A website for your small business as one in nine steps

A website for your small business as one in nine steps Your small business does not have a website, or perhaps the site that is effective and that you want to start again - or how to start again?. The truth is that there are several ways to "have a website for your small business (for the first or second time). The good news is that after these nine steps, it will be on the track, your business is moving into the 21st century with the website you want and need. Step one: Decide the goal of your website because you need a website? What do you want your visitors to do when you visit? What is the purpose of your website? These are questions you should ask before you hire a designer or buying a content management system online and start pulling in pages of text. Anyone can put anything on the web, but if you want your small business to have a site that affects their bottom line in a positive manner, you need to call visitors to action. What "action", ie is the key - You want to register to receive more information about your product? Want to call for an appointment? Want to sign up for the newsletter? Want to buy the product online? Even a site that is essentially an online brochure should focus on the actions you want visitors (and potential customers) to take. For example, say you have a plumbing and heating. On its website, its main objective to get the email addresses of visitors so they can market to via e-mail in future. All pages of your site should encourage this in any other way, perhaps by offering a free report, free evaluation of services or something. Whatever the method (s), it must be remembered that this is the purpose of the site. Now, that does not mean that the site can have several sub-objectives. We also encourage you to provide good information about their small businesses and their services, but for the more traditional (non web-based) small businesses, starting with a primary goal is the key. As you can discover what existing and potential customers through its website, its purpose and under, may be extended, but if this is your first website (or the first attempt at a website) start with a major concentrated and build from there. Step two: Develop an outline of the contents of the site once you've decided on your purpose you can define the content and functionality of your site will need. For example, if you want people to request further information via e-mail and you want to capture email addresses, you need a form and a way of processing data, if you want to call a phone number, only Ensure that the pages and indicate clearly that lead them to do so. The functionality of your site can get very luxurious if you like, but remember in the developing world, while the contour AIM to your site ... all the bells and whistles are useless if you do not bring visitors take the action you want (For more guidance on what your website content should include, see the resources at the bottom of this article). It is not necessary to write the content at this point is enough to have a summary of the main pages and subpages you want, the content of the pages and functional elements (eg, forms, calculators, surveys, etc. ..) that are included to encourage people to take the desired action. This part is essential for the third phase, establishing a budget. Step three: Establish a budget for the development and maintenance of the site The first thing to do when deciding on its website budget of small businesses is to assess what you can afford to spend. There are many ways to get your site built, and how you should move this process may issue. If you want to hire a web developer, but have no idea what the costs, get quotes from several designers / developers (for more information on how to work with web designers, see the resources at the bottom of this article). If you receive a summons and developers to do maintenance plans, make sure to provide quotes for maintenance, as well. If you want to do maintenance, make sure to tell them how you plan to do so, or ask advice. If you want to do it yourself, look at the cost of software and / or content management systems on line (CMS). As you look at the potential cost, do not forget to set the retu on investment (ROI) objectives - how the site would affect the bottom line? If the sales or referrals that you never know if it was money well spent if we do not monitor their effectiveness. Step Four: Decide how you will have your website designed at the moment you got the appointment of its development potential and have a good idea of costs. Now is the time to make your decision. Remember, you can hybridize - maybe hire a site designer to design the look of your site, but the use of a CMS all the rest, or maybe do the design and transfer to a developer there. Fifth step: deciding on potential names for your site and register your domain, most companies, large or small, use the company name for your domain (or web address), however, you may not want available. Because of this, I strongly recommend to have at least three possible ideas in mind. To see whether the domain names available, you can go to one of many services for registration of the domain name on the Inteet (networksolutions.com, register.com), type the name you want and you will know if the name is available ( For more information on selecting a domain name, you see links to resources on the bottom of this article). Registration is as simple as following the instructions on any of the registration services. However, if you do not want to deal with this technical "stuff" and you're hiring a designer who can take care of these details for you. Make sure you have provided with various domain names in case one is unavailable. In addition, some services charge more for registration than others. You can get a domain name for as low as $ 4, depending on many factors, but do not expect that. If you have another log for you and you are worried about costs, be sure to ask what they use the service and how much usually cost. Step six: Choose a host for your Small Business "Web Site Searching for a place on your site is another important step. There are many places you can find that are very cheap, but make sure your hosting needs. If you are a designer recruitment / developer of recommendations that may have, if safe. If you use a line like the CMS to provide good accommodation. Step seven: work through the design, configuration and testing process, once made all the decisions and the implementation of the 'technical' aspects of your site, it's time to get down to work putting together the site. If you hired a web designer / developer communication is the key. Examples of look and functionality you want on your site and be sure to thoroughly explain the purpose of your site. And again, give honest feedback, this is your site and represent their small business and your brand - not only designers, but the welcome sincere feedback. If you decide to do it yourself website, the plan before you start. This means that, even before sitting at the computer, you should take a pencil and paper and make a site map, or outline of your website, and at least one key for the home page for general positioning effects. We also encourage you to rent or barter for help if you need technical assistance. Again, the site represents you and your small business ... if you do not look good or do what they are supposed ... quite well. When you configure your site, I encourage you to do so to create a tool for tracking your visitors. A great service to help you do it (and free!). Once the site has been "done", be sure to test. I recommend you to try on multiple browsers and platforms on both Mac and PC (if possible). One would think that with the technology is so advanced that as html screen of your browser to a browser and consistently from one platform to another, but believe me ... this is not the case. And, sometimes, the functionality that works beautifully in Inteet Explorer, not Safari on the Mac, as well as view the pages, try all the features and links. Just because it worked a week ago, when completed the page, does not mean that you should not try - check everything. Step eight: go live with your Small Business Web When he finished his test and everything is in place, it's time to go live! Start your marketing campaign and drive current and potential customers to your site. If you have a mailing list, now is the time to use it, send a postcard to all its customers with its URL and share not only the fact that you have a site, but why (its purpose). If you have e-mail addresses of people who have agreed to be contacted via e-mail, send an e-mail announcing the site (be sure to include an "opt-out" list is the law ... ... most of the e-mail list of services to do so). There are many other ways to drive traffic to your site, but ... that is another topic in itself. Step nine: monitoring the visitors, keep the content fresh tracking retu on investment that I mentioned in step three, now that your site is high, it is time to put into practice. Make sure the monitor is doing is the goal of your site. If your goal is for people to request a packet of information via telephone or e-mail, it is better to be the monitoring of each request is initiated (this will be easier through e-mail, but it is better to ask anyone who asks ). However, if your goal is to purchase the product online, you need to do more extensive follow-up The other thing to do if you want to keep people retuing to your site (can not) is make sure to keep the content fresh. As various activities of the Community of their small change for the company participates in a monthly special, make your blog page ... what is appropriate for what you do. That's it! You covered the basics on how small businesses can get a website (or more effectively). It takes a little 'work and planning, but in the end, if done well, it's certainly worth it. So get started. Take a sheet of paper and start brainstorming - how the Web can help your small business?