A coworking site should show what is free now, prices and terms for desks, offices and meeting rooms, what membership includes, and a way to book a tour, with photographs of the actual space.

What the site is actually for

People looking for a coworking space usually compare two or three in an evening, on a laptop or a phone, before they visit any of them.

Some are leaving a kitchen table after the holidays. Some are a team of three outgrowing a home office. Some need a meeting room for one afternoon and nothing more.

January is a common time to look. New businesses start, and people who worked from home through the autumn decide they want a desk somewhere else.

Their questions arrive in the same order: is there room, what does it cost, what comes with it, and can I see it. The site that answers them in that order gets the tour.

What is free right now

Open the home page with what is available today, in plain words: desks available by the day, two dedicated desks free, one private office for three people from March 1.

Date it. A line such as "Updated Monday" tells a visitor the box is current, and gives whoever keeps it a reason to look each week.

When every desk is taken, say so plainly and invite visitors onto a waiting list. A full space that looks open wastes a visitor's evening and your tour slot.

What a visitor checks, in order

The order matters. A visitor who cannot find a price rarely books a tour to ask, and one who tours without knowing the terms may walk away at the end of it.

Prices and terms in plain text

List every price together on a single text page: day passes, part-time and full-time desks, dedicated desks, each private office by size, and meeting rooms by the hour.

Say what each includes and what costs extra, such as a locker, a parking stall or printing past an allowance. Say whether prices include tax.

Then the terms, which many coworking sites leave until the tour: month to month or longer, the notice needed to leave, the deposit, and whether a key card costs anything.

What membership includes

List what a member actually gets, item by item, rather than describing a community and leaving the visitor to guess.

Internet first: whether there is a wired connection as well as wireless, and a guest network for visitors. Then mail and parcels, and whether members may use the address on cards and invoices.

Then the practical rest: hours, and how members get in after hours; printing; phone booths for calls; the kitchen and coffee; lockers; bike storage; showers if there are any.

Photographs of the actual space

Show the room a member would sit in, on an ordinary working day: the desks, the light from the windows, the meeting room set for a meeting, the phone booth, the kitchen.

Stock photographs of smiling people around a laptop tell a visitor nothing, and they suggest the real room might disappoint.

Ask members before photographing them, and take new pictures when the layout changes.

Booking a tour

Offer set tour times that can be booked online, a few each week, with a short form asking what kind of space the visitor needs and when they would start.

Confirm the time by email, with directions, parking and the door to come in by. A day pass to try the space is a sensible next step for anyone still deciding.

A worked example

A coworking space upstairs from a row of shops on a town's main street has forty desks, six private offices and one meeting room, with members from a dozen small businesses.

Its site opened with a slideshow and a paragraph about community. Prices said "contact us", and tours were arranged by email, often after two or three replies.

Most enquiries asked the same things: the price of a desk, whether an office was free, and whether the address could be used for mail. The meeting room was booked by phone.

The new home page opens with an availability box, dated each Monday. A prices page lists every option with what it includes and the terms, and a members page lists every service.

Tours are booked online at set times, and the meeting room has its own page with capacity, equipment and an hourly price. A visitor can now arrive at a tour already knowing the price and the terms.

Getting there and getting in

Say where the space is in relation to transit, where members and visitors park and what it costs, and whether there is somewhere to lock a bike.

Explain the entrance: the street door, the stairs or the elevator, and how to reach the space after hours. A visitor who cannot find the door on tour day starts the visit badly.

Say plainly whether the space can be reached without stairs. It matters to some members and to the clients they invite.

The counter-case

A small space with eight desks, all held by long-time members and a waiting list behind them, has little to sell through its website.

For it, a single page with the facts, the prices, a photograph or two and a waiting list form may be all that is needed.

But a space with desks to fill is answering the same four questions every week. Putting the answers on the site means the tour is spent on the space, not on the price list.

What to build first

  1. Add an availability box to the home page, dated weekly.
  2. Publish every price on one text page.
  3. State the terms: notice, deposit, minimum stay.
  4. List what membership includes, item by item.
  5. Replace stock photographs with the real space.
  6. Offer tour times that can be booked online.
  7. Give the meeting room its own page.

Step one costs a single line and answers the first question every visitor has: what is free this week. Many sites leave it out.

For meeting room and tour requests, venue enquiry forms that do not ask the date shows which details to ask for first and how to answer with availability and a price.

Frequently asked questions

What should a coworking space show on its home page?

What is available right now, in plain words and dated: desks by the day, dedicated desks, private offices and meeting rooms, with links to prices and tours.

Should a coworking space publish its prices?

Yes. People compare spaces in an evening, and a missing price leaves them guessing. List every option, what it includes, what costs extra and whether tax is included.

Which membership terms belong on the site?

Whether membership runs month to month or longer, the notice needed to leave, the deposit, any key card fee and any minimum stay.

What do members want to know about the internet?

Whether there is a wired connection as well as wireless, whether visitors get a separate guest network, and who to call when the connection drops.

Can members use the space's address for their business?

Say on the site whether they can, whether mail and parcels are received and held for them, and whether the address may go on cards and invoices.

Why offer set tour times?

They let a visitor book in a minute without a chain of emails, and they keep tours from interrupting members at every hour of the day.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Desk prices that say contact us?

Tell us what your space offers, and we will sketch an availability box and a prices page your staff can keep current.

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