Web Design & Internet Marketing: a Practical Business Approach

 

 Why have a website? [4:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (41)

Today we’re going to talk about why a business should have a website. It sounds like a silly question but it’s really a very good one.

After 10 years of this Internet boom, 45% of businesses in the United States don’t have a website yet. I find that incredible. Fifty percent have websites that don’t do much for their business, and five percent have websites that are really performing for the business, and they’re wiping the floor with their competitors. Now let’s look at three reasons to have one; three simple reasons why every business should have a website.

First one is, Yellow Pages are dead and dying, they’re really not being used anymore. I ask people all the time, how they find things, and Google is the tool. Yellow Pages stay in the drawer and Google sits on their desktop at work, at home, and that’s how they find solutions for services, products, everything.

Number two: People judge a book by its cover, and websites are just that - it’s the new cover. So when someone goes searching for a solution for their wedding needs or for their hair, or massage needs, they want to go and do business with a place that has a good first impression at the very least. If they get to a website that looks amateurish, they’ll go away and go find some other business to work with.

Number three: Websites are like the new direct mail. Now direct mail’s great and still works, but it’s a one-way conversation. Your company sends mail out and it’s a lot of work, and it goes out to your customers and you hope for a one, two, three percent return.

Websites are a little bit different. People come in; they find you online through various sources, through other websites, business directories, through Google, on blogs, and they will link to your site. Not only do they come into your site, but you have the opportunity there to grab an email address and start a newsletter and mail out. So direct mail’s one way; websites are really a two-way communication.

Let’s talk about search a little bit. If you run a search for, let’s say your service or your product in your area - let’s say you’re looking for catering services in the Boston area or in Worcester or maybe out in the Berkshires. If you get junky results, in other words, you go to Google and you type in ‘catering Worcester’, ‘catering Worcester Massachusetts’, and the results you get just don’t look like catering companies, then you have a great opportunity there.

You really have an opportunity to get your website up to speed, get it optimized for Google, and then own that search when someone in Worcester is looking for a catering company. You’ll be there every time, and new people move to the area, they’re not connected; they’re going to go to Google to find a solution.

Now if you do a search and you get a list of your competitors, then you have some work to do. Just so you know, that’s where your customers are going, or your potential customers are going, they’re going to your competitors.

So, to wrap it up, the three reasons why you must have a website today: Number one: New people are finding your business via Google, or at least they should be. Number two: Once they find your website, they’re judging your business based on the impression they get on your website. Number three: People search and find links and get to your website, and you have the ability to promote via email, out from your website.

Questions, comments?

 

 2 things your website must do [2:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (39)

I love to ask business owners how their website is doing, and I get some really nice responses. Most of the time I get, “Um, gee, I really don’t know.” And sometimes they do know and they tell me that their website’s not doing anything for them. And more than a handful of times, they tell me not to even go and look at their website because it’s too horrible.

If you think about it, most people today use Google to find things, whether they’re looking for printing services or an accountant. Maybe, they need their carpets cleaned or they want to stay in a nice bed and breakfast. Or maybe setup a corporate catering function. If they’re not already plugged into a service or a company, they use Google to find it.

And if you’re not getting any connection through your website, that means that those prospective customers are going to your competitors. That’s right; they’re going to your competitors.

Now, how do you build a successful website? There are two things you have to do. One is you have to get people to your website. And each website does draw some visitor traffic, just because of the text, the content you have on the site. And there are visitors that search by your company name to find you.

But you also need to make your website Google friendly so that when people are searching for services that you provide, they find you. Now, try to find your business in Google. It’s an interesting experience.

Second thing you have to do to build a successful website is to get a visitor to act when they land on your website: to do something; to contact you; to fill out a request for quote form; to download a brochure or a data sheet; to subscribe to your newsletter.

And each contact should offer up their email address in order to connect with you or to download that item. There are many ways to inspire a site visitor to contact your business. And you should use as many as you can.

So ask yourself, is your website building your business?

Have a random thought, comment? Ask me :)