For the first time in history, small business can sell their products or services in the same market as Fortune 500 corporations. On the web, your business can look and function at a level similar to the big guys without breaking your bank.
Thousands of new businesses go on-line every week; perhaps you are one of them. They all begin with the same great expectations of building or expanding their business on the web. The manner in which you approach your on-line venture and the knowledge you have about how to utilize the web will determine your failure or success.
There are three key elements to any successful web based business: Traffic, Traffic and more Traffic. Actually, there are many other important elements, like site design and customer communication, but they won't do your business any good if you don't get a prospective customer to your site in the first place. If you were to open a new French restaurant with a top chef from Paris, the finest French wines and impeccable service, none of that would matter if diners didn't know you were open and couldn't find your location. The same is true for your on-line business.
Search Engines
Getting your business found starts with getting highly ranked on the major search engines. Almost 70% of all web traffic still initiates from the top engines (Yahoo!, Altavista, Excite). But your site must appear on the first 2-3 pages, as most surfers will not go past three pages of results to find a site. Ranking number 89 is just about as good as ranking number 1,089.
To get a high ranking under important keywords used by your potential customers, you must design your site to be "search engine friendly". Each engine uses a different formula to determine ranking, but in general, you need to make sure your meta tags (the keywords placed in your source code) are properly arranged and that your site contains written content (not visuals or flash animation) that matches the keywords you've entered. This process is half art, half science. Our technical team, having worked with thousands of web sites, has come close to mastering this "art" with tremendous success, but it is an ongoing process of review and adjustment.
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On-line Promotion
Promoting your site on other web sites that attract similar target customers can be a very cost effective way to drive traffic to your site. At 411web, each client is linked into specific portals based on their business. For example, a dog breeder would be listed on our 411pets.com site, and a boating supply company would go on our 411boating.com site.
In many cases, we link our clients across multiple directories, with an insurance broker going on our 411insure, 411autos and 411realestate sites.
Look for sites whose viewers would closely match your target consumer. But be leery of general Yellow Page or mall-type sites that will not be able to deliver targeted customers.
Banner Exchanges
Depending on the nature of your web site, Banner Exchanges can have some value. In these programs, you place a banner ad for another site on your web site and in exchange other sites place banners for you on their site, usually at a 2:1 ration not in your favor. If you have a site that sells products such as toys or general merchandise it may make sense. But, if your site needs to show an air of strict professionalism, like an insurance agent or a medical site, the additional exposure from the banners may be outweighed by the added commercialism of the site.
And of course, make sure to promote your site on all your off-line promotional activities: Yellow Page ads, business cards, flyers, etc.
Site Design
Once you've attracted a potential customer to your web site, you've got to work fast! If you don't gain their interest in just a few seconds, they'll be onto the next site. Your site needs to be attractive, professional and easy to navigate and, with the key information clearly displayed on your home page. Viewers need to know, quickly, what your site is about, how to get the information or product they want and also have a sense that you are a respectable business.
Once you get them to stay awhile, you need to encourage them to take the actions you want them to take. A great example of a well-designed site is www.3dquotes.com. The Home page is clear and simple and you don't have to make any additional clicks to complete their desired action -- which is to get a free quote. If you need further information, they provide easy to find navigation buttons.
You also need to be aware of the speed at which your site loads on a viewer's screen. With most consumers still connecting to the internet through a dial-up like AOL or Earthlink, and running on a relatively slow 28K or 56K modem, it's important to make sure your site loads quickly. If you fill it with too many fancy graphics, large music files or animation, potential customers will move onto the next web site before your site even finishes loading on their screen.
Customer Communication
Once you get a customer, the web makes it easy and inexpensive to continue communicating with them. You've spent the time and money to gain this new business, now work on keeping them. By gathering customer e-mails, you can begin to send out newsletters, updates or new product announcements at virtually no cost. But make sure your e-mail list is what's called opt-in. This means that customers have given you their permission to send them e-mails.
With a little thought and effort, your web site can look and function like your larger competitors. The one key difference is in their ability to spend heavily to promote their site. Please feel free to contact me at ron@411web.com with any questions on how to boost your on-line business.
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