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Websites For Small Businesses- What You Need to Know

Websites For Small Businesses- What You Need to Know

Whenever I meet a potential client that has a business they’d like to tell me about, the inevitable question follows:  “Do you have a website?” You’d be amazed how often this answer is, “Uh…” 

It’s baffling to me that people don’t really find a web presence as important as it should be. At some point, no matter what type of business you’re about to start, establishing a website or presence on the internet will be vital. These days, almost every company has a web page. If you still advertise your small business only in print only, you’re just not paying attention to current trends. A professional web presence is a must for a small business, especially a start-up. 

Things to keep in mind:

  • Not only should the company's webpage be clear, professional and useful, but it should contain the company profile along with any relevant information about products, services, or opportunities that your company is offering. If it’s a restaurant, post your menu. If it’s a company developing a product, list basic information about your development or management team. If it’s a law office, post partner profiles or client lists (if they agree to it, mind you).
  • Seek outside assistance from a reliable web designer. Currently, it’s not hard to find one. Throw a rock on Craigslist and you’ll find someone willing to do quality work at a reasonable price. The right designer can advise you not only on the layout and the structure of the website, but can also help with adding credit to your domain.
  • Speaking of domains, your domain name is extremely important. If you can’t find the one you want, don’t settle for a “dot net” or a hyphen to separate/connect the words. For example, if “variousthings.com” is taken, don’t go and get “various-things.com” instead. Think of the name of the business and ask yourself, “Which is more important, my web presence or my company name?” If you can change the company name to whatever domain you can acquire, it might be in your best interest to do that. If not, then sit down with the web designer and ask them what they think would be the best option.
  • Another thing that would help your business to prosper is being active on social networking like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. You can create a positive image of your company with a little exposure. This of course depends on the TYPE of company you’re doing. Obviously an accounting firm doesn’t need a Facebook page, but might need a LinkedIn profile.  Be smart about how you use social networking. 
  • There is no point of having a web page if no one knows about it. Make sure to consider consult someone regarding search engine optimization (SEO). You’ll find this to be worth both the effort and any additional costs since the high traffic on your company's page will have you placing higher on searches and thus improving the exposure you can achieve. Again, this may not be important for all businesses, but usually it’s a benefit.
  • Always remembers to keep your web page fresh and dynamic with current information. There is nothing worse than out of date price list or previous address of the company on your web page. This can give the impression that the business might be unreliable and unprofessional. It can also give the impression that you’re not that tech savvy. By keeping a fresh and resourceful web page, you have a better chance of making an impression on potential clients without even talking with them.

I really believe that websites and a web presence have become the modern day business card. Once upon a time, we’d exchange cards with a possible business associate and if that card was a glorified handwritten post-it note, the chances of future business would probably be nil. Nowadays, we check web addresses and URL’s for the company’s information and if we discover that the website is just a place holder page… Well, that might not be the best impression for a future partnership.  Just keep all of this in mind when you get to that on the to-do list of, “Getting My Business Started.”





Websites For Small Businesses What You Need to Know - To learn more about this author, visit Ellisa Brenneman's Website.

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John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

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Debra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website

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Ellisa Brenneman started her career, after receiving her Bachelor Degree from the University of British Columbia, with the Canadian government merging academic rigor and business savvy to produce and disseminate research findings. She has been published multiple times in scientific journals for her research findings. A born entrepreneur; her zeal for entrepreneurism soon took hold. She's started green businesses and has vast experience managing public, media and investor relations for small-cap public companies. Ellisa is the President of Ethos 360. Ethos 360 provides entrepreneurs with affordable one-on-one coaching, business growth consulting, custom business plan writing, branding and capital raising services so they can launch and grow their businesses. Visit www. Ethos360.com for additional information, email inf o@Ethos360.com or phone 503-501-2444 to schedule a free consultation.



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