STARTING A WEBSITE

YOUR BUSINESS AND THE WEB.

Starting a website for your business is a must and should be part of any advertising and marketing plan.

Here is why building a website is good for business.

Less than 50% of American businesses and far less of worldwide businesses have in fact their own web site. This is a serious mistake, you need a website.

Once your business is on line you open up to a whole new world of possibilities and increased sales. You now can contact customers and they have online access to you.

Why then are there not 100% of all businesses on line?

Starting a website is too difficult; I don’t need it, where will I find the time? It costs too much. Who will maintain it? These are some of the many answers to that question, and all incorrect. We will see why later.

HERE IS WHAT YOU GET WITH YOUR OWN WEBSITE

No matter what bricks and mortar business you operate, all will benefit by having an on line presence. Never, never, ever think that you are too small or have too few customers to warrant a web presence.

Once you have your own web site, here is what you get:-

• Free advertising of your products/services.
• A show room of your products/services on line.
• The means to communicate with customers by email, anywhere and at any time.
• The means to sell on line.
• An endless source of information regarding product and suppliers.

You really have to have a web presence whether you are a single lawyer firm or a supermarket owner.

Starting a website for your business needs some thought. Here is what to do.

THE HOW TO.

Don’t do anything until you have decided three things.

1. Who will you be trying to reach on your new web site? Will you be selling to them or only supply information for their benefit?
2. What services or products are you going to supply or offer? What is the reason for the site?
3. How are you going to promote your site so that it stands out amongst all the other business sites on the web?

Lay down a plan before starting a website and then decide on a name that fits your business or at least that part of the business you want to promote online. If the name of your business is still available, register it as your domain name.

Here is where you now start planning your site. Go online and look at your competitors sites.

What do you want on your pages, the content?

Decide on its layout, how many pages will be needed. Design a simple site with easy navigation that will get your message across. Do you need any graphics?

Design a credible site that can be trusted and allows your customer to get the information that they want. At the same time let your customer know all your business contact details. These should include the name of the person who your customer can speak to, your address, telephone number and email address.

All this planning is on paper, you have still to switch on the computer, but before starting a website it needs some thought.

WHO DOES IT?

Now for the Work

Any one who can switch on a computer can eventually learn enough to be able to put up a Website.

There are books and many online sites that will help you put up a Web site, but time is always the problem when you are in business.

I for example started from scratch using Site Build It and took many months to develop my present site www.businessmanagementbasics.com

If I had been managing a full time bricks and mortar business, it would have been extremely difficult to do this, in fact probably impossible for me, due to lack of time.

Hiring someone to build you a Web site is the obvious answer here and need not cost a fortune.

If you are going to outsource the work on starting a web site, remember to have planned your outline well before looking for a vendor that can help.

A vendor presented with a good outline is going to produce a site that you like and will impress your customers.

I mentioned I used Site Build It for my site, but did all the design work, etc myself. Well they also offer a full service in the design and building of Web sites. Look here.

I have been more than happy with Site Build It and can personally recommend them.

Starting a website need not be a chore.

VISITORS.

Now that your site is up it needs visitors, as many as you can attract. Visitors to your site are the measurement of success, so here is how to get them.

Starting a website is part of your marketing effort and so falls under your marketing budget. Good marketing should attract attention and get potential customers to take some action, action that grows your business.

Here are some ways of attracting customers.

• Your site must be optimized for the search engines by the use of keywords. Your Web hosts or vendor should do all this for you.
• Advertise your site on all your till slips, invoices, statements, business cards, press adverts, etc. Everything you write should contain your web address.
• Collect email addresses from all your customers, but make them want you to have them, by offering an incentive.
• Use their emails for your promotions and a link back to your Web site.
• Provide the opportunity for visitors to be able to buy online.
• If you send out a weekly or monthly newsletter, link it to your website

A good Web site that attracts visitors can be a very profitable side line to your business.

Don’t be frightened about starting a website; it could be profitable. An e-commerce side to your business is a must.

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