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Small Business Websites What You Need to Know! October 18, 2007

Small Business Websites What You Need to Know! October 18, 2007. Liz Niederberger Zumu Software. Overview. Why every small business needs a website? Basic Terms You Need to Know What should you have on your website? Who looks at your website? How do you use your website effectively?

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Small Business Websites What You Need to Know! October 18, 2007

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  1. Small Business WebsitesWhat You Need to Know!October 18, 2007 Liz Niederberger Zumu Software

  2. Overview • Why every small business needs a website? • Basic Terms You Need to Know • What should you have on your website? • Who looks at your website? • How do you use your website effectively? • How often should you change your website? • Tips and Tools • Questions and Comments

  3. Why Every Business Needs a Website? • More people are on the web than ever before • The phone book is obsolete • When looking for something, many people will look on the web first • Business Legitimacy • A good website conveys a lot about your business. • A bad website conveys a lot about your business.

  4. Basic Terms You Need To Know • Domain Name • Hosting Provider • Website Design • Website Updates • Content Management • Email

  5. Domain Name • What is it? • How do I get one? • www.NetworkSolutions.com

  6. Some Hints About Domain Names • The name of your business. • An abbreviation of your business name. • Something short and easy to remember (if possible) • .com (if possible) • .org (if non-profit)

  7. Hosting Provider • What is hosting? • How do I get one? • How much does it cost? • How do I learn more?

  8. Website Design • Layout of the site • Navigation of the site • What pages you want on the site • How each page will look

  9. Website Updates • Once everything is setup, you must keep the site up-to-date • Who will do the updates? • How often? • What’s really needed?

  10. Website Updates • Once everything is setup, you must keep the site up-to-date • Who will do the updates? • How often? • What’s really needed?

  11. Content Management • Setup and Design of the Site • User can login and change text with no technical knowledge • New pages can be added easily • Additional features that were not need initially can be added quickly

  12. Email • You should have an email address with your domain name, e.g., liz@zumu.com • This is the email you should print on business cards and sales material • If you don’t want to have more than one place to check your email, you can always forward email • People often use email address to find company websites

  13. What Should I Have on My Website • Business Name, Address, Phone Number, Logo • What you do! (services, products) • Business Hours • Product Photos • Pricing Information • About Us • Contact Us (email, phone, form, etc.) • Directions • Credit Cards Accepted • Upcoming Events

  14. What Should Not Be On Your Website • Broken Links • Old, out of date information • Spinning, flashing, blinking • Advertisting that is not yours! • Hard to read text • Unclear images

  15. Build It and They Will Come • Publish your website address. Include it on all your sales material. • Make sure your site can be found using the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN) • Try to get your site on the first page of search. The top three is better. First is best. • Title Tags and Meta Tags are the most important components of search engine listings. • Utilize other sites to get your site out there, e.g. Chamber of Commerce sites, town sites, municipal groups, etc.

  16. Who Looks at My Website? • Almost any service you host with should provide statistics about your site. • Google allows you to embed code so you can get statistics • www.google.com/analytics

  17. What Statistics Tell You • Number of Unique Visitors • Number of Hits • Monthly, Weekly, Daily, Hourly History • IP addresses of visitors • Robot and Spiders that stopped by • Duration of the visits • Pages visited

  18. How to Use Your Website Effectively • Collect email addresses from customers and website visitors • Use email list to send information about discounts, sales, and special events • Add new pages for sales and special events • Create reasons for people to go to your site • Provide useful information for customers • Gather feedback from customers using web forms

  19. How Often Should You Change Your Website? • It really depends upon your business • But you must update it as often as needed • Pricing should be up-to-date • Menus should be up-to-date • Pictures should be up-to-date

  20. Tips & Tools • Useit.com • Allbusiness.businessweek.com • NJentreprenure.com • Google.com • NY Times Small Business • Trentonnj.org • www.zumu.com

  21. Questions & Comments

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