If you are a small business owner, it is imperative in today's world that you have a web presence.
A lot of people head online these days to find reviews, location, or information about an establishment or service before engaging in a commercial transaction.
For instance, just take a look at the popularity of sites like Yelp that help others review local businesses.
In such an environment, if you don't have a web presence, you are losing out on a hoard of customers.
But how can you make your web presence known? Aside from the obvious answers (have a website, advertise, etc.
), there are a lot of smaller things you can do that can make your establishment known.
Start off with your business cards.
Does it display the website address? If yes, good! If no, get it printed there promptly.
Next, move on to any other commercial stationery you may use - brochures, letterheads, etc.
Make your website address prominent.
Then move on to the domain of your website.
How "user friendly" is it? Is it on.
com extension? Does it say the exact name of your business? If you run Sam's Pizza, then your ideal web address should be samspizza.
com (you get bonus points if you can bag a highly generic, quality domain like ItalianPizza.
com or Pizza.
com).
Many times, I see businesses use random and ridiculous web addresses.
If your customers can't understand what your business is about by looking at your web address, they might very well not visit your site.
Do you have a presence of the major social networking sites? This includes Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
Don't bother about all the social sites (Hi5, Bebo, etc.
) and just concentrate on these big three.
It is imperative that you have an active account on these sites.
Finally, try and get your customers email address when they visit your site.
This could be done by offering them a free eBook or course or even the chance at exclusive discounts.
By getting their email, you can send them weekly or monthly newsletters about your company, its services, or any other development in your field.
This breeds customer loyalty and can get you a steady stream of new visitors.
A lot of people head online these days to find reviews, location, or information about an establishment or service before engaging in a commercial transaction.
For instance, just take a look at the popularity of sites like Yelp that help others review local businesses.
In such an environment, if you don't have a web presence, you are losing out on a hoard of customers.
But how can you make your web presence known? Aside from the obvious answers (have a website, advertise, etc.
), there are a lot of smaller things you can do that can make your establishment known.
Start off with your business cards.
Does it display the website address? If yes, good! If no, get it printed there promptly.
Next, move on to any other commercial stationery you may use - brochures, letterheads, etc.
Make your website address prominent.
Then move on to the domain of your website.
How "user friendly" is it? Is it on.
com extension? Does it say the exact name of your business? If you run Sam's Pizza, then your ideal web address should be samspizza.
com (you get bonus points if you can bag a highly generic, quality domain like ItalianPizza.
com or Pizza.
com).
Many times, I see businesses use random and ridiculous web addresses.
If your customers can't understand what your business is about by looking at your web address, they might very well not visit your site.
Do you have a presence of the major social networking sites? This includes Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
Don't bother about all the social sites (Hi5, Bebo, etc.
) and just concentrate on these big three.
It is imperative that you have an active account on these sites.
Finally, try and get your customers email address when they visit your site.
This could be done by offering them a free eBook or course or even the chance at exclusive discounts.
By getting their email, you can send them weekly or monthly newsletters about your company, its services, or any other development in your field.
This breeds customer loyalty and can get you a steady stream of new visitors.
SHARE
