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Marketing Your Small Business with an Effective Web Presence: Using the web to your advantage

Written by: Tammy Finch

Article Overview: Tips on marketing your website and yourself on the internet

Marketing Your Small Business with an Effective Web Presence: Using the web to your advantage

The proliferation of the World Wide Web has prompted many small businesses to develop a website presence. No matter what your business, having a Web site provides your company with a cost-effective, innovative, useful marketing tool for current and future customers.

Thus, a Web site is a valuable tool that not only serves to help a business showcase its services, but also answer questions for customers. Customers are not the only target market for this media. Web sites can promote a business to other vendors or partners. Linking your site to these partner sites can create a network of opportunities for everyone involved. Newsletters that announce regular updates to a company’s Web site are an excellent promotional tool that keeps current visitors returning for new information while bringing information to the attention of new viewers.

Getting started
Some organizations choose to develop and maintain a Web site using in-house resources; however, most small businesses find that they can minimize costs by making use of outsourcing services such as a Web development company or a freelance designer. Usually, only one or two face-to-face meetings are required with a Web design firm. After that, communication via e-mail, fax, and phone will ensure that your Web development service receives the information you want on your Web site.

Providing a Web development company with information about your business is a good start. Although most of the content should be provided by the web site owner, a web designer can help write content or consult with the best way to describe your business. It might help to get an outsider’s point of view.

Look at examples of the design firm’s other Web sites. If the Web company doesn't have its own Web site, look for another developer. Be sure the Web developer has the experience to do the job. Always check references with the developer’s other Web site customers. You might also want to find a company that offers full-service Web design along with hosting, domain-name registration, Web-site promotion, and search-engine submission. This takes the headaches and responsibilities away from the medical practice, and lets the group concentrate on content and accuracy. The Web company should include maintenance and updates, usually at an hourly or annual fee, in its contract. Get a written quote on the work required to create the initial Web site. There will always be changes, however, so it's a good idea to have your initial quote in writing to know what to expect.

Typically, 25% to 50% of the total cost is paid only after the Web site has been accepted. Never do business with a firm that asks for 100% payment before delivery. Work closely with the Web developer to develop a strategy for the site. Who is the target audience? What content is involved? Is video or animation needed? What is the project timeline? How often will it be updated and how quickly will this need to be accomplished?

Content
A small business Web site can provide a valuable service for its visitors. Some feel a web site can be used as a “virtual employee”, answering questions for customers and providing service 24/7. Frequently asked questions, contract forms to download, and online surveys are some support services that a web site can provide for small business customers. This can reduce the amount of time front-office staff spend dealing with inquiries.

Your company web site can provide the best form of advertising also. Add your newsletters or press releases. Updating your web site will help drive people back to keep informed of the latest news.

Optimization
Optimization is a relatively new term for web sites. Optimization is the process of reducing web site size and complexity to maximize speed. Slow loading pages may force web site visitors to look elsewhere for information. Shrinking graphics and images is a large part of optimization. The standard web-friendly image recommendations are GIF or JPG files at 72 DPI resolution. Resizing the photos before adding them to your site will help keep the page size smaller. Video can still be easily used in your site, but streaming technology is recommended for optimization.

Basically, you want a fast loading web site that is frustration-free for your visitors. Some animation such as applications using Macromedia Flash or Shockwave, are great for interaction and visual experiences, but for optimization, they are not effective. Pages using these programs should be used for presentations only and not for information. A nice Flash movie showing your business’ latest event is a wonderful opportunity to showcase your company, but give visitors an option to view or skip this presentation. Not all internet users have high-speed internet access, and these presentations require a lot of viewing time. Keep this in mind when building your web site.

Secure section
A Web site not only provides valuable information to visitors, but can be created to help office staff and employees as well. Setting up a secured section on a Web site to post schedules, contracts, pre-printed forms, meeting minutes, and contact information is an asset to employees and staff. If needed, the information can be printed out and used at any location by the staff. For confidentiality reasons, this section should be password-protected, accessible only to employees. This is an ideal solution for companies with satellite offices or personnel who travel frequently. The Web site can be accessed from any Internet connection as long as the user has permission to use the secured section. Your Web development service can set permissions to this section for each employee.

Marketing
Building and implementing a web site is a huge undertaking. It can be very helpful to your customers and staff. However, just publishing a web site is not enough. Marketing the web site is another venture in itself. Flyers or newsletters announcing your web site is a good idea. Print your domain name (www.yourcompany.com) on all letterhead, business cards, stationary, pre-printed forms and orders, etc. Getting the word out about your web site is as important as building it.

Most people start their search for information with search engines such as Yahoo and Google. So, search engine submission is a key part of marketing your web site. The easiest way to do this would be an automated submission tool or software. However, many web site developers provide this service through their companies. To keep their services running efficiently, search engines periodically clean up their databases, dropping some sites for various reasons. Because of this, it's a good idea to resubmit your site every few months.

Updates
Boosting your online image is important; however, your Web site’s content needs to be updated regularly. A good idea would be to have a quarterly Web site committee meeting within the company to ensure that the site remains accurate and timely. Helping your customers, assisting your staff, and showcasing your business can be easily accomplished at a minimal cost. Getting people to visit your Web site is the biggest battle, but if your content is updated regularly and presented in a professional manner, your visitors will appreciate and recommend your site to others and keep coming back.

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Article Tags: business showcase, e mail, face meetings, freelance designer, full service web design, mail fax, marketing tool, matter what your business, media web, outsider, outsourcing services, service web design, target market, useful marketing, valuable tool, web company, web design firm, web development company, web development service, website presence



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