Put Your Business on the Web
the RIGHT Way!

Is Your Small Business Ready for the Web?

Success on the Internet is not just about "putting up a website". It's about building an effective online marketing solution.

There are millions of commercial websites out there, but in fact a very small percentage of them get found in the search engines and actually achieve their objective, if indeed they had one at all!

If you run a small or local business, or intend to, a website is really nothing more than a sales tool. It either makes the sale or it doesn't.

But have you ever noticed how good sales people don't beat you about the head to get the sale? Instead, they inform and educate you. They get to know your needs and match those needs to their products.They provide solutions to problems. If you want your website to succeed it must do the same.

Are you planning to build your own website or employ a website designer or developer to do it for you? Either way, it is my hope that you can use the information in this book to step ahead of the pack - to create a business tool that will have a positive, measurable effect on your bottom line.

In this guide I'll be covering issues such as preparation, keyword research, website construction, search engine marketing, traffic generation and promoting your site.

About Me

Before we get started you're probably saying to yourself "who is this clown and does he really know what he is talking about?" Fair question. Since leaving my full-time job around 9 years ago I have been working from home building websites for clients around the world, as well as my own income-producing sites.

In that time I've learnt a fair bit about what works and what doesn't. For example, before taking over the design and management of bestbusinessbuyes.com.au it ranked nowhere in the search engines and was little more than a business expense. Despite being a very successful business in sales and service for many years the business was not attracting the desired amount of sales to satisfy the owner. In just days after taking care of the site the traffic tripled and is now receives a constant supply of targeted leads.

My business is helping small and local business owners build profitable web businesses. In other words, help small business owners make money, not just make a website.

Let's Get Started!

Although a website will work for you 24/7 on remote control, the responses it generates from your visitors will usually require human intervention. If you're selling information, in the form of an e-book for example, then you CAN automate the entire process. But, if your business provides a service then you will need to have "back-end" systems in place before launching your new site.

Of course the most common visitor response will come in the form of an email enquiry. Web users are used to things happening fast. It took but a few seconds to get your website up on their screen. If your site does its job and generates a sale or an enquiry, they want a response now, not next week.

You would think that most online businesses understand this concept, but unfortunately it's just not so. And small businesses are often the worst offenders.

Here's an example:

I recently decided to purchase some promotional items with my website address printed on them. I knew there was a supplier in my area so I went straight to his website. It wasn't a full e-commerce site, but had been designed to presumably get the order and then follow up offline. So, I used my valuable time to input all sorts of information about me and the products I wanted to order. And the response? Nil. Nada. Weeks went by and I heard nothing. Of course I took my business elsewhere.

Is this a case of bad programming, or owner neglect? Either way, you have to wonder why the owner bothered with a website in the first place. What did it achieve?

Point is, if you are planning to start an online business make sure your response mechanisms are in place before you launch your site. I know this seems very basic but it is often overlooked in the rush to go "online".

At the very least you must check your email once a day and respond immediately to your customers and potential customers.

Nowadays, thanks to the efforts of spammers, a lot of legitimate email gets blocked by spam filters. This means you must constantly test your forms and educate your visitors about what to do if your messages get trapped in these filters. If you don’t, they’ll blame YOU when they don’t get a response, even though it may not be your fault.

Prepare your business for online service before launching your site. Do that, and you will be ahead of the pack.

Have you ever done business with Amazon? They have millions of customers around the world - thousands of transactions a day. But email them a query and I'll guarantee you'll get a reply within hours.

That's customer service - online style!

Next - Planning Your Website

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