STARTING AN ON-LINE BUSINESS - WHAT TO KNOW
How free tools can improve your bottom line
7
Mistakes Your Business Website May Be Making
Summary of the Above Links
Choosing a Domain Name
Do: Include a location or keywords in your
domain name, if you can.
If
your business focuses on a geographic region, try to put the location into the
name
."
Whether it's location, or what your company does, Krivenko advises: "Put the
most important keyword for your industry in the domain name."
Do: Register yourself as the owner of the
domain name.
Do: Remember to renew your domain name registration.
Don't: Use dashes, abbreviations or numbers in your domain name.
Instead, come up with a catchy name that's easy to remember and captures your business
Don't: Waste money on extensions other than .com.
Investing in other extensions becomes important when patenting something or protecting a trademark, says Bedord. If you think a competitor might want the .net version of your domain name, for example, consider taking it first.
Do: Remember to renew your domain name registration.
Don't: Use dashes, abbreviations or numbers in your domain name.
Instead, come up with a catchy name that's easy to remember and captures your business
Don't: Waste money on extensions other than .com.
Investing in other extensions becomes important when patenting something or protecting a trademark, says Bedord. If you think a competitor might want the .net version of your domain name, for example, consider taking it first.
Don't: Buy a domain without checking into its past.
Even available domains can be exposed to legal trouble if the name is too similar to another company's trademark..
Even available domains can be exposed to legal trouble if the name is too similar to another company's trademark..
Aside from consulting a lawyer, check www.whois.net, which lists
registered domain names, for other possible legal landmines.
Finding
a Web Host
The first step is to
find a Web host, the company who will store your files on its servers.
As you can see from the above table, Web hosts
are all different, with different bandwidth, storage capacity, applications,
email features, and of course, prices.
Before you can decide which Web host meets
your needs and which Web hosting package to buy, you need to figure out your
basic requirements.
Many of the Web hosts offer limited features
for the starter packages, and then expand the offerings (sometimes
tremendously) for higher-tier plans.
Read
the small type to make sure the plan you are selecting offers what you need. If
you need a site builder application to design your Website, make sure that the
low-cost Web host you are picking actually comes with a site builder.
Many of
them require you to pay for the builder as a separate add-on.
You also want a Web host with 24/7 customer
support—you just need that human on the other end of the support call.
Some are more security-minded than most,
offering antispam and antimalware tools.
Others
offer a variety of email marketing tools. While most of the hosts have built-in
e-commerce, you may want to consider buying and installing a robust e-commerce
application instead.
Some Web hosts give you plenty of room to grow
even within the tier, and others require you to upgrade to a more expensive
plan.
Consider how much you expect to grow your
website and how soon before you commit to anything longer than a one-year plan.
If you're ready to
select a great Web hosting service, click the links below to read our in-depth
reviews of the biggest and best names in the space.
Branding
Your Web Site
If your company relies on leads from your
website, then your online presence is your brand.
Online branding is especially important for
service providers who don’t have a tangible product that clients can look at.
Instead, customers are buying the information you present about the service —
and the reputation you’ve built up to support it.
The
Internet rules in this “digital era,” and Google controls
80 percent of the search results, so make yourself stand out.
Search engines want to reward the brands that
real people find valuable. You can’t assume users will easily search and find
your brand or business only because you have a live website.
Instead, you must focus on building your
online brand to create a personable impression for first-time users, while
continuing to engage and reward long-time customers.
If you’re noticing a high bounce rate in
your site visitors, it’s time to take a look at the image your website is
projecting and consider revamping it with the following tips.
Add
credibility with customer testimonials.
A testimonial is much more than an ego boost.
They have tremendous power to persuade other people to seek out your business
for products and services.
Capitalize
on press and publications. Promote and link to any publications where you, your brand or your
services are mentioned.
Boast
about your recognitions. Any awards or recognitions that your services, business or
employees have earned indicate the quality of your brand.
Display
recent accomplishments on your website where users can easily find them.
Take
advantage of any widgets or icons as well. Having a “Recent Recognitions”
section on your website can be very valuable for enhancing your credibility.
Display
your social following stats. Use a social stats widget or plugin on your website to
display your social following stats.
Positive
engagement on social media can increase the likelihood that viewers will
find your brand likable. Social media is an opportunity to make your brand more
personable and human, and less like a faceless corporation.
Establish
yourself as a resource. Establish yourself as industry leader by sharing free educational
content. Offer useful white papers, e-books, and other downloadable materials
that your viewers will actually need or benefit from. Fresh Content
Aim to establish yourself as a resource for
knowledge, humor, current events, or whatever else you can capitalize on. You
should be willing to educate your customers and readily give them the
information they want. If you’re not willing, then your users will find a
competitor who is.
Avoid
jargon. Avoid using your
own industry’s jargon on your website. Speak in the potential customers’ terms
instead. One common mistake is filling website content with industry language
and buzzwords. Instead of pitching to a client with fancy terms, speak to them
in language that they would use to search for your products or services. You
must get in the mind of your potential customers.
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Choosing the Right Keywords
It all begins with words
typed into a search box.Keyword research is one of the most important,
valuable, and high return activities in the search marketing field
A basic process for
assessing a keyword’s value
Ask yourself...
Is the keyword relevant to
your website's content?
Will searchers find what
they are looking for on your site when they search using these keywords?
Will they be happy with what
they find?
Will this traffic result in
financial rewards or other organizational goals? If the answer to all of these
questions is a clear "Yes!" then proceed ...
Search for the term/phrase
in the major engines
Understanding which websites
already rank for your keyword gives you valuable insight into the competition,
and also how hard it will be to rank for the given term.
Are there search
advertisements running along the top and right-hand side of the organic results?
Typically, many search ads means a high-value keyword, and multiple search ads
above the organic results often means a highly lucrative and directly
conversion-prone keyword.
Create a sample campaign for
the keyword at Google
AdWords . Also use Google Keyword
Planner
In Google Adwords, choose
"exact match" and point the traffic to the relevant page on your
website.
Using the data you’ve
collected, determine the exact value of each keyword. Google Analytics
Understanding the Long Tail
of Keyword Demand
Another lesson search
marketers have learned is that long tail keywords often convert better, because
they catch people later in the buying/conversion cycle. A person searching for
"shoes" is probably browsing, and not ready to buy. On the other
hand, someone searching for "best price on Air Jordan
7
Mistakes Your Business Website May Be Making
1. Websites with
outdated material
2. Lack of timely
response to questions, concerns or suggestions
3. Incomplete, missing contact
information, directions
4. Confusing,
hard-to-navigate websites.
5. Limited or no ability
to engage/interact/communicate with the business owner via website.
6. Websites lack the
“personal touch” and one-on-one approach they like about small business.
7. Finally, technical
issues—such as websites being too slow, crashing or freezing up too often or
being hard to use on a mobile device.
