. Acquire customers from the internet
  3. allow employees to work remotely, or reduce their contacts

Quick development website for local business durign covid-19 pandemic

We need to act quickly

A lot of local businesses have no websites or their website is in very poor condition. The online business aspect is completely neglected and there is no chance that it could save the company during a global virus pandemic. This article will tell you if your website is able to help you.

Therefore, we need to implement a quick recovery plan, because:

In these articles, you will learn how to avoid delays in the project. 

wordpress benefits for local firms

How should this issue be solved and why should you build a website based on WordPress: 

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Most of the solutions that I described below can be done during the day and some of the work does not require programming knowledge, however, experience with the user panel will be appreciated.

I recommend the following articles on how to find a good WordPress developer:  

 

Will WordPress help us limit direct contact with clients and reduce the risk of coronavirus infection?

Limiting people-to-people contacts is the basic solution to the problem of the covid-19 epidemic. Today’s global village is the cause of the pandemic, but also a source of solutions. I hope that one of them for local businesses may be WordPress and other online solutions that can help us.

Most local businesses rely on direct contact with people. The limitation of meetings turns out to be a huge blow to the company’s processes::

  1. pre-purchase service
  2. purchase
  3. delivery, receipt of the order, provision of
  4. service after-order service

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It turns out that we are very much able to transfer all these activities to the Internet, especially when on the client’s side we have a full understanding and even in times of epidemic recognition and admiration. Acting proactively in times of crisis builds a strong brand image. Moreover, there is a movement among society to support local companies. Customers are eager to help you survive this crisis. 

wordpress website designs for local businesses

Design and content for the epidemic covid-19

Here I would like to present my own objections to the security of using shopping services during the epidemic. My concerns relate in particular to food delivery. Often in the communications of gastronomic premises, there is no information about what safety rules have been introduced.

Therefore, to build trust and reduce customer objections, it should be very accurately presented on the website and social media how the company cares about the safety of its customers.

How to build greater trust in our company:

Learn more about how trust works on the Internet and how it affects business.

local businesses marketing during coronavirus crisis

Acquiring customers during the coronavirus pandemic

The dynamics of the current epidemic crisis require the use of marketing activities that bring quick results. For this reason, we do not take into account SEM and long-term content marketing.

From actions giving effects we can immediately distinguish:

paid ads for local firms in covid-19 crisis

Paid – Advertising campaigns for local companies

At the very beginning, we should mention the possibility of targeting ads to recipients in a given area, i.e., for example, we can only target people 30km from our premises. It is a great solution for local businesses with limited areas of ​​operation. It is worth remembering that these are not the only advertising criteria that can be set in the advertising system. 

Here are some tips for advertising campaigns:

Free promoting for local firms with wordpress websites

Free local business advertising methods

How to promote your business for free:

What is worth remembering in advertising communication during a crisis,

Local businesses customer sevvice during pandemic

Pre-purchase service

Nowadays, it has served its customers mostly live. You probably are attached to this form of contact, and you can even avoid electronic communication, so the following tips may be helpful for you:

What channels can you communicate with clients during the coronavirus epidemic:

Things to keep in mind in electronic communications:

What solutions do we have available for communication for websites based on WordPress:

Wordpress automatizaion for local businesses

What can you easily automate? And where you will find the use of templates in communication

download free website for local businesses

How to solve serious deficiencies in live contact:

Remember that crisis moments evoke emotions and emotions build relationships. Skillfully using this mechanism, you will build a group of fans around your business that will be associated with your business for a long time because of shared memories of the coronavirus epidemic. Maybe the activities I am describing here will not bring results during the crisis, but they can give results in the long run, when your community comes back to you “live” and helps you rebuild your business.

Local businesses online buying during the coronavirus pandemic 

Online buying during the coronavirus pandemic

wordpress contact form orders for local businesses

Shopping and placing orders using the contact form

Let’s start with the simplest and fastest solution to use, i.e. the contact form. Most WordPress plugins for this type of task allow you to create forms of varying levels: the

In the case of coronavirus epidemic, payments can be carried out by:

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In the case of payments, it is worth making them online to limit the spread of the virus. Secondly, it is important that both parties are immediately notified that the payment has been made, the minimum requirement would be to receive confirmation of the transfer. However, the best solution would be to use a payment gateway that immediately informs you of the payment made.

Woocommerce usage in coronavirus times

Application of e-commerce solutions – using the Woocommerce plugin

The Woocommerce plugin is the best solution available to run the e-commerce function on WordPress, from a simple ordering system to large online stores. Importantly, the plugin works with most WordPress themes and provides all the necessary functions without additional work.

Useful information about Woocommerce:

With Woocommerce we can:

Important extensions for Woocommerce

local businesses problems during coronavirus epidemic

What with the case of industries that the epidemic has completely blocked the sale and delivery of products

A large number of companies are out of the question during the coronavirus epidemic and are unable to sell due to current restrictions, customer concerns and the unknown future of the industry.

Creativity and searching for solutions in times of crisis has already given amazing results, why should it be different in this epidemic. Due to company downtime, you can search for related activities, develop neglected aspects of the company, or conduct activities for which there was no time before.

Here are some of my ideas on how to act proactively during the covid-19 epidemic:

Orders processing at local businesses websites

Executing and delivery of orders during the epidemic

In the case of orders for products or digital services, the processing of the order is not a problem even in a world scarred by a coronavirus. At the moment we are also booming for all delivering services. It shows where the solution to our problems lies.

In today’s situation, difficulties arise when the customer receives a material product or performs a service that requires physical contact with the customer. In this guide, unfortunately, I can’t describe how to operate safely from a medical point of view because the author does not have the appropriate competence to do so. However, we can set several potential goals to minimize contact with the customer:

Local businesses delivery methods covid-19 crisis

Delivery system with the least contact with the customer

As the first example, let’s take restaurants, delivery stores, product manufacturers. In particular, we are talking here about companies that do not use the services of courier companies and supplier networks but want to solve this problem with their own methods.

In this case, the website and ordering system should have:

The to-do list may appear to be extensive and complicated, but many of these functions are ready with the installation of appropriate plugins, and some features require premium plugins or small programming work.

In the case of performing services in direct contact with the customer, it would be necessary to:

Post-sale customer service at local businesses

After-sales service during the plague

As in the case of pre-purchase service, we must operate through various communication channels and limit direct contacts. A good sales system will help you easily identify your order and consider returns or complaints.

However, it is worth focusing on marketing sales activities and building a group of regular customers and a dedicated community around your business. That is why the company, until recently local, must draw full handfuls of online new business strategies, namely:

Wordpress crisis website for local businesses

Can I afford a website in times of crisis?

A basic website can cost pennies and do its job. at the end of this article, a free website awaits you.

Although I will tell you about the more accurate costs and how we can save on creating a website:

Below is an example of a list of costs for different versions of websites for companies from various fields.

I also put the estimated WordPress developer work time in the table to estimate the labor cost. The working-hour cost should be between PLN 30 and PLN 90. I also mean works that can be done without experience in WordPress based on publicly available guides.

 

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local storelocal service providerlocal producerlocal gastronomy

Hosting
from:  $5/mo

Domain:
from $0/first year

WordPress, Woocommerce plugin:
Free

WordPress theme:
from 0 to $70. Average price: $50.

WordPress installation:
It can be made for free by you or by a hosting company.
Working time wp-deva: 0.5 h

Creating content for a website:
You can use free or your own resources of photos and graphics

You can also create texts for a website yourself. It is worth approaching the subject with reasonable savings because users will not read long texts. The content on the website should be simple and short.

Initial configuration of the website and adding the most important subpages
DIY
Working time for wp-deva: 1-5 h

Adding products to Woocommerce:
DIY
Working time for wp-deva: max 0.5 h / product

Free plugins:
Contact form, integration with tracking tags, payment gateways, calendar reservations.

Paid plugins:
Most counterparts for free plugins are premium. average cost $ 50. Premium plugins offer additional features, configuration options, and easier operation.

Some paid themes include paid plugins in the price.

 

Website launch cost, assuming no hosting and domain can be accepted from almost $0 to $500.

On the other hand, creating and adding content to a website can be done without cost by devoting your own time to it, or by investing from $50 to $1000. 

In total, we can put a website from almost  $0 to about $2-3k, the upper limit results from our experience with projects on ready WordPress themes.

You can reduce most of these costs by downloading a ready web page from us.

download free website for local businesses

Ready rescue site against covid-19

I hope that our extensive article on the crisis website for the coronavirus pandemic will prove helpful. But it still doesn’t solve the problem, it only indicates goals and solutions. That is why we decided to join the entrepreneur in this difficult situation and prepared a ready WordPress page with all the tools needed to transfer a local business to the internet.

In addition, we enclose instructions that will help you run this website on your server. Good luck!

What’s included in our rescue package:

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We will send the access link to your email address.