We’ve been featured once again on Big Start Ups for our posts on how businesses can better market themselves on the internet!
BigStartUps.com is a great place to network, collaborate, and comment on other entrepreneurs endeavors and efforts.
I’ve personally invited Dr. Tim Irving of OptFunction.com, TomRennie of AutoBellaUSA.com, and Dawn Rennie of TheKidsEdge.com to come and participate the discussion taking place at BigStartUps.com
Whether you are a small, medium, large, or monopoly-sized company, you must never neglect your company website. Internet users today have become wise to sub-standard sites in todays market place because of the saturation of beautiful presentation in online media. Simply put: people will leave your site immediately if it looks dated.
Many companies avoid this pitfall by having a fully-dedicated staff of creative and web professionals who can integrate positive user-interface trends. Oh, but your a small company? Well, you don’t have the resources of a large web company but you can find some resources that can help you look like one.
Get someone who is dependable and very good at web design, development, and search marketing strategy. There are a lot of web designers in the world and not every one of them is going to compliment your style, so you can afford to be a little picky. Just make sure to find someone that is willing to work with you and can back up their resume with results.
Now this might be a hard pill to swallow, but, you might not know your business as well as you think you do. More often than not, when a designer puts together a composite design for a company website, they often expose weaknesses in product photography, marketing demographics, and user interface design. Keep this in mind when giving your designer directions on what you want your site look and function like.
Your business has a lot of information to give its customers about product, services, and specials. Designers specialize in highlight specific assets in your business or how to ‘fit 10 pounds of mud in a 5 pound box’. You should remember this and allow your designer some creative freedom, they might expose some gaps in the armor that is your business.
There is a big difference between a great web design trend and a passing web design fad. A positive web design trend can help your viewers better navigate your site to find information on products and services. A fad might be a distraction that can add to the ‘ooh-aah’ factor, but detract from your site’s message and overall professionalism.
Some fads in past have been some types of rollover buttons, pop-up windows, and distracting flash displays. These can be a pleasant compliment to your site, if done correctly. However, most times these ‘fads’ will detract from the important information, rather than aiding it.
There are numerous facets to considering formatting information for your website. Here are somethings to remember: highlight your primary product or service, make your site easy to navigate, and make sure your customer can get the information they need immediately. I know it seems like a lot but you have to make your site as informative as possible without sounding like you’re going on and on and on and on and on…
The trick is to keep your copy short and sweet; make your viewers WANT to read more! Too many websites have a dictionary worth of words on a single page telling customers how to use the product, when to use it, why they absolutely need it, and so on. Tease your customers with a little paragraph and give them the option to ‘click here and read more!’ This allows your viewer-ship the ability to access more information without feeling overwhelmed with a novel’s worth of information.
Choosing the right images for your sight can help drive sales. That’s right, I said it, if you chose the right photography to help illustrate the mood people feel when they purchase or interact with your product you can drive more sales. Studies have shown that people will identify and even follow the line-of-sight of strategically placed photographs in a website.
There are many places around the web where you can great stock photography without blowing your budget on a professional photographer: fotolia.us, istock.com, and some of the more inexpensive ghetty images.
Having the help of the fastest growing community on the web can’t hurt. Search engine optimization is a service which enhances your businesses listing on Google, Yahoo!, Bing!, and other major search engines. By authoring industry and geographic specific information into your website, you have a much greater chance of being seen by spiders and crawlers.
Having a great search engine optimization package allows great exposure for your website, which in turn, means better exposure for your business.
Having a great company website that is informative, looks great, and is functional is like having a salaried sales person that never takes a day off and never sleeps. Your company website, if executed properly, should generate a number close to the original investment within a year. This kind of passive marketing is crucial given the attention of todays customers!
Users are relying more and more on the internet to help them gather information on services, products, and companies. A small or medium sized business can simply not afford to miss this golden opportunity to market their business. Stop hesitating and take action today!
The Kids Edge is a children’s clothing store at 2200 NE Broadway in Portland OR. Dawn keeps her shelves stocked with the very best in gently used children’s clothes.
I’ve stopped into the shop a few times and Dawn has made a really great storefront in a growing area. They have great murals on the walls and even have an HD TV set up with guitar hero on it. Now I’m not too much of a trendy guy, but if I had kids, I absolutely wouldn’t mind shopping at The Kids Edge.
The Kid’s Edge prices are very competitive and Dawn is hyper-selective about what she shelves in her store. She has major brands represented as well as local artists who make bags, shirts, coats, and a lot more!
~Dan Selleck, Owner, Unleashed Small Business Marketing
I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed watching Dawn’s business grow. I was recently told that the volume of calls has jumped up quite a bit since I took The Kids Edge on as a client. Our organic and local search engine optimization campaign has given Dawn the ‘edge’ over her competitors.
I highly recommend that if you have children that love the latest trends to stop in and see what Dawn has on the shelves at The Kids Edge.