Are you a small business owner looking to setup a website? Maybe you own a child carer, an jewelry store, or work as a electronics store from home? Irrespective of the type of business that you have, if you have been wondering in what way you can use the Internet to augment your business presence and attract more clients, then read this article prior to going out and spending money on a website designer to create a website for you.
Although it may not be your core business, it pays to educate yourself a little first before investing any $$. This article will provide you with a foundation of web marketing before you hire someone to create a website for your business so that you aren’t uninformed. It will also educate you about some things you can do yourself, which you may take the option to do on your own to save you the cost of outsourcing.
Web 2.0 Content Sites
An alternative method to spread the word about your business without having to create a website, is to create a free page on one of the numerous Web 2.0 content sites such as Hubpages and Squidoo. Here is an example Squidoo lens which is a review of Success University.
These are even more simple to setup compared to a blog as they require no technical know-how at all, leaving you to concentrate on your content and writing whatever it is you wish to write to your chosen audience. Pages on Web 2.0 content sites also frequently appear very high in the search engine results pages, enhancing even further the means by which greater numbers of people can find out about your business and what you have to offer.
Social Networking Sites
Facebook, MySpace and Lincked In are amongst the three most popular social networking sites. As with Hubpages and Squidoo, social networking sites also work on pre-defined templates and styles, negating your need to have any knowledge of html and allowing you to save the funds you would have otherwise spent on a web designer and invest that elsewhere.
A Word About Blogs
If you don’t mind providing regular updates and news pertaining to your business, you could consider establishing a blog instead of a website. A blog works like a diary, and each entry is time and date stamped. Here is a blog about finance as an example. See how each post is dated and note the optional Peel Away Image in the top right hand corner of the page. You don’t need to know any html or programming to use a blog.
Once your blog is installed, you just login to a control panel interface, type what you want to say into an entry field, and click the publish button.
Blogs are also very easy to setup. Why not have a play and see if you can install one yourself. You can get very cheap cPanel webhosting these days beginning at $4.95 p/mth. cPanel hosting includes a feature called Fantastico, which allows you to setup a blog with just a handful of mouse clicks. A decent hosting provider should be able to help you setup your blog as well, even if you are a novice. After all, it’s in their interest to secure your business.
Search Engine Optimization
Once you have setup either a blog, Web2.0 or Social Networking page, you will want to ensure that your page obtains a high profile in the search engine results, and therefore sending greater traffic and increasing the number of people who become aware of your business. This is where Search Engine Optimization, comes into play. Don’t be scared! You can get a handle on SEO by borrowing a book from your local public library or spending a bit of time researching it on the web.
There are a tonne of free websites containing information on seo, in addition to paid membership sites like Portal Feeder who can assign you a mentor to assist you in your SEO knowledge and site creation endeavours. There are some really simple things you can do that will heighten the profile of your site and send visitors to it.
