Posts Tagged ‘marketing your website’
Build A Website To Grow and Market Your Small Business
August 24th, 2009
Build A Website To Grow
and Market Your Small Business
Build A Websites – Build Business Websites
Online and offline business should have an internet presence to help market their services, products, or to provide vital information. It has become common place to build busienss websites, but most people are still intimidated by the process. Can you market your small business without an internet presence? Probably, but you may get left behind in the dust.
Are The Yellow Pages Dead?
First off most people do not even pick up their phone book anymore, and this is especially true of the younger generation, that uses the internet, and their wireless phones, as their main forms of staying connected to the outside world.
Having a business card, and a few advertisements used to work very well for most small businesses, but today there is a massive amount of competition, and marketing tactics that worked 5 years back don’t work as well today.
Learing how to build business websites is a must to compete in the business world?
Your customers or clients want instant gratification. They want to find information quickly and easily, and if you don’t have the big ad in the yellow pages , news print, or magazines you will probably find that people will go for the easiest solution or person that stands out.
STEP 1
Planning Your Website
Creating a website is a little more complicated than throwing up your picture, and your telephone number.
You need to consider:
- What is the purpose of your website?
- What is the target audience of your website?
- What content do you intend to offer?
- Will Your Site be content only, or will you well sell products?
Building Your Web Presence
How does one build a marketing presence?
The first step is understanding that if you are in private practice or small business people want to know who they are dealing with. So decide first how you want to represent yourself, and your business.
Do you want to market your hair salon services,will you give the impression of a family salon, or a more upscale day spa?
Who Are You?
Give your customers a feel for who you are, and what to expect. Will you have a logo, a picture of your office staff, a family picture, a cartoon character, a product that you sell, or perhaps an image of your location.
It is very easy to get ideas for your site by perusing other online blogs, and websites. This is a great tool if you have a particular website in mind, and want to show it to a designer.
Why reinvent the wheel. Just have the designer make a simlar copy of the site, and add your own personal touches.
STEP 2
Hire a Web Designer Or Do It Yourself?
Next you can either hire a web designer to help you with the layout and design, or if you just want your name out there you can do it yourself very easily using a WordPress theme.
Your Web Address
Try and get your web domain URL address to match what people would do a search for.
Such as
- Ohio Dentists, Trenton Oral Facial Specialists, Dr. Johnsons Dentistry, Bright White Teeth Clinic, Laser Dental In Orlando…..
- Try and get a (.com) extension….. Laserdentalwhiteninginorlando.com
STEP 3
Hosting Your Website
Once you have a name picked out for your business, you will need to have it hosted. You can either choose to host it yourself on Host Gator, Blue Host or other online hosting service for a very small yearly fee.
STEP 4
Building Your Site Content
Once you have the hosting, you can start building your website using the web design you bought or create a WordPress Blog, and quickly and easily add your content. This is a great option if you are strapped for cash.
Next you will build pages of content that revolve around your business, or products.
Here are some key factors that you need to make your website a functional, user-friendly website:
- Essential information should be prominent (hours, location, and contact info.)
- Use graphics but don’t overload the pages
- Make your site flow, and easy to navigate
- Keep it simple
STEP 5
Publish Your Website
You will need to add some keywords for SEO and apply them in your content. Update your internet site continually or add new pages to keep the search engines happy.
STEP 6
Promote Your Website
Send out newsletters via e-mail and save on postage, and keep your clients up to date on new products, procedures, or specials. Sign up for social media sites. Twitter is a great place to market your business as well as Face book, My Space, Digg, and other social media portals.
If you need help with marketing your business, you can find more information by clicking here.
Smart Marketing Tips
STEP 7
Maintain Your Website
Maintaining your website is important for your business health. It does not take a lot of work if your business does not sell products, but it should be updated periodically, and links checked for errors.
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