Have a Website?

If you don’t already have a website, you need one! That is, you need a website if you want more customers, you want more business from your customers, and you don’t talk to every one of your customers on a regular basis.

If you have a website but it doesn’t look professional, or you don’t spend any time keeping it fresh, or you have something that amounts to merely another version of your business cards, you might want to reevaluate your online presence.

Hopefully this isn’t new news to you. Any Internet search in Anytown, USA will reveal that the vast majority of businesses found have some sort of a website. Ask any business owner and you’re likely to either find a business owner that has a website, or you’ll find a business owner that wants a website.

What may be less known is what to do with your website. When building or managing a website, here are a few key things to remember.

Content is king. Keep it useful, keep it fresh.

The greatest thing about a website is that you can publish a vast amount of information with it, with extremely low overhead. Even if pamphlets, mailers, flyers, CD’s, DVD’s, press releases, billboards, television commercials and trade shows are all part of your marketing budget, nothing can provide the depth of information that a website can.

Pretty looks are great, but will only get you so far.

There’s nothing wrong with using an inexpensive hosting service that provides free templates to get you on the Internet quickly. There’s nothing wrong with spending thousands of dollars hiring a professional to create and maintain your website. You just need to understand the pros and cons of each option.

The free template option usually comes at a monthly price. Basically you’re still paying those big development fees a professional web developer might charge, you’re just paying them over time. In the long term however, you may end up paying much more over the life of your business.

If you decide to move your website, that free template isn’t likely to go with you. This may not be a bad thing. Most websites need a redesign, or at least some fresh content, on a regular basis. But if you’ve created a look and feel based upon a template you don’t own, your branding efforts might suffer.

A bigger issue is moving your content. If you’ve spent a considerable amount of effort creating large amounts of content, including not just your website pages, but also such things as blogs, videos, and shopping carts, moving your site may prove to be a nightmare.

Hiring a professional comes with its own set of pros and cons. First and foremost, you’re forced to do more research. If we could paint our houses, shampoo our carpets, train our dogs, or test drive cars as easily as we can setup a website for our business, there would undoubtedly be websites that could paint our houses and shampoo our carpets.

With a professional webmaster however, you gain things that you may not even be aware of needing, let alone even heard of. Do you know how to sell online? Do you know how to use social media to increase sales? Do you have the time and energy to keep your content fresh? Do you know how to optimize your website for search engines? Do you know what link backs are, and how to get them?

This is only a tiny list of all the things that a personal webmaster can bring to your online presence. Many of us can change our own oil, but can we provide full service to our own vehicles? Webmasters can often be compared to your mechanic. The return on your investment, along with the saving of your time, is often times well worth the effort in finding a good web developer. We live in a DIY era, which is a great thing. But we can also easily make the mistake of being penny wise and pound foolish. If you’re merely trying to save some money, the best value may indeed lie in hiring a professional. Remember; even carpenters and architects don’t always build their own houses.

A webmaster doesn’t need to cost a fortune.

When hiring a professional, your annual revenues are the obvious indicator as to what you can afford. But just because you’re not in the Fortune 500 doesn’t mean you can’t afford a webmaster. And your cousin Billy, just because he “can” create websites, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who should design and maintain your company’s website.

Just like any trade or professional, you need to do your homework. And just like any other business, look for value, not the cheapest or the most expensive. Find out what you need. Any good web developer should be able to help you determine what you need. If you do your research wisely, you’ll be able to uncover which ones you can trust, and which ones to steer away from.

Social media is last decade’s trade show.

You probably haven’t been living under a rock for the past few years, so you probably have heard of Facebook, Twitter, and the like. What you may not know however is just how these sites can be useful to business owners. There’s much more that can and is said about social media than can be covered in this article. For now, I’ll simply say that social media is something no business owner can learn too much about.

Content is king. Keep it useful, keep it fresh.

It bears repeating. Even if you hear about it every single time you open a magazine, listen to a radio program, watch a television show, or visit a website in search of information about websites, it still is worthy of repeating. Your content on your website can either be a constant money machine, or it can be a dust collecting eye sore.

If you don’t have any ideas on how to keep your website fresh, take a look at your competition. How are they gaining more customers? How are they communicating to consumers? Do they have videos? Do they have a fresher looking website? Do they have more information? Does it look inviting or drab and dreary?

Often times your website will be the first thing a potential customer will look for. Having one meets their first expectation of you as a business owner. Their first visit will make their first impression of you and your company.

Be sure their first impression of you is one that you want them to have.