Put your best face online!

When you're running a small business, or a business from home, it is more important to have a website that stands out amoungst the rest then if you were a large business that has been around for many years.

Starting out in business, or taking your small business to the next level can be a challenging task, so the more larger, more professional face you can show to your potential clients the better you'll do.

These days websites are the best way to create a great first impression - and we know that first impressions count!

Two of the most important questions you need to answer when you are planning a web site are:

1. What are the key goals you want your web site to achieve for your business?
2. What applications, functionality or design will you need to achieve them?

Some common business goals and applications that you may want to consider are:

• Capturing leads for your products and/or services
• Building a customer database for marketing purposes
• Selling products/services online
• Capturing bookings for your events
• Building a community around your business
• Servicing your customers or providing Member Only content
• Showcase visually an offering or product

Determining the goals of your website are just as important as planning the design!

If someone Googled you...

If someone Googled you or your business online what would they find? It is a greate exercise to go and have a look for yourself.  You might be surprised to find that what you discover isn't exactly what you'd expect.

If you did find yourself there then you need to think about whether or not you're happy with what you found.  Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers.  Are you easy to find?  Are your search terms relevant?  Is the information you're providing what it is you really want to say?  These are some questions that we ask our clients to ensure that they are getting the most out of their website.  These are also questions you should be asking yourself!

If you didn't find yourself online why is that?  Do you not have a website for your business, or did it just not come up?  If this happens then you should be thining more seriously about how you can get noticed online and make it easier for customers to find you.

Having a website is a must for all businesses, not just those that want to sell their products online.  Most people these days do a lot of research online before contacting businesses so that they are armed with lots of information before making their enquiries.  Your potential customers will be doing this to, and if they can't find YOU specifically then they will just go somewhere else - just think about how that affects your business!

Whitespace is a good thing

'Whitespace' is what it says - the blank space on your website that is not used for text or images. Liberal use of whitespace makes a page look less cluttered and allows the reader to find information more easily - and in turn allowing you to get your message across more effectively.

White or very light coloured backgrounds are best, sites with dark backgrounds are hard to read for extended periods. The successful web sites with a lot of visitors all use a white background.  Take note when you're surfing around the Internet at the proportion of sites that have a white (or very light) coloured background versus those with a dark background.  Which do you prefer?

Spring clean your website

Well its that time of year where the weather is warming up and we find the post-winter motivation to get all those domestic things done around the house and get ready for the summer months.

In business, come spring time, we’ve settled into the new financial year, have our plans in place for growing the business over the coming year and are geared up for a great 12 months.  One thing that we find however is that many businesses forget about how important their website is to their business.  The Internet is such an integral part of our daily lives now that many people will go to the Internet first in order to find out information about a business before making any other contact.

If you were to put yourself in the shoes of potential clients consider these questions when looking at your website:

Are you happy with the way your website looks?

Do you think it accurately reflects your business?

Is the information up to date?

If you answered NO to any of those questions then now is the time to look at how you can “Spring Clean” your website and make it accurately reflect your business and make you stand out from your competitors.

Food for thought!

For what purpose?

"For what purpose do you need a website"...  This is a question that I always ask potential clients as I believe that you should have a clearly defined purpose for having a website.

These days your website should form an integral part of your overall marketing activities.  Think of it like this...  You would have some flyers printed and sent out to potential new clients without having clearly defined your goals and desired outcomes.  Probably not!  Your website should be the same.

Here are some statistics that will help demonstrate how important it is for a business these days to have a good, professional looking website "with a purpose".

73% of people have access to the Internet

83% of people in a managerial role use the Internet

60% of Internet users purchase products online

50% of Internet users access the Internet daily

Australia is 10th on the list of Internet penetration.  The USA is 17th.

Some food for thought?  I think so!

*ABS statistics for 2006/2007.