What Should a Website do for Your Business?

We are living in a digital world and more and more people are turning to the internet for information prior to making a purchase.  It's tempting to believe that the phenomenon is primarily based on young people who grew up with a mini-computer called a smart phone in their pocket, but even aging baby-boomers, who no longer find it comfortable to read the small print in the telephone directory are increasingly turning to the internet, where they can control the size of the print and get more complete information.

Business owners can believe that they will do fine on line as long as their business is listed in all the local online directories, but experience proves that people who are searching will preferentially choose businesses that have their own website because they are perceived as being more established, professional and up-to-date.  This is the age of information.  When you can find your childhood sweetheart with a few keystrokes, investigate a potential employee or employer by investing just a few minutes or find products for sale across the ocean, people are not willing to settle for wasting time, money or gas trying to learn more about your business when you made the choice NOT to make life easier for them by having a website.

Aside from simply creating a better impression of your company, a website does two things for a business.  For people who have heard of you and are looking to learn more or even do business with you, a website provides an online resume or sales rep who works 24/7, giving them the details they may need to make a decision in your favor.  For people who have never heard of you, but are searching for someone who does or sells what you do, a website introduces your company in a way that is entirely within your control.  What other medium allows you to reach an unlimited number of people, round the clock with a highly customized message for roughly fifty cents a day after your initial costs for design?

The hot conversations about websites these days revolve around SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing).  Both concepts are definitely important, but how important depends on what your goals for your website are.  Search Engine Optimization is the process of writing and coding your website to be highly ranked by search engines, along with engaging in other online activities, like social media and linking for the same purpose.  The purpose of SEO is to improve your organic ranking, which is how close to the beginning of the listings your site appears without having to pay for ad space. Search Engine Marketing takes it a step further and includes placement of paid ads to have a presence at the top of the page.

If most of your customers are people who already know you exist, these strategies are less important because people will be searching with the name of your company, or your category and location, so unless you have a truly dismal site, you should be relatively easy to find.  It's when you are hoping to be found by new people who don't know you exist but are looking for someone who does what you do, or if you are selling online that these strategies become critical.

Optimization begins with the selection of a good URL (domain, or web address).  Nothing is more relevant in the eyes of a search engine than what the site is called.  So, if let's say your business is called The Pet Training Center (fictional, as far as I know), PetTraining(dot)com is a much stronger URL than ThePTCenter(dot)com, which might get you lots of traffic from people looking for Physical Therapy.

If you already have a URL that is less than optimal, there is no need to despair.  A knowledgeable web designer or content writer should be able to do a lot with keywords and other strategies to help improve your search rankings, without making it so obvious that it turns your reader off.  If you already have a website, but it's not performing well,  a content writer can work with your designer to revise and improve your site.  The bonus in that is that Google loves to see fresh content!  In fact, the lack of fresh content will negatively impact your site's ranking.    Just as a business owner needs to be nimble to succeed in our ever-changing world, a website needs to evolve to meet the evolving habits of shoppers and demands of search.  There is a lot that can be done, even on a fairly small budget to make your business look better and attract more customers.  Building Your Image Publicity Consulting is located in Wantagh, NY and specializes in helping small businesses to create and project a better impression.  We can be reached at 516-946-8750 or visit our website at www.buildingyourimage.com.