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Making Things Work!
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Now that you've got your web
site, it's up to you to help
make it work. Posting your site
and submitting it to the search
engines does not automatically
and magically result in
business. You have to make sure
that people know where it is and
why they should visit.
Many small sized
companies make little or no
effort to actually use and
maintain their web sites once
they've been built. However,
with a little effort, your web
site can become a valuable
asset.
STEP 1: ANNOUNCE YOUR WEBSITE
Hopefully
you're very proud of your new
site and presumably that means
you'd like to tell people about
it. It's always helpful to start
with the basics, and telling all
your customers and friends about
your new site is a good way to
begin. There are several rather
obvious ways that anyone can do
this:
Through
E-Mail
E-mail everybody in your
address book, and if possible
and appropriate, ensure that
everyone in your company does
the same thing. But be careful!
This kind of e-mail can easily
be considered spam. Bear these
two important points in mind:
- Keep it short and
simple.
- Send your message as
plain text rather than html
mail.
By the
Telephone
Of course, your friends
will be delighted to hear from
you and excited by your new
site, so calling them to tell
them won't be a big deal.
However, for everyone else,
there are two rules to promote
your site by phone without
causing annoyance:
- Call to inform your
customers of a genuine
benefit to them regarding
your new web site.
- Tell them about it when
you next speak to them in
the course of business --
don't call them solely to
tell them about your site.
By Word of
Mouth
When you tell someone
about your new site, your
recommendation will have a
greater impact if you can hand
them a business card that shows
the URL (or at least write it
down for them). Your efforts
here will again have far greater
results if the people that you
talk to perceive some benefit in
visiting you site, such as
special offers and relevant
information on products and
services.
By Snail
Mail
The rules here are
pretty much the same as for
e-mail. The best way is to
either write a short
announcement that details a
specific benefit to be found on
your site, or include a small
note/paragraph in your regular
correspondence to clients.
Postcards are a good idea. You
can't fail to miss the URL, as
the message isn't hidden inside
an envelope, and there's only
room for small message --
keeping everybody happy!
STEP 2: PROMOTE YOUR NEW WEBSITE
Okay, now
you've told everyone about your
new site. What can you do in
order to reinforce your message
and further promote your online
presence?
E-Mail
You've
already mailed everyone in your
company's collective address
book -- what more can you do?
Loads of stuff. E-mail provides
an ideal way to both promote
your site and add value to your
customer service. Here are a
few ideas to get you started:
1) Staff
E-Mail Accounts
Ensure that everyone has
an @yourcompany.com e-mail
address and, more importantly,
make sure they use it. Make
these e-mail addresses available
on your site, and encourage your
customers to make business
inquiries this way.
And remember the
golden rule of e-mail: you must
ensure that the e-mail addresses
are checked regularly -- at
least once a day for most small
businesses. Not having their
e-mail answered will make your
customers feel unloved, and will
inevitably result in lost
business.
2) Create
a Standard Company Signature
Make sure that every
e-mail sent from your company
address has a proper signature.
This should be no more than four
lines long and contain useful
information such as the Name,
Position, Telephone and Fax
numbers of the sender, and of
course the company URL.
3) Create
Generic E-Mail Addresses
Most companies will have
need for addresses such as info,
sales, help, or
support@yourcompany.com Again,
make them easily accessible via
your site, and ensure that
they're checked regularly and
responded to appropriately.
Promote Your Site in Print
Here are
some ideas that should help most
small businesses.
1)
Stationery, etc.
Include your URL as well
as relevant e-mail addresses in:
- Letterheads
- Business cards
- Receipts
- Warranties
- Packaging
- Promotional items such
as pens, t-shirts, mugs and
bumper stickers
2)
Advertising
If your company
advertises in print media, then
it's essential that you get that
URL incorporated into your
artwork. Remember:
- The good old yellow
pages (expensive, but
effective)
- Leaflets and postcards
- Posters and billboards
- Newspapers and magazines
- Press releases
Your site can
act as the perfect extension to
your existing advertising
efforts. If someone is
interested in your ad, chances
are that a professional web site
with plenty of good quality
content will tip the balance
over your competition, who list
only their physical address.
3) The
Storefront
If you have one, you can
let passersby know that you can
now be found online, as well.
Your local print shop can
probably run off some posters
for you. And, if possible, get a
sign writer to add your URL to
the shop sign.
4) Run a
Website-Only Promotion
Create weekly/monthly
promotions that may be found
only on your site. This gives
you a great reason to tell
people about your site URL. And,
of course, if they visit with
the intention of checking out
the offer, they'll also be
exposed to all your other sales
initiatives.
STEP 3: KEEP PROMOTING YOUR SITE
So you've
spent a serious amount of time,
effort and money on the
integration of your new site
into your small business. You've
plastered the URL over
everything that moves, beaten
anyone not using their company
e-mail address with a big stick,
and you're feeling pretty
pleased with the results. So
what now? Sit back and take it
easy? Nope!
Here's where the
real work begins. Having built a
website and attracted some
traffic to it, your objective
now is to gain repeat visits and
referrals. What else can you
use? The areas we'll look at
are:
Repeat Traffic
Chances
are, you've gone to a lot of
trouble to encourage visitors to
your web site, so don't let it
be a one-time-only deal. Here
are some ideas that anyone can
use to maximize their site's hit
rate.
1) Provide
Regular, Fresh Content
People that have an
interest in what you do will
return if they believe they'll
find more information on
successive visits. If they come
back a couple of times and find
nothing new, they probably won't
ever come back. Adding a tip of
the week or coupon of the month
is a great way to get the ball
rolling.
2) Create
'Web Site-Only' Offers
This is also fresh
content, of course, and if you
do this regularly, you'll
increase repeat visits. Try to
time these offers to be just a
little more frequent than your
average repeat sale: that way
you can close the gap between
sale number one and two a
little. Be careful not to overdo
it, though.
3) Create
an E-Mailing List
In order to tell people
when you published fresh
content, especially new offers,
send out a newsletter to your
subscribers. Mailing lists are
very easy to set up and can
generate huge rewards to your
business if done properly.
Yahoo! provides a free and easy
service at Yahoo groups that you
might like to check out. There
are limitations in the number of
addresses that can be on any one
list (to help prevent spam), but
you can just set up Group 1,
Group 2, etc. to get around this
limitation.
4) Put
Technical Documentation Online
If you sell or provide
anything that requires
instructions or manuals, make
copies of them available online.
People lose manuals easily, and
it's a simple thing to tell them
that they can find the current
instructions/documentation on
your site -- which will, of
course, expose them to all of
your other material at the same
time.
Going The Extra Mile
What more could you possibly do?
Just use your imagination.
1) Write
for Complementary Sites
Find sites that relate
to your main focus and
contribute an article or offer
to write a regular 'column' in
return for a link back to your
site. They benefit from the
content, and you benefit from
the click-throughs. Try to
choose well trafficked sites, of
course.
2) Free
Stuff
Pens, t-shirts, mugs,
books of matches, etc. -- these
are all great ways of getting
that URL out. You might even try
free postcards.
3)
Discussion Groups and Forums
If, due to the nature of
your business, you're
particularly knowledgeable on a
given subject, try to find
e-mail discussions and online
forums that relate to your
topic. Make sure you have a
4-line signature at the bottom
of your posts that includes your
URL, and answer as many
questions and offer as much
advice as you can. You'll soon
see a whole bunch of new
visitors to your site. A note of
caution, though: no one likes a
spammer. Offer your advice for
free and don't dot your
e-mails/messages with links to
your site unless the pages you
link to actually answer the
poster's question.
4) Create
a Reciprocal Link Program
Make a page on your site
full of external links to
on-topic sources of further and
complementary information. When
you've done that, go through
those sites and send a short,
polite request to each of them
that they add you to their list
of links. The are called
reciprocal links. Don't worry if
they don't want to link to you,
and certainly don't remove them
from your list -- this is a nice
way to add value to your site
and demonstrates a certain
degree of authority on a given
subject. |
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