It is vital for small business owners to know how to determine the essentials of getting the most out of owning a website. We offer three key and should we say essential elements that make a website a productive asset for your business. The three are Design, Optimization and Management.

Design, Optimization and Management

We begin by explaining why your initial investment in the design of a website is important but must be based on a well thought out strategy that supports your business goals.   Think of your website as purchasing a new automobile.  You enter the dealer and give him your requirements. Do you need a truck, car, van? Will an economy model due or do you need a more hefty vehicle? Similarly, deciding what you want the site to do and how you intend it to support your business strategy is a vital first step.

Each of the ideas below are taken from real business owners who shared tips for success on everything from starting a business and financing your dreams to managing employees and engaging your customers.

Starting Your Business – before you launch your business, there’s a big list of to-do’s. Make sure you have all the essentials checked off.  Along with the basics of mission, legal, finance, employees and filling a real need for customers, building an internet identity and presence with an online marketing strategy is an important item on every start up owner’s to do’s.

Establish a mission statement – Create a flexible business plan, know your competition, and consider tapping into friends and family as resources.

Financing – When you approach investors, have a business plan in place, show passion for your idea. Its important that you have a realistic view of your company’s financial status at all times by creating financial projections.  Ask vendors for extended terms whenever you can.

Managing Employees - Set up staff meetings to ensure everyone’s on the same page. Encouraging your staff to express their personalities by decorating their work spaces is just one way to create a great work environment.

Encourage open communication – Hire slowly and fire quickly, enough said.

Marketing – Promoting discounts isn’t always a smart way to market your business. Embracing social media and getting advice from others, however, is.

Seek outside internet marketing expertise – Search for a proven professional website developer.  Remember to ask about their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expertise and experience.  Websites without SEO are no more than an expensive static electronic brochure with no bottom line impact.

Use Social Media – Link your Facebook and Twitter pages to your website to keep customers up-to-date.  Try to interact with prospective customers on a 1-to-1 basis by using technology. Manage your clients’ expectations

Customer Service – It’s important to not only respond to customer feedback and reviews, but use the information to improve your business.  The more you communicate with customers through e-mail and social networking the more opportunities you will have to interact with and retain customer loyalty.

Engage in online review sites – Send out electronic letters, cards or newsletters

Utilize smartphone technologies – the experts say that 70% of customers go online before making a purchase.  When your customer’s fingers do the searching be sure they will find your businesses mobile enabled website?

LOCAL BUSINESS

Traditional companies – plumbers, real estate agents and the like can gain loads of payoff from online marketing by making it easy for customers to find them. We help you by:

1. Claiming your Google Places page.
2. Submitting your site to online directories. Don’t forget trade organizations you belong to.
3. Using social media to connect with target customers and prospects.
4. Setting up a search advertising account and place a geotargeted ad.

STOREFRONT BUSINESS

Main Street is full of companies with a prominent storefront and no website. Gift shops, restaurants, wine stores and other storefront businesses can use an online presence to drive offline success. We help you by:

1. Claiming your Google Places page.
2. Promoting your business on customer review sites.
3. Creating a blog.
4. Offering incentives for location based activities, such as visiting your store multiple times.

ONLINE-ONLY BUSINESS

Online retailers can spread the word about their offerings, stay connected with customers and keep traffic flowing in the virtual door with online marketing. We help you by:

1. Creating a blog.
2. Sending a newsletter.
3. Making a banner ad and place it on an ad network.
4. Starting an affiliate program.

ONLINE & OFFLINE BUSINESS

For businesses that are online and offline – think a bed and breakfast or a toy store – the sky is the limit for attracting business and connecting the two. We help you by:

1. Claiming your Google Places page.
2. Collecting email addresses from physical visitors to start an e-newsletter.
3. Distributing online coupons through your website.
4. Setting up a search advertising account and place a geo-targeted ad.

For more information and a free consultation contact us today at Info@WebZebedee.com Keyword: Every Business

1. Local listings and classifieds.

Create your business listing on listing sites such as Citysearch to ensure that consumers searching for nearby businesses find yours. Some listings allow you to promote offers, sales and new products. Customer review sites and local directories like Yelp allow users to express their opinions about businesses.

2. Search advertising.

Search advertising is a method of placing online ads on Web pages near search engine results. With AdWords (www.google.com/adwords), you can deliver your message at the moment someone is searching for the type of product or service you offer. Choose keywords that relate as closely as possible to your offerings so you receive the most likely prospects. For CPC ads, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad.

3. Contextual ads.

Contextual advertising takes display ads to the next level, by placing them on sites related to your offerings; for example, if you sell sporting goods, your ad may perform better on sports-related sites. Services are available that automatically distribute ads to sites based on the content of those sites.

4. Display ads

You’ve probably seen the dancing aliens; that’s a display, or banner, ad. Do-it-yourself display ad builders, including Google’s AdWords display ad builder can help design your ad(www.google.com/displaynetwork). You can also distribute your display ad via ad networks and ad management systems.

5. Geo-targeting

Geotargeting simply means advertising to prospects in specific locations – which could be very useful, for example, if you sell dresses only in Dallas. One way to get started is to create a listing on Google Places (http://places.google.com/business).

6. Group buying

Connect with new customers through programs that offer multiple buyers collective purchasing deals. There are many popular group buying sites available to use.

7. Mobile marketing

Many smartphones and mobile devices provide web browsing, GPS, cameras and video capabilities. This means you can develop creative promotions with text messages and location-based social networks.

8. Social networking sites

Cultivate new business through social networking sites where members share stories and recommend products and services.

9. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing lets you get other businesses to drive prospects to your website. Some affiliates may allow you to set up a store on their domains, such as comparison shopping sites.

10. Online videos

Reach new audiences by posting videos on video-sharing sites. The best videos tend to be short (less than three minutes) and have an offer, such as a free copy of a report or a product discount, to motivate viewers to take action. You too can be one of many small businesses with a YouTube channel to help spread company news and information.

Ready to get started?

Tell us about your needs here: Website Design Assessment.

Or, Click Here to schedule a free, no obligation Telephone Consultation to discuss your online needs with a member of our team.

Your website is the most important marketing tool you have.

Considering a Website Redesign? Consider these right and wrong reasons.

The Wrong Reasons:

“We need a new corporate look and feel.”

“We’re tired of the old website.”

“It’s been over 24 months since the last redesign.”

“The design department has the time and wants to do it.”

“The CEO wants to do it.”

Tip: The reason you are redesigning your website is to impact your business, so, focus on the results you want. The reason to redesign your website is not because you are bored with the design or because your CEO wants it to be green not blue.   Every decision you make should be focused on improving the goal of more visitors, more leads and more customers.  With this in mind you might spend a lot less time thinking about the exact shade of sky blue and green on the graphics background, and more time worrying about things that will improve your marketing results.

The Right Reasons

“More prospects can find our products and services.”

“More leads and prospects will be converted into customers.”

“If it will drive the goals above “Branding” might be a good reason.

Tip:  Creating a consistent content building strategy is important.  When you have more content, on average you will have more website visitors and grow your business faster.  The website with 100 pages will beat a website with 10 pages 90% of the time. And a 500 page website is even that much better. It’s even better still if some of those website pages were written recently, Building your strategy to continue to add more and more content to your website over time will pay dividends.

To Do

Get a free consultation and engage the services of a professional Website Designer and SEO professional to:

• Create more and better optimized content
• Create more and better offers and calls to action
• Develop blogs, press releases and updates
• Optimize landing pages

Ready to get started?

Tell us about your needs here: Website Design Assessment.

Or, Click Here to schedule a free, no obligation Telephone Consultation to discuss your online needs with a member of our team.

We offer a large variety of solutions including:

• Market Research & Analysis
• Integrated Social Media Management
• Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Solutions include: