Getting the Most from Your Website

Why and Why Not - Starting a Facebook Fan Page for Your Business

2011-02-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

Below is an article in Search Engine Journal by Jennifer Horowitz, Director of Marketing for www.EcomBuffet.com – a full service SEO, Web Design & Development and Social Media Firm.

"While I’ve been known to ramble on and on, I’m going to keep this one short and simple. Shocking, I know!

5 Reasons You Should Create A Facebook Fan Page:

1. Fan Pages get indexed by the engines and we are seeing them pop up in the SERPs (search engine results pages) more often! When done well, they can be a great source of traffic – from the search engines and from within Facebook itself (lots of people are starting to use Facebook to search when they are looking for a product or service, they are looking for pages that other people “like” – it feels like a more personal recommendation for them)

2. Your competitors have one. I don’t normally advocate “keeping up with the Joneses” just for the sake of it but in this case if they have one and you don’t, they are tapping into traffic you aren’t. It’s that simple.

3. Facebook and SEO are more connected than ever – Google and Bing told us in December that Twitter and Facebook impact rankings. The number one question I get daily is “how do I get more traffic and rankings” – and my response is always, use all the tools and strategies available to you. Don’t pick and choose and do things half way. Go all in and you’ll get the return.

4. Building trust and credibility is important and you need to engage people on a personal level. Fan Pages are perceived as more personal and inviting than web pages (that’s not to say you don’t need a site too – all these tools need to work together in tandem to improve your results and grow your business). Use the Fan Page to engage the user and make them feel connected and then move them through your marketing funnel.

5. Because I said so! Well it used to work when my Mom said it, so I figured it was worth a try. Not buying it? OK then the real 5th reason is because you need to stay current (if not ahead) of the trends if you want to survive in an online business and ignoring what has clearly become an important strategy is just like waving a white surrender flag for your site."

Click here to read her 5 reasons to NOT create a Facebook fan page:

You may also enjoy reading: Own a Small Business in a Rural Area?

Own a Small Business in a Rural Area?

2011-02-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

While I agree with much that was said in my previous blog post, there are certainly some exceptions. While a website for businesses based in a rural area may not prove to be as beneficial as those operating in urban areas, that fact that there is far less competition also has its advantages if your webmaster is experienced and skillful in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I have also discovered that a small proportion of businesses in the Gold Country fear that having a website or having their business listed on several websites could somehow be detrimental. To that I can answer with all confidence, "No, it will not".

Any and all online presence will benefit your business, and having your business appear in several location on the internet is even be better. The one small exception is on websites such as MerchantCircle, that allow customers to review your services and negative reviews have been posted. To this, the saying that any publicity is good publicity is also true, IF you know how to properly respond to these. To address this particular issue, I will be soon post a follow up article on the specific steps you can take to turn these around to your advantage.

Back to the topic of should I or shouldn't I have a website.

You have a business is a rural area. How can a website increase your customer base and sales? The answer to this depends largely on the type of business you have, what services you offer, if you cater primarily to local business, tourism, or a combination of both, and if in the past your business was build largely by word of mouth or location and advertising.

There are some businesses that without question should have a website. Largely these are businesses in the service industry, especially if you depend on tourism for a portion of your customer base. A few of these would include non-chain restaurants and cafés, bed and breakfasts, wineries, retreat spas, etc. Being that the world wide web is a very large ocean it is especially important that you also hire a webmaster or a separate consultant to advise you on optimizing for search engine referrals. Without this, many websites sit stagnant, and provide very little benefit.

Businesses that offer services primarily utilized by local customers such as automobile repair and maintenance, construction and repair, medical, chiropractic and dentist offices, holistic and beauty services, only need to consider whether or not they wish to increase their clientele. If the answer is yes, then they most definitely will want to build some sort of internet presence. While there may not be a need for a full blown website, there are other ways to accomplish this.

There are several free options for you to choose from including local listing websites including the new My Amador County Home, as well as Facebook and Blog sites like Blogger and WordPress. Both of the latter can be set up as ecommerce sites (selling on line) or provide multiple pages that can be formatted just like a real website, including having a specific domain name of your choosing.

Even if you feel you primarily get new customers through word of mouth, having any online presence will allow them to easily send a link to a friend though and email to do what most people used to do by giving out a business card or scribbling it down on a piece of paper. Both of which are more likely to get lost than be found when most needed. Emails and ‘liking’ a business page on Facebook won’t get lost. Also, search engines like Google or Bing are quite handy at tracking down a business they heard of from a friend.

Still Not Convinced?

One of the potential leading sales industry in Amador County is antiques and collectibles, and when I grew up here in the 70’s and 80’s this was a well known fact amongst antique enthusiasts. More recently our county is becoming more known for great wine. Together, both of these are perfect for drawing the tourism dollar. As it stands now, mention Amador County to a wine enthusiast from out of town and they will know of the area. However, mention antiques to an adventurous antique shopper say from Southern California, and they have never heard of Amador County. This is true even though towns like Sutter Creek and Amador City have very nice websites with listings of most of these businesses, however are set up only for people to find in the case a traveler already knows they will be coming to Amador County.

Why the difference between people knowing about our wine and not our antiques you ask? One of the main reasons is that the Amador Vintners has a website that lists most of our wineries and nearly all wineries have their own website. On the other hand, very few antiques shops and those that sell specialty and other previously owned items, have websites. For these shops, which are mostly small and struggling, it is not feasible or even advisable to have their own website. AmadorAntiques.Info, released last December now provides a collective forum advertising worldwide that Amador County is a prime antique and collectible shopping destination, and they now have the opportunity to actively and affordably promote their business online. Already shop owners have reported making sales to new customers from out of the area that heard about them from this website.
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Gold Country Web offers a free consultation to anyone who is considering a small business website or wants to learn more about building an online presence for their business. They also offer affordable online and print media design. You may call 256-3811 to set up an appointment or fill out a contact form on their website.

Why Do You Need a Website?

2010-04-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

If you own a small business, how do you know if you should have a website. Below are excerpts from article in Entrepreneur written by Tim W. Knox titles "Why You Need a Website". Mr. Knox is the founder, president and CEO of four successful companies including Online Profits 4U, an e-business dedicated to helping online entrepreneurs start and prosper from an online, wholesale or drop-ship business.

"Q: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can't be sold online. Do I really need a website?

A: That's a good question. In fact, it's one of the most important and most frequently asked questions of the digital business age.

So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt.

Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be sold online. Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.

Let me clarify one point: I'm not saying you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be considering it. The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.

That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer."... read complete article in Entrepreneur Magazine.

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