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How to Market Your Small Business Online
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Article 2: Build A Web Site
Employees are happier and more productive when kept fully informed about their benefits, duties and responsibilities.
A Web site can be a powerful, inexpensive marketing tool for small companies.
“It’s the cheapest way for people to find out about you,” says Tim Higgins, owner of San Diego-based Plant Pros, which provides and maintains interior plants for homes and businesses. Seven years ago he launched his site, www.plantpros.com, and now he generates most of his business from it. He also buys listings in a local online business directory and in Yellowpages.com.
Higgins, who runs the business from his home and has five part-time employees, enjoys another benefit of having a good Web site: People mistake his small company for a much bigger one. Some even think Plant Pros is a franchise. “The idea is to present an image that we’re a big company,” he says.
Now that his site has been developed, he pays just $10 a month for a company to host the Web pages on its server and pays his developer $20 to make updates.
You don’t necessarily need a Web developer; some Web hosting companies – including Yahoo! Web Hosting – handle the technical stuff and offer easy-to-use design templates.
Still, sites that don’t look professional can give a bad impression of your business. Also, experienced developers should know tricks for helping search engines index your site.
Developer rates vary widely. Some are able to host your site. Plan to spend more if you’re diving into e-commerce, since you’ll have additional requirements, like security licenses.
You don’t need to load your site with bells and whistles, says Bruce C. Brown, a Web developer in Land O’ Lakes, Fla., and author of “How to Use the Internet to Advertise, Promote and Market Your Business or Web Site With Little or No Money” (Atlantic Publishing Company, 2006).
“I’m not convinced having a Web site developed fancier, full of Flash animation, makes a big difference as far as how customers interact with it or the success of it,” says Brown.
One exception: If you’re selling your creativity, you’ll need to reflect your flair.
Lastly, be sure to promote your site in all your traditional marketing, on your business cards, in your store, and in the informational “signature” you send on the bottom of every e-mail.
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How to Market Your Small Business Online
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