A Small Business Website Checklist….
// November 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // iMarketing Strategy
A Small Business Website Checklist.
1. There is quite a difference between website design done by professionals and website design done by amateurs. Your website is the number one most effective tool for showcasing your product or service on the internet. A poor website design will tell many tales about your company. For example, if your business is website design but your business website is poorly designed it can be perceived as a reflection of the quality of your other services.
2. Good navigation is fundamental to good web design - in both business and informational sites - users should be able to find information easily. If the navigation is not easy to use or intuitive users will quickly go elsewhere in search of information. We often see ourselves in front of web sites without knowing what to do next. The navigation is so well hidden or disguised that the some users simply don’t know how to use it. Navigation is the single most important element in creating accessible and usable web sites.
3. Avoid Flash & JavaScript. While you may find that fast-paced and colorful flash intro to your website appealing, most others, including the search engine spiders, do not. Find Relevant Keywords. When search engines crawl through a website, they are trying to find the most relevant websites for their viewers. Have a Great Title. Title tags are the first thing search engine spiders see when they come to your site. Have a great description. Your description is the rest of the information you see under the title in the Serps and is part of the HTML meta tags in the background of your website. Use H1 tags. H1 tags are used to make the words stand out on your website and are seen by search engine spiders as containing important information. Create compelling, relevant content. If there is one main concept to utilize when trying to make your web site search engine friendly, it is to write great content.
4. Contrary to what you may think, email marketing remains an effective and COST effective method of staying in touch with people who want to hear from you. Effective email marketing is at the crux of RELATIONSHIP and PERMISSION marketing and is still effective when you email to people who volunteer to learn about what your business has to offer. Well, it’s important to understand that if you’re going to engage in email marketing in any kind of a serious way, you need to sign-up with an email marketing company that will help you sign-up, grow and manage your list.
5. Blogs are everywhere, there’s no denying it. With millions of readers every day and facilitated by a whole host of simple to install, low maintenance software and sites such as Wordpress, Blogspot and Blogger it’s easy to jump on the bandwagon as a business without fully knowing the impact a blog can have. It is also easy to dismiss blogs as yet another form of media that has developed that is mainly used for social purposes and is just another fad, however they can have big impacts on businesses with added customer value and SEO benefits.
6. We have signed up for a free Google account and utilize the following free Google tools: Analytics (web stats), Feedburner (to distribute blog posts via RSS and email), Webmaster Tools (several benefits), and the Local Business Center (puts your business on Google maps). Get a free Google Account here.
7. No matter if you are a big brand or small business owners, in our point of view social media sites are very good means of promotion for all type of brands. Both big and the little guys can use it to interact with new potential customers or clients. In today’s web world millions of people are using social media on a regular basis & more no of people are joining every day. These social media sites have evolved into a very good source for generating leads and branding tool, and with using them in a right manner; you can promote your business very quickly and economically as compare to other ways.
8. Review your contact information. Are the phone and fax numbers, mailing and email addresses listed on your site all current? You’re obviously losing customers if the phone number has changed.
9. Update your copyright and/or privacy policy statements. If you have a copyright notice on your site, make sure it’s not outdated. If you have a privacy policy, review it to make sure it accurately describes your current policy toward handling your customers’ personal information.
10. Review your company information. If you have a staff listing or directory, is it up-to-date with correct names, titles, and other contact information? If you have an “About Us” page or something similar that discusses company history, make sure it’s updated—especially references such as “We’ve been in business for eight years.”
11. Write using a conversational tone. Your brain thinks it’s in a real conversation when reading material written in a conversational tone. What happens during a conversation? Your brain pays attention and your remember more of the material. Researchers aren’t sure exactly why it works. Research shows your brain pays attention to conversations and improves your ability to remember the topic. I guess, if you’re involved in a conversation your brain thinks it may have to respond to that conversation and should pay attention.
12. Our web address is promoted everywhere we advertise and on every piece of stationary and sales literature. Get the list of “20-Places to Promote Your Website Offline” here.
