I Need A Website For My Small Business

let's talk!

I Need A Website For My Small Business?

Without a real Web site, you lose your ability to:

  • Differentiate yourself
  • Create authority and street cred with customers and within your industry
  • Spread ideas
  • Get social
  • Take advantage of Universal Search’s ranking power
  • Benefit from the engines bias to show local results
  • Share your company story and information
  • House your own community
  • Save costs by answering frequently asked questions
  • Target your specific neighborhood (defined by zip code, points of interest, ideas, etc)
  • Build an email list.

I Need a Website Built

Why Your Small Business Needs a Website

I Need A Website: Now What?

Identify the purpose(s) of the site: Not all small business Web sites have the same goal. Some want to simply promote the product, while others are looking to promote their ideas or build an active community. Give some thought to what you want to accomplish before you consider anything else. You’d be surprised how it changes your perspective.

Get your domain: In most cases, the domain name you choose will probably be very similar to your business name, however, that’s not always the case. Back in 2008, I detailed how to pick a kickass domain name. I think the advice there still holds.

Get hosting: This is typically where small business owners start eyeing the door. They’re cool with coming up with a wicked domain name, but for some reason “hosting” sounds scary. If you’re a small business owner, there are plenty of very affordable hosting options available that will get you up and running for less than $10 a month. Your hosting plan should also allow you the opportunity to create a [[email protected]] email address – make sure you set that up to give you some added street cred.

Hire someone to design it: You don’t need a fancy, feature-heavy Web site in order to promote your small business on the Web, but you do need one that looks professional. If you can’t do it yourself, hire someone to give you a hand. And hire doesn’t necessary mean “give them money”, never underestimate the power of free pizza and “real life work experience” to a college student.

Create your content: Again, you’re not Sears or CNN. You don’t need a huge Web site over flowing with content. You just need to give potential customers some place trusted to land that tells them who you are and what you’re about. That means creating (at minimum) your Home page, Product or Service pages, an About Us page, and a Contact us page to share information about who you are and what you do, but also to localize your business through content.