The Internet has proved a powerful equalizer for small businesses.
But entrepreneurs can't just build Web sites these days--they have to
build great ones that truly snag viewers and turn them into paying customers.
"For many businesses, a Web site is the first way that your clientele will
look at you--even if it's just to find your address and phone number,"
says Rand Fishkin, founder of Seattle-based search engine optimization
consulting firm SEOmoz, which aims to increase the odds that search
engines will happen upon a given site. "The quality of your site is
often a measure of the quality of your business."
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shareWhile most entrepreneurs probably should farm out the programming of their sites, they shouldn’t turn over the design process altogether. Getting the biggest return on your online investment hinges on understanding what works and what doesn’t, so you can give the coders as much smart direction as possible.
In Pictures: 16 Solid Small-Biz Web Site Design Tips
Indeed,
having a well-oiled site could be the difference between surviving the
current recession and succumbing to it. "Conversations between
manufacturers and buyers used to take place over the phone,” says Linda
Rigano, director of strategic alliances for ThomasNet, a consultancy for
the manufacturing industry. “Now that same conversation is conducted
through the content on manufacturers' Web sites."
The folks at
Ericson, a Willoughby, Ohio-based manufacturer and distributor of
temporary power and lighting products, would strongly agree. Two years
ago, Ericson overhauled its site with ThomasNet's help, creating a
catalog featuring detailed descriptions and pictures of its products,
along with an easy-to-use search function.
Despite
the persistent downturn in its key markets, Ericson has thrived, thanks
in great part to the 20,000 potential customers who surf the catalog
every month. That activity translated into an average of 25 price quotes
per month, a quarter of which ultimately result in orders, each
averaging about $3,000 to $5,000.
"Since re-launching our site, we
have received more purchase orders from customers who find us online
because they get a much better idea of what we're selling than they used
to," says Phil Bearden, who heads the company’s Web marketing efforts.
One of Ericson’s newest marquee customers: the CityCenter Las Vegas, an
$8 billion collaboration between MGM Grand and Dubai World.
In Pictures: The 20 Most Trafficked Web Sites--Then And Now
If
you've yet to set up shop online, you'll need a Web address. Address
sellers--called domain hosts--include Go Daddy, Network Solutions and
Register.com. Direct names that are easy to remember are your best bet,
if they're still available. Example: If your business is called
Chocolate By Melanie, buying the rights to the URL
"www.chocolatebymelanie.com" makes a lot of sense.
Small Office Tech Toolbox
Given
how cheap domain names are (around $20 a year), you might also want to
buy a few variations that are close to your primary address or that
could be easily confused with it. There is also a strong secondary
market for names that someone else already owns.
One of the most
important steps in good Web design is nailing down the navigation. There
is no one correct way to move visitors around your site, but there are
certainly types of navigation strategies to steer away from. For
example, while drop-down menus are increasingly popular, menus within
menus can be frustrating as more menu boxes pile up on the screen.
Dugg on Forbes.com
Note,
too, that many computer monitors are wider rather than longer, so
horizontal navigation (using organizing tabs from left to right) "takes
advantage of that extra real estate," says David Mihm, a contract Web
designer and search engine optimization expert in Portland, Ore.
Having
a Web site isn't just about letting people know you're out there; it's
also about establishing credibility. That’s why you should present
compelling backgrounders on company leaders and their accomplishments.
Include personalizing head shots.
If you have a respectable client
list, let the world know. (You should get permission from clients
before listing their names on your site.) Better yet, cobble together a
few glowing testimonials--or even full-on case studies--that highlight
specifically how you solved clients' problems. For more detail on this,
check out "Are Customer Testimonials Smart Marketing Tools?"
Slick
graphics can draw readers in, but they can also confound the search
engines. Your best bet when it comes to graphics: Use them sparingly and
only go for the highest quality. As for what colors to use, some render
better than others on the screen. For one palette of 216
"non-dithering" (high-resolution) colors, check out O'Reilly Media.
The
most gorgeous, easily navigated site in the world won't do much good if
no one can find it. That's why search engine optimization (or SEO)--the
art of rising to the top of the search stacks on Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) and Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people )--is so important.
The
key to SEO: selecting 50 to 100 key words most relevant to your
products, services and target audience. The more those words appear on
your Web pages (within reason), the higher up the stack your site will
tend to appear. For help, check out Google AdWords,
a free service that allows you to type in a word like "bakery" and get a
list of keywords and phrases that are most commonly searched in that
category, like "bakery delivery," "gourmet bakery" and "bakery shop."
Many
small professional-services businesses (think lawyers and doctors)
depend on having a strong local presence. For them, key words shouldn't
just relate to industries or products; they should specify zip code,
city and region as well.
Placement on local online business directories is helpful, too. For more, check out Google's free Local Business Center. Other sites that can help boost local visibility are Yelp.com, Insiderpages.com and Best of the Web.
How
do you know if one Web design is better than another? Track the clicks.
Web Trax, a software program, allowed Ericson to see which areas of its
old Web site were getting hit and which were being ignored.
Another
service, called Offermatica.com, automates the testing of different Web
pages to see which earn more click-throughs--a handy tool for, say, a
retailer looking to drum up interest in a certain sales promotion.
Finally,
for those launching a new site, be sure to prime the pump first before
going live. That way you can take steps to move up in the search ranks
even while making final tweaks behind the curtain.
Simply ask your
site host to attach meta tags--hidden programming code easily read by
search engines--that include your top 20 keywords in order of importance
to your business. The tags will drive traffic to your site when people
search those keywords. Create a greeting that says something like "This
site is under construction, but we will be up and running shortly."
By the time you officially launch your beautiful, bug-free site, it will already have marched up the search stack.
See Also: Have questions about how to run your small business? Go to the Forbes.com Small Business Exchange and ask our cadre of experts.
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