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Part 2 - The Small Business Website

The all-important centerpiece for your online marketing campaign.

Think of your small business website as "Web Marketing Central." It's the all-important centerpiece to your online marketing strategy. If people find you through one of the other elements of the web presence listed above, they can then move on to your website for the "prized content."

Build as much value into your website as possible. Load it up with helpful content, articles, tools, resources, industry news and more. Make it a one-stop-shop for information relevant to your business and the products / services you sell.

In web marketing circles, this is known as making your website "sticky." The more valuable the content you offer, the more likely people will be to stick around. The longer they stick around, the better the chance you have of converting them into customers.

Just keep in mind that the more content you add to your site, the neater things must be. Organize your website content so people can find things easily. Keep things clean and uncluttered. Within ten seconds, people should be able to identify the correct path to the information they seek or the product they want.

On a small business website, the goal is usually to lead visitors down a certain path. This path usually leads to a desired action, such as an inquiry, subscription or purchase. You can't fully control where people will go or what they will click on, but you can at least offer your preferred path and make it easy for people to follow.

On the other hand, when you overload your web pages with too many items, you end up dividing the reader's attention, creating unnecessary distraction, and increasing the likelihood visitors will leave your site altogether.

You should also incorporate some kind of response-generating mechanism into your website, and feature it in key areas across your site. We will talk about web-based lead generation in a later section of this guide, but it's worth mentioning briefly here. Lead generation is an area where a lot of business websites falter. Some companies have no form of lead generation whatsoever, while others use the always ineffective "call us to learn more" approach.

We will get more into lead generation later. For now, just remember to keep it in mind when thinking about your small business website.

Those are some of the fundamentals of an effective business website — quality content, organization, usability and lead generation. Now let's back up and talk about the first part of the process. Let's talk about building a business website.

The Many Ways to Create a Business Website

If you already have a business website (and you're happy with it), you can skip ahead to the next section. But if you don't yet have a business website, or you're thinking about getting a new one, the following information will be helpful.

Many business owners get stuck when it comes to creating a website. It's not a problem of having too few options — it's a problem of having too many options, and not which way to go. I believe the term is "analysis paralysis."

Unfortunately for consumers, there is no professional licensing or accreditation for web designers and developers. Anyone can hang out their sign and proclaim to be a web design company. As a result, web designers and developers run the gamut from incredibly talented to totally unqualified (and everything in between).

Here are four ways to get the website you want website within your budget:

1. Referrals from Trusted Sources

This is arguably the best way to find a web designer / developer, because you can find out about the person's customer service and personality, in addition to their professional talent. If you have a friend or colleague who has worked with a web designer — and you like the quality of work done on your colleague's website — then ask if they would refer that designer based on their experience.

2. Freelance Networks (Elance.com)

These days, there are quite a few websites that cater to freelance creative types (and the people who need their services). Elance.com is one of the best.

The best thing about Elance (and similar sites) is that you can get quotes / bids on projects without having to speak to people directly. Obviously, you'll have to speak to them eventually in order to make a final selection. But it's nice to receive multiple bids at once, and to be able to weed out the designers who are outside your budget or simply unqualified.

Signing up for Elance is simple, and at the time of this writing it did not cost anything to sign up. Here's how the basic process would work, if you were looking for a web designer through Elance:

1. 1. Post your project, being as descriptive as possible about what you want, how big your website will be, similar websites you like, etc. You can post a budget range if you want to, but I recommend leaving that out at first. See what people bid, instead.
2. 2. You will receive bids from web designers and developers. The professional types will send you a link to their portfolio of past project, and maybe even a list of referrals you can contact. If they only send a bid (and no portfolio or testimonials), I would ignore them entirely.
3. Pick the ones you like and contact them for any additional information you need (pricing details, past clients, etc.). I recommend choosing somebody who has been a member of Elance for at least two years, and has a good overall rating.
4. You will usually have to pay half of the project in advance, and the other half upon completion. Normally, you can pay right through Elance. This is nice because it gives you a level of security — as opposed to sending a check to a virtual stranger.

Like I said, Elance can be a great source of creative talent. Just be a smart shopper. Choose a designer / developer who (A) falls within your budget range, (B) has a large portfolio of past projects, (C) can put you in touch with referral / recommendation folks, and (D) has been a trusted member of the Elance community for some time.

3. Contact Me About Web Design

If neither of the options above pan out for you, I'd be happy to help with your website development project. Though I primarily focus on Internet marketing, SEO and related areas, I do offer website services to small business owners.

I can help you get a professional website online in a relatively short time, and I'll make sure it is well designed for future search engine visibility. You can learn more at my Internet marketing services website: www.austinseoguy.com

4. Create the Website Yourself

If you're not a web guy or gal, you might laugh at me when I say to create the website yourself. But these days, there are a variety of tools and technologies that can help Internet novices create and publish their own web presence.