FREE BAIT!

I am all about DIY. At least I am really good at delegating DIY projects to my husband. There are certain things I can do myself like wash my car, clean my house (although I don’t like it), and paint walls. Its true though that the professionals do it much better than I, so the question is where does DIY really pay off and where does it cost you, particularly when it comes to your website?

Web designers and developers truly understand the inner workings of the web. They know how to create interfaces that encourage visitors to go past your home page, they know how to code pages that load fast because we know that your potential customer is short on time and in need of your contact information. They know how to set up your website to work on smart phones and create sites that are accessible for people with disabilities - all things that are really important for successful web marketing.

A bad website is like finding out the health department shut down a restaurant — you just don’t go there. It says boatloads about what kind of business you are even if you don’t mean it to. That’s today’s marketing reality.So you have a tight budget and you can’t afford all the bells and whistles. You can try out a free template but I find many of my clients become frustrated with that if they don’t know HTML. A business card website is a nice option where it gets you out there for not a lot of money and you can always add on later. Usually it consists of one page listing your services, contact info and a call to action. Business card sites at least get you out there with a good design as opposed to having several pages of content presented on a faulty design.

I am all for DIY, don’t get me wrong, but make sure you are willing to roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches when it is going to save you money but not at the risk of losing a customer.  

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I know that you are really busy. Most small business owners are. In fact, I am a small business owner and I am really busy but I get to charge you hourly so if you help me help you - you save money and I save time. Everyone wins! I find that when a client engages me to design and develop a website for them, they pretty much think they can hand me a check for the deposit and a website will magically appear in 4-6 weeks. Not so. Unless you want to pay me to hire a photographer to get photos, develop your content and read your mind, I need your time and input in the process. I do hope that most clients find this a really good time to polish up their marketing as a whole and help me create a website that truly represents your business and its unique selling proposition. Here is a quick checklist for preparing to work with a designer or agency to develop a website:

• Reasearch domain names. Go to Network Solutions or any other domain registration site and start plugging in domain name ideas. Go for the shortest and most memorable. If you have a business name, you should purchase your business’ exact domain name but consider something more directly representing your product. If you sell widgets the first obvious choice is widgets.com. If your name is Sam—the next obvious choice is samswidgets.com. 
• Set up hosting. Hosting enables your website to be displayed on the Internet. It is where your web pages are stored for the world to view. You can provide the hosting info to your designer and they will set up your site on it.
• Plan out what pages you want in your website. The old standbys are Home, About Us, Our Services and Contact. If you need more, decide what they are in advance. Take a trip to your competitors’ sites to get some ideas.
• Make a site map. A rough flow chart with Home at the top and the other pages underneath. This will give you a visual of how your site flows.
• Gather your content. Organize and structure the content according to your site map. Its best to assemble this in a Word document or Excel spreadsheet.
• Inventory your assets. Logos (digital versions preferred), brochures, ads and any other existing artwork are important elements for dictating the design of your website. Gather photography or visit stock photo sites (dreamstime.com or istockphoto.com are inexpensive options). Hiring a photographer can seem expensive initially but the return on invest is enormous if you have excellent and compelling photos to use on your website, print materials and video.

By gathering stuff in advance, you save time and guesswork for the designer, which ultimately ends up saving you money. If you don’t want to deal with the preparation, then prepare to pay for the designer or agency’s time to research, prepare content and imagery in addition to design and development of the actual site. At the end of the day, a website could be your most important marketing tool so I would advise making time for the project. It will be well worth it.All the best!

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Its that time of year where we begin thinking resolutions. Whether its weight loss, balancing your checkbook (my resolution every year) or promising to clean out your garage, the possible life improvements that people plan to make on January 1st are usually abundant.

But what are your business resolutions? How about updating your website?

Websites are just amazing little marketing gifts. With proper attention and regular care, they can be your most cost effective and most successful form of marketing. Problem is, many small businesses find that theirs has been collecting dust on the Internet for the last year. Yes, maybe its time to take off that offer that expired in October of 2004.

The thing with the world of web design is that the expectation of what to find on a website changes from year to year. The days of the brochure website are over - people are looking for more than just information - they want to visit websites that do stuff.

So how can you take advantage of this trend? Here are some thoughts:

• Consider freshening up your design. If you had your site created a few years ago, its likely to need a little makeover to make it look current. Why is this important? Like bell bottoms and bee hive hairdos, a website design can become dated and you likely don’t want to send that message to your customer.
• Add a blog. This is a great way to keep your content fresh. Blogs are cheap, simple to use and a good way to show your credibility. Not sure if anyone will read your blog? The search engines do and that can help your customer find you faster.
• Add a video. Do a demo of your product or just a short intro to your website. A video on your site is cheaper that purchasing broadcast airtime. Video creates emotion - its adds a dimension to your business that print just can’t.
• Make a resolution to update your site on a monthly basis. No matter what, schedule regular content updates. This helps you manage your visitor’s impression of your business. It lets them know you are there.

When all is said and done, your website shouldn’t be a nuisance to you, it should work for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Small steps in keeping it updated should make your marketing life simpler in the long run. And maybe it will be a resolution you can keep.

All the best!

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