Staten Island Stuff - Technology - Internet

(ARA) - For small businesses looking to conduct business online, the future looks bright. According to IT analyst firm International Data Consulting (IDC), by 2009 roughly 80 percent of small and medium-sized businesses will have Internet access. Additionally, Internet use for promotional purposes will continue to increase with five out of six companies projected to have established a Web site or home page by the end of that year.

This makes the key to a successful Web site not just its look, but also the way in which it is marketed once it is up and running. Keep the following things in mind as you set out on your Web journey:

Choose Your Path Wisely

The type of Web site you need depends on the nature of your business and the goals you have for the site.

A brochure Web site is the easiest to build (Host-U, Inc.'s Web Card Plus Package is a good example). These sites combine the roles of print collateral, yellow pages ads and direct mail pieces. Brochure sites are used primarily by restaurants and other small businesses that need to drive foot traffic to their physical location.

When you are interested in using your website for more than just a simple marketing tool and communicating with your potential clients is what you want, then a Web Presence is what you are looking for. A Web Presence gives you the ability to discuss more about your business, have pages for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's). (Host-U, Inc.'s Web Presence Packages is a good starting place.)

If you want to sell your company's products directly to customers, you will need a Web site that revolves around a catalog or a brochure style site with e-commerce features. (Host-U, Inc.'s Web Design Ultra Packages is a good starting place.) Catalog sites need e-commerce software that manages the catalog, provides a customer shopping cart and includes a payment method for customers. These sites may seem complicated to build, but there are many pre-built software solutions available to get you started.

Before deciding the type of Web site you need, look at your competitor's sites and position your site accordingly. Once you choose the general type of site you want, decide what types of features will provide your customers or users with the richest experience using your site. The choices are almost unlimited, but some of the most popular additional features are: message boards, news articles, file downloads and automated customer service.

What’s in a Name?

A domain name is your business's address on the Internet and will be used as part of your company’s e-mail address and its Web site address (URL).

It is important that your domain name be short, descriptive and memorable. For instance, IBM's domain name is ibm.com. If you can’t be descriptive, then be short and memorable. When Amazon obtained its domain name, it had many choices: AmazonBookstore.com, AmazonBooksandCDs.com, AmazonPrintandMultimedia.com, but they chose the simplest name: amazon.com.

If You Build It . . .

Someone must design the look of your site, create the images and content. Should you do it yourself or hire a Web designer and developer? The decision boils down to a few factors:

• Does your Web hosting service offer any tools and templates to help you? If so, you may be able to quickly create a Web site with little or no technical knowledge, and at no additional cost.
• If no templates are available, the next best do-it-yourself option is using Web site software, a type of software like Microsoft FrontPage. These tools enable you to design a Web site with very little technical knowledge, and many include templates that are easier to use.
• If you do not have templates or software available, do you have the necessary skills in-house to design your Web site?
• What is your Web site budget? Hiring a designer and programmer will probably cost more than doing it yourself. Web designers typically charge from $50 to $100 per hour.

The Search is On

Many customers will use a Web search engine to find your site, so making your Web site “search engine friendly” is extremely important. To do this, first create keywords that describe your business. For instance, if you sell reconditioned laser printer cartridges, then your keywords might include reconditioned, refurbished, used, laser, printer, toner, cartridge, ink and supplies.

Once you have these keywords, you need to use as many of the keywords as possible on the main page of your Web site, in the text that describes your business. The closer this text is to the top of your Web page, the better. Repeat the most important keywords several times.

Testing, 1-2-3

Once you’ve built your Web site, test every aspect of it before opening up for business. Click on every link. Make sure all the text, images, colors and page layouts are correct. Check your spelling one more time -- spelling mistakes can give your customers a negative impression.

If you are selling products online, get out your credit card and try ordering something. If there are problems, it’s best to find them now before your customers do. There are many free tools that will help you test your site: go to www.netmechanic.com for spellcheckers, link checkers, Web browser compatibility checkers and more.

Promotion equals commotion

How you promote your site depends on your budget, but there are several free things you should do immediately:

• Be sure to include your Web site’s URL in all your printed marketing and advertising materials and business cards.
• Register your Web site with the big search engines: Google, Yahoo, AltaVista and MSN.
• Leverage specialized Web directories that only list businesses in a certain industry.
• If you belong to any business associations, list your company’s information on the association’s Web site.

Analyze this . . .

You can track many statistics critical to improving your business, including how many unique visitors came to your site, what they looked at, how many just browsed, how many bought something, how many are repeat customers and the effectiveness of your advertising/marketing campaigns.

To get these statistics you must have Web analysis software installed on your site. Some of this software, such as StatCounter, is free but has limited functionality. Commercial software can cost more but offers more detailed analysis and far better reports. Some Web hosting companies, including Host-U, Inc., offer inexpensive analysis software.

Listen and learn

Web sites offer many ways to obtain customer feedback. The Web statistical analysis software mentioned earlier is a form of customer feedback. Two additional methods are customer surveys and community forums.

You can use customer surveys on your Web site to ask specific questions. Research shows that customers are more likely to fill out a Web site survey than answer a telephone or face-to-face survey. Community forums (also called message boards) are a more open, less formal way to gather customer feedback. Customers post messages on your site, most often to other customers, to discuss their opinions. You can use the community forum to ask direct questions, clarify misunderstandings and respond to complaints.

Invest wisely in your Web site and it will be a critical business tool that drives your company’s growth and success. To learn more about building your small business online, please visit http://www.host-u.net

Some Research for this Article is Courtesy of ARA Content