==== ==== For more information on Building A Website please check this out; www.alexiskenne.com/online-business/why-every-offline-business-needs-a-website ==== ====
As more and more consumers are turning to the internet to research local buying opportunities, small, locally-based businesses without an internet presence are really losing out on one of the most cost-efficient, effective forms of advertising for their business. Even entrepreneur.com published a lenghty article discussing why every small business needs a website. The old way of thinking that you need to shell out thousands of dollars to a designer and have a big, complicated site for your business is, in my opinion, outdated. Since you conduct your business offline, your website only needs to serve as an advertisement for your business, not a method of doing business. By having a site that is optimized to show up for local searchers and combining that with an effective, direct-response message to get those visitors into your business, you can have an advertising medium that is out working for you and your business 24/7! WHAT TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU HIRE A DESIGNER Before you rush out and hire a designer, there are a few things you should consider.....
Does the designer have any marketing or advertising experience? Many designer do awesome work, but their minds are geared toward appearance rather than business functionality. You want a nice, professional, catchy site, but you need to remember that the real value in the result the site produces for you. A site obviously does no good if nobody sees it. Furthermore, it does no good if the right audience does not see it. If you sell landscaping services in Cleveland, what good does it do you if someone in San Francisco sees your site? How many ways can your business benefit from having a site? A website is a great tool, you can send current customers to it, use it to draw in new customers and many other useful tasks. For example, when I design a site, I like to include a way for visitors to "opt-in" to receive emails from the site owner. The enticement is usually some sort of coupon or other valuable tidbit. This is awesome for a couple of reasons. For one, it makes the visitor more vested in you and your business and hopefully provides the enticement to either come into your business or call. Secondly, the site owner can now legally send an email to the people who have opted in. Imagine having a list of 500 names and email addresses that you can automatically send an email to promoting a new product or a special offer. This is very powerful! What kind of ongoing support does the designer offer? Will you just be handed a site or will the designer provide hosting? If hosting is provided, how much does it cost and what does it entail? Does the hosting include revisions or do you need to pay every time your site is updated? Basically, unless you know your way around the technical parts of a website, having your designer on hand to host the site and make changes is a good idea. Some designers charge a flat fee just
for hosting and then if you need revisions you pay their hourly rate. Other designers offer a more broad package that may include a certain number of revisions every month plus other services to keep your site performing well. This is just one of the areas you must thoroughly research with your designer before signing up.
My company normally charges a flat fee for all the design work and then a monthly hosting fee which includes unlimited revisions and other proactive services designer to keep your site performing well and generating leads for your business. So, if you are small, local business without a website you should seriously consider having one because your competition probably does!
Brian is the owner of Medina Web Marketing, a small design company in Northeast Ohio catering specifically to the internet marketing needs of small, local businesses. You can learn more by visiting their site at [http://www.alexiskenne.com/online-business/why-every-offline-businessneeds-a-website]. ==== ==== For more information on Building A Website please check this out; www.alexiskenne.com/online-business/why-every-offline-business-needs-a-website ==== ====