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10 Things Every Small-Business Website Needs

11/25/2010

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The Web is full of horrendous sites, and we're not just talking about bad design. There are many other elements besides how your website looks that go into making it customer-friendly -- not to mention something that inspires them to actually do business with you.

From thorough contact information to customer testimonials, here are the essentials that every small business website should have for it to effectively help you do business.

1. A clear description of who you are
Someone who stumbles upon your website shouldn't have to do investigative work to figure out what, exactly, it is that you do. That means clearly stating your name and summing up your products or services right on the homepage, says John Zhuang, of Web-design and SEO-optimization firm Winning Interactive.

"Tell people this is the right website that they have been searching for," he says. "[A clear description] will attract the visitor's attention immediately within 2-3 seconds, and encourage them to stay on your website longer."

2. A simple, sensible Web address
Don't make things complicated.

"Your domain name is like your brand. It should be easy for a user to type it into a Web browser or an e-mail address," says Ron Wright, the founder of business Web design and online marketing firm Accentix.

He adds: "I always recommend the .com domain as users are conditioned to type that extension when they enter a Web address. For non-profits or organizations, I usually recommend using a .org domain for branding purposes, but also recommend having a .com version of the domain in case a user accidentally types the .com address."

Wright also suggests avoiding dashes (which can cause SEO headaches) and numbers (which can cause confusion for customers).

3. An easily-navigated site map
Clear links to the most important pages, and a site map, are crucial for guiding visitors to the information they're looking for.

"Be sure your navigation is clearly laid out. I always recommend using dropdowns in the navigation menu so the visitor can see the content under every heading from virtually any page. You want to make it very easy for your visitors to find what they are looking for, or what you want them to know," Wright suggests.

4. Easy-to-find contact information
You wouldn't want to lose a customer to a competitor just because you made it difficult for them to get in touch with you.

"Not every online visitor has the patience to click through every page on your website to find the contact information," says Zhuang.

"The best place for the contact information is the top left or top right corner of the home page," he recommends. "It is also a good practice to include contact information in every page of the website in the footer or side bar or even in top right corner, which helps the visitors to find it more easily."

You should also be sure to include several ways for them to contact you -- phone, e-mail, and a standard contact form, are all good options. Forbes also suggests including your address, and even a link to your location in Google maps.

"One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is to force only one way to reach them," says Wright. "The point is to make it very easy for users to communicate with you on their terms."

5. Customer testimonials
Honest words from others help make your products or services more tangible to customers who are visiting you online.

"They help your potential customers to build trust in you, especially if you are new," Zhuang says. "[And they] help shoppers to confirm whether the product [or] services meet their needs."

"People love to hear stories from real people," he adds. "They help people [find out] other things you haven't said [on] your website."

6. An obvious call to action
"Tell the online visitors literally what you want them to do with clear tones of commend," says Zhuang. "For instance, you may want them to call you now for free quote, or sign up to your exclusively online coupons, or add products to the online shopping cart, etc."

And, he adds, call attention to your suggestion -- by using special buttons or highlighting the text, for example.

7. Know the basics of SEO
Your website won't do you as much good if no one can stumble upon it. Become familiar with the SEO basics to make it more accessible by search engine.

"You don't need to employ mysterious, ninja, black hat SEO types to rank well on the search engines. Simply make sure your website is coded correctly," Wright says.

That means using the correct keywords throughout your text, putting in plenty of links, naming your page titles and URLs correctly, and employing the magic of images and videos.

8. Fresh, quality content
For many businesses, your website is your first impression on a customer. You want to give them what they're looking for, and perhaps even give them a reason to keep coming back.

Wright says, "The user is looking for something. Make sure you give it to them.... [and be] sure your content is original, well written and valuable."

Fresh content is a goldmine for SEO, as well. You can keep your content from getting stale (and give your company some personality, too) by incorporating a regularly-updated blog or connecting in your social media feeds.

9. A secure hosting platform
Having your online information hijacked is a nightmare, and, should it happen to your business, it could cost you customers.

"It is imperative that you have a secure, trustworthy hosting company to keep the bad guys out and your content up and running," says Wright. "It is also very important to keep your content management system updated in order to stay one step ahead of the hackers."

10. A design and style that's friendly to online readers
As Forbes puts it, "Web surfers have the attention spans of drunken gnats."

Zhuang describes it in more detail: "Online visitors often scan through a Web page to sample the content first when they open a new Web page. If they feel like they are on the right page, they will slow down to read the full story. To enhance user's experience on your small business website, you need to organize the content for scanning."

He recommends three style points for online writing to keep in mind:

Break things down into short paragraphs, with headers if necessary
Use bullet points
Highlight important words or phrases.
Wright adds, "In the end, simplicity and basic colors are the best bet. Again, the content is the focus, not dancing clowns at the top of the page."


By Bianca Male
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15 Out-of-the-Ordinary Ways to Save

11/9/2010

1 Comment

 
 Posted March 04, 2009 from WomansDay.com

Score Free Stuff

1. If you don’t mind being a few episodes behind, cancel the cable service and watch your favorite TV shows for free online. 
Hulu.com has full episodes of popular cable and network series, includingER and Nip/Tuck, as well as favorites from your childhood, like Bewitched. Many other television sites, such as ABC.com, CBS.com, FOX.com and TNT.tv, also offer full-length episodes online for no fee.

2. With 3 million books (and counting), PaperBackSwap.com lets you trade books with other members—for free. To get started, upload the titles of 10 of your own books that you want to swap; you will receive 2 book swap credits immediately—to be used for the books of your choice. Then, the more books you send, the more credits you get—and you only pay the postage (usually a couple of bucks) for the books you ship. For music or movies,SwapaCD.com and SwapaDVD.com offer similar services.

3. You know the saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? Freecycle.org takes the notion to a whole new level by allowing you to sort through listings of other people’s castoffs and score gently used goods (including baby gear, sports equipment and furniture) from members in your city. The classifieds section onCraigslist.org is also a great source for secondhand treasures.

4. A call to 411 can cost a dollar or more, so when you don’t have a phonebook handy, go to YELLOWPAGES.com orWhitePages.com instead. If you don’t have access to a computer, text the business name, city and state to G-O-O-G-L-E (466453) and you will receive a text message that includes the phone number and address of the company.

5. Ready for a new pet? Most of the critters on Petfinder.com are listed by shelters, which have expensive adoption fees. But click on the Local/Classifieds link and you’ll find animals—including purebred dogs—being offered for adoption at no charge.

6. Why pay to join an online weight-loss group? SparkPeople.comoffers many of the same benefits as sites with monthly fees—including health and wellness articles, recipes, pages where you can log your meals and goals, and inspiring message boards—at no cost.

7. Do you yearn to learn? Then check out the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s OpenCourseWare project, which allows you to access materials from 1,885 classes and then learn at your own pace at home. Browse OCW.MIT.edu for course offerings, which include Writing and Reading Poems, Kitchen Chemistry and Spanish 1. You won’t get college credit, but the knowledge you’ll gain is priceless.

Get the Best Price

8. If you’re planning on driving to Boston, New York, D.C. or Philadelphia, research parking options ahead of time. AtBestParking.com, you can search by neighborhood for any of these cities and the site will show you which garages have the lowest rates—plus it lets you lock in a low rate by reserving it online.

9. Before the next time you fill ’er up, pay a visit to GasBuddy.com, which tracks pump prices by zip code and shows you where to get the cheapest fuel. A recent search for Topeka, Kansas, showed prices ranging from $1.56 to $1.89 per gallon. Pull into the least expensive station and you’ll save almost $5 (or more if you have a large gas tank).

10. Lots of sites offer travel discounts, but rather than point-and-click your way through all of them, let Travelzoo.com do the work for you. Just enter your destination city and the dates of your trip, and Travelzoo will tell you where to find the best rates for plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and more.

Snap Up Coupons, Samples and Discounts

11. A one-stop-spot for savings, CouponMom.com lists weekly national drugstore discounts and updates them according to the Sunday circular. You’ll also find printable coupons, state-by-state listings of grocery store sales and links to online sales, as well as a forum for sharing deals with other members.

12. Fill out a short survey on StartSampling.com, and they’ll automatically mail you samples that suit your profile. Once you’re a member, visit the site for printable coupons and to earn Tryer Miles, which you can cash in for free merchandise, including restaurant gift certificates.

13. To try the latest products from Olay, go to Olay.com and clickSamples & Offers. From that page, you can request free samples, find special offers and even download coupons.

14. The members of the forums at FreeSampleSite.com have a knack for finding freebies—and are especially active in the forums. You’ll find posts for makeup samples, free magazine subscriptions, online sales and much more. Looking for a discount code for a particular store? These are the folks to ask.

15. When you sign up for digital photo–printing websites, they’ll often send you free prints (you pay shipping and handling) as a thank-you. Two of the most popular sites, KodakGallery.com andSnapfish.com, each offer 20 freebies; Adorama.com offers 25.


Kimberly Fusaro writes about personal finance as Little Miss Fortune.

1 Comment

6 Proven Strategies to Promoting Your Website

11/5/2010

0 Comments

 
By: Susan Jennerjohn

There's a proven way to make money online, you can do this by selling information or knowledge you have.

The great part is you'll be your own boss. You're work from your home, while earning money on line. Isn't this fun?

But to successful, you'll need to promote your website.

Make a comprehensive marketing plan that where you've clearly identified your markets and how to appeal to them. You'll also need to work closely with your web team to optimize your website, so your business connects with both the human audience and content spiders.

But remember - you can only do some much promotions and marketing before you fall flat on your nose. Be sure you have the following elements present in your website.

To promote your website successfully, you need to have great products and services. Otherwise, they will come in to look but won't buy. Your promotional efforts will be a total waste.

Make sure your website is perfectly positioned, to sell and process orders. If your e-commerce aspect is not secure, then no one will buy. No matter how many great products you have. No matter how many links you swap with, promoting your website will just be a waste of time.

Third element - internet marketing, means you need a marketing plan which clearly speaks to your audience. Make sure that it's at a price you can afford. If you spend too much on your promotional efforts, only to have it die down because of lack of funds, you will lose your momentum. So stick to a promotional budget you can afford.

So how do you promote your website?

Website design
Keep your website design basic and user friendly. This means minimizing the use of animation or outlandish colors. Make sure your content has the appropriate keywords in them, so that search engines can read and put you at the upper top of the rankings.

Optimizing your website for search engine rankings

Make it a point to submit your website to two of the most popular and heavily used crawler based search engines - Yahoo and Google. If your promotional budget is small, make sure it's keyword rich. Then submit, wait patiently for a few months before it to appear. Or you can do a sponsored listing if you have a bigger promotional budget.

Submit your website to directories. This is free; and many seo experts say you'll dramatically increase your chances of appearing at the top of the search engine results. Try these directories: MSN, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and Inktomi, for starters.

Do swap links with other websites. Only after, you've researched their websites to see if you're a fit for each other. Some will refuse to swap links, but don't let it throw you. Just keep trying.

Post authoritative comments about subjects you are knowledgeable about. A majority of these forums give you the freedom to put your URL at the bottom do so.

Lastly - write articles about subjects you are an expert on. Submit these articles to the directories that have big audiences. Include your URL and byline. Soon, you'll get the traffic you need, because of the promotional efforts you've done. 


Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

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