| Web Sites for Small Businesses |
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Make Your Site Work for You Many small business owners understand the benefits of a web site. They've heard the phrase, "electronic business card." They get it when someone says, "You need a web presence to look like a real business." So they get a site and assume they're done. And that's the problem. A site will just lay there unless you do two things:
Small business owners can be forgiven for falling down in this area. Even large companies have sites that become moribund because the content is not refreshed. Customers and prospects may stop by once for a visit, but there is no reason to return. And face it; there are lots of interesting sites competing for your customers' attention. After coughing up several thousand dollars for a web site, a business owner may be reluctant to invest one penny more, but there are low-cost ways to ensure that your site is working to further your business goals. Here are a few: Free or Really Cheap Tricks 1.) Articles - Provide informational articles and white papers. Or even consider a full-fledged blog to accompany your site. This is an incredible opportunity to tell the story of your business and reinforce the promotional copy that's on other areas of your site. Is there a brief article that you can write on what's new in your industry or your community? Are there trends you have observed? What about customer comments? These can be a rich mine of possible article ideas. What problems have you solved for your customers? What has impressed or surprised them? 2.) Links and Reciprocal Links - Are there other interesting sites that you can link to? Clients, vendors, associations? With so much information on the Internet, people are always looking for a way to cut through the clutter to find relevant nuggets of information.
Don't be bashful about asking every one of the links you provide on your site to reciprocate by posting a link to you on their site. You've heard it said, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." This, essentially, is the benefit of a reciprocal link, And it doesn't hurt that one of the best ways to boost your Google® ranking is with reciprocal links. 3.) Free Newsletter - Offer a free HTML newsletter to site visitors. Be careful not to over-promise here. Do this only if you plan to keep up the effort. If you are not a writer or designer, you will need to hire them. If you have limited time, you may want to remain vague about how many issues you will publish each year. There is some work involved in putting out a well-written newsletter. The last thing that you want is anything with misspellings or typos or a design that would detract from your brand, but a newsletter can effectively position you as an expert in your field. 4.) Co-Brand - If you are selling peanut butter, get cozy with a jelly firm and form a mutually-beneficial liaison. You link to me; I link to you. If you want to take it to the next step, consider hosting a banner ad on your site. Banner ads have great potential ROI. 5.) Direct Mail - One of the simplest, least-expensive promotions can be a postcard campaign. Try mailing an over-sized card that won't get lost in an inbox. Keep it simple! In a postcard, you can emphasize only one or two main points. Encourage prospects to visit your site to learn more. (In fact, that's the point!) Be deliberate about enticing prospects to come to your site to get the whole story. 6.) Contests, Giveaways - You know you have a great product or service. Why not give away a free sample to seal the deal? If this isn't the oldest marketing technique in the book, I don't know what is. Have prospects fill out a contact form on your site and promise to give them a free sample just for visiting.
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