You’ve picked a web designer, paid the deposit and now you sit back and watch you’re online presence before your very browser. Well, not exactly. There are things you can do to save yourself money. After all, you run a small business and every dollar counts.
1. Register the Domain
For people that like domains, this is fun. It’s just like naming a child or pet. There are some things to consider to make it user friendly, however. Don’t pick one too long. Make sure that if it has several words in it, there isn’t a hidden undesirable word in the middle. Make it easy to remember, and if you are buying extra domains to forward to your main site, make sure there is content on each of those pages. Google won’t care about empty domains – they won’t add anything to your rankings.
2. Prepare your Content
If you did OK in high school, and paid attention in English, you may be able to handle the content of the site yourself. Being a small business owner, you may already be comfortable writing about yourself and your business. For some this comes naturally. Others (especially those with a busy schedule) will need a copy writer. I highly recommend using a copywriter anyway, but in the interests of cutting costs (and if you have the skills) there is no reason why you can’t do it yourself.
3. Proofread Your Content
Of course you wouldn’t include typographical errors on purpose, but they may be there anyhow. Having someone else read through what you wrote is essential before you let your customers judge you for lack of attention to detail. Pick a handful of people in your address book and forward them your literary masterpiece.
4. Choose the Images
Stock libraries are everywhere, and most have a fantastic range of images that are ready for adding to your website. Search for subjects, moods or colours to find the ones that will match your site. Download each one, zip it and email to your designer. They will thank you for it!
5. Promotion
Once your site is live, nobody will know it’s there. This is where you come in. Login to Facebook, Twitter, or whatever else you use for networking and post messages announcing the arrival of your new baby. Include quotes from the home page, a summary of what the site is about, or a teaser line; something like ‘Want to know what’s new in town?’ or something imaginative, linked with your site’s subject.
6. Your Email Signature
Naturally, you will want everyone who gets an email from you to know that you have a website, so add a link to your signature. Most email clients will let you use HTML. Instead of the unsightly http://www.domainname.com, use text that describes your site, then make it a link to your site. Using the site name is a good idea, or a line to describe what the site is about.
7. Blogging
Blogs are a great way to drive traffic to your site. Write about the launch of your site; copy/paste excerpts with catchy headings; include pictures from the site. Your blog will act as an inward link and when you promote your blog on places like Blog Catalog you will be attracting even more people to your site via your blog.
8. Blogging Part 2
Visit other blogs and post comments, including your website address. Instead of using your name in the Name box, use a description of your site. Your name will be the link to your site, so just like other inward links, the link will describe your site for you when the blog is crawled by Google. Google knows that http://www.JimmyPhotography.com is the link to http://www.JimmyPhotography.com, but if you use Pro Wedding Photographer, Google has just learned what the site is actually about.
9. Browse
Knowing your competition is imperative. Google (or, I guess, BING) the search terms that you think people would use to find your site, and check out the other results. Find out what they are using for content, how they are marketing themselves, and how they talk about their business. If you have your site set up on a Content Management System (so you can edit your own site), this will help you edit and write your content. It will also help you choose images, because you can see the stock images that everyone else uses. The more you visit stock libraries, the more often you will see familiar images pop up everywhere. Try something different, look a little different, and catch someone’s eye.
10.Watch the Numbers
Ask your designer/developer to set up your site with Google Analytics so you can see how many people are visiting your site. I should warn you – this activity is highly addicting! Just like watching stock prices go up and down, you will be intrigued by the number of people visiting your site, where they come from, where they are going and how long they stay. You can also bug your developer (nicely) about where and how people are visiting and see if there is anything you can do to promote the numbers, or get results from other places. You may just have to quit your job to watch Analytics!
So that’s ten things you can do to help the process. This isn’t doing work for the designer or developer, this is just helping the process along, and in some cases saving you money. Hope you love your website!