With the current lock downs affecting small businesses and many losing their livelihood, how can small business survive?
Many believe they simply cannot, however others have used their websites to reach potential customers. Often this requires re-designing their current websites to allow for online sales, which can seem daunting to many.
At Creative TaLantz, we want to help, being a small business ourselves we understand that keeping business going while honoring the new guidelines is tough and being a web design company realize the pressures and headaches many face when considering a re-design, so how can we help you?
First like you we have more “time” at home, in our case it also where we do our business, so we can help you and your business by offering our services and help you redesign your website to be more aligned with online sales for those businesses that can work with that model by updating or revamping your website adding e-commerce.
This can apply to any current business, mainly because a current website if “static” meaning a website that was built and not updated, or is/was not set up for blogging/vlogging (video logging) or otherwise set-up for regular updates which causes a website’s search engine ratings to reduce over time, equating to lost reach to your customer base.
A simple way to help your search engine ratings is regular updates, and pictures, products, and videos drive ratings higher, and e-commerce on a secure site helps even further. If you are looking for help with your website Creative TaLantz is here to help you. Simply reach out to us directly by phone or email to get started and ask about our special Lock Down Pricing, and let’s start the dialog.
Everybody who considers and/or builds a website is generally thrilled upon it’s completion. It new its fresh, they definitely want to show it off and create a following of others who will share it with others and so on. Then after that newness passes, what happens?
My experience creating WordPress websites, has been incredible as it allows a client to almost immediately assume control of their website upon it’s completion. We discuss currency during and after the build, yet many take the importance of currency to heart. Unfortunately many allow there websites to become static, without updates and thus all of the initial work done to get them into search engines, and recognized locally and beyond starts to unwind.
Search Engines much like people will follow a website they like to see what new things they present, however if no new info is presented, both tend to take longer to return. You see both are a computer of sorts that gauges new content, to do so each must return. Initially coming back in a short period of time, if nothing new at that moment they may give another look a little further down the line. But if on the third visit they verify no new content both people and search engines will slow to a crawl and may or may not come back at all.
If you have a website and you hope for or rely on good search engine ratings or followers, it is imperative that you post a blog update, or add material to your site such as new pages, new gallery photos etc. Doing so keeps your visitors whether human or digital coming back and helps keep you working in the search engines.
I was chatting with a guy the other day and he knew I built websites. He said, you know what drives me crazy when I go to a company’s website? When they have a contact page with no way to contact a human (phone number), or worse yet when they don’t have a physical address listed.
He continued explaining from a user stand point that when he wants to buys something online he makes his decision based on how REAL the company appears to be online. Like the examples above phone numbers and physical address are important to would be customers.
What other things might steer a customer away from your business?
Is your website current? Meaning, things like is your copyright date this year or years old? Have you made an effort to post to your website letting both the search engines and human visitors see new information, or does your website resemble a years old post card, static with no changes over time.
The internet made an already impatient client base even more so. Our customers expect any company they do business with to have a website, and expect that it be current with relevant information and up to date posts, pictures and even video. All of these things are the basis of our reputation, failing in this results in a lesser reputation, and even worse less favorable search engine results.
If you don’t have a website and are considering one, let Creative TaLantz help get you started. I say started because our plan usually includes the building of the initial site and providing you a log-in to add your own additional info, posts (blog), pictures, and video (ie keeping your site alive).
If you already have a website that may be in need of a make over Creative TaLantz can help rejuvenate a dead website too. Call us today for a free consultation and let’s work together to improve your business image, and revive your old website, or create that new one you’ve been dreaming about.
Well after chasing after client sites for a few years I finally got some free time to upgrade my own Creative TaLantz website. Have a look and tell us what you think…
There’s always talk about how easy or not a website is to find in Google, and it can be daunting to get the stars aligned in a perfect arc… Google is considered the premier search engine for ranking by many, and they have “algorithms” that often change making it tough to get or keep your pages rated favorably.
Here are some good tips about how to improve your rankings in Google Search…
Every website we build gets a free basic Search Engine Submission, however to really increase your popularity a number of factors need to be considered. We do offer premium SEO submittals for an additional fee, that you may find well worth the money when increasing your views and hopefully converting these views into more sales.
Is your page active or alive?
If you are actively blogging regularly your site is ALIVE!
If instead, you have your site built and you choose not to blog, both your viewers and the search engines are less likely to come back, because they’ve already seen everything. In the first example, they come back to see what’s new, especially if it is important to them, additionally they may choose to share it with others.
You may already be on Twitter, but are you using it for promoting your website – and to get targeted visitors to your site? Twitter is a real powerhouse of traffic if you take a little time to learn how to do it.
How Does Twitter Work?
Twitter now allows users to post messages up to a total of 280 characters, which includes punctuation and spaces. Not only can you tweet via your computer but also through your mobile telephone networks as well. And given that most telephone services limits texting on your cell phones to 160 characters, Twitter opted to limit it to 140 leaving you with 20 characters for your username. The messages that you post are public and can be read by anyone who signs up to “follow” your twits. Read Twitter Basics For Websites to learn all about setting up and using a Twitter business account.
Getting Started
Create your company profile ?
Go to twitter.com and click sign up now. Enter your company name just as you want it to appear in the “Full Name” field. This is your user name or “handle” by which you will be known on Twitter. Use the shortest name that describes your company. Preferably your company or website name (without the .com) if its available and not over 20 characters.
Learn the Twitter lingo ?
Although Twitter seems easy enough, understanding the special terms used to communicate will make using this social network much more effective.
Personalize your profile – Go into Settings and give your company or website a face. Upload a picture, such as your logo or homepage screenshot. Then add the names of those who will be tweeting on the account. Its especially important to pay attention to to bio section. It is limited to 160 characters so you need to determine the best way to describe your website and/or what you do. Use some of your most important keywords. Space is limited to one line in the bio section, but you can go to the design tab and utilize the background image on your profile to post additional information.
Begin tweeting – Remember Twitter allows you to post messages only up to 280 characters long, including punctuation and spaces. Its also best to use a casual, friendly tone, or even some humor to keep your tweets from being too dry or boring. A good idea is to make your followers feel like insiders with behind the scenes looks at your company. Write tweets about breaking business news, post links to your website, as well as to other sites or articles you think your followers may be interested in.
Retweet Posts – especially tweets by others that you feel will be of interest to your followers. Always make sure your retweets provide value to your followers. This will eventually make you more visible to others who may not have found you otherwise.
Make Connections – Twitter isn’t just an advertising medium, its a Social Medium. Get out and communicate. Use the search box on your Twitter homepage to search for other professionals in your field. Use key terms, specific to your website such to search for mentions of these keywords by other websites, your visitors and potential visitors. When you find interesting tweets you can choose to follow those individuals who posted the tweets. Say hello to be personable. Twitter also has a Find People section to search for specific people, companies or websites by name.
Find out what people are saying about you -Type your company name, website name or products into the search box on your Twitter home page and discover where your company and products are mentioned.
Building Relationships ? Respond immediately to any complaints posted and send thank you notes to those who give praise. Offer helpful hints and quickly answer any questions or issues about your site or services.
Promote your Twitter account ? Promote your twitter account wherever you can. Post a Twitter badge on your website, connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Add your Twitter URL to your signature line for your email.
Tips to help you get the most out of Twitter:
Be sure your posts are interesting! – Its just as easy to choose to un-follow you as to follow you.
Follow others – The more people you follow, the more people will follow you.
Know your goals – Knowing your goals helps you determine what to post and when to post it.
Use shortened URLs – You only have 280 characters, and can often use more than the allotted space for the URL alone. Use the Bit.ly (http://bit.ly) to shorten the links you post.
Use DMs (Direct Messages) to send private messages to other Twitterers who are following you to personally address concerns.
Retweet Often, but make it good stuff! Retweeting is a common form of communicating on Twitter.
Pay attention to the Trending Topics on your Twitter search page. These most mentioned terms show you what most people are paying attention to right now and can be used for topics on your own Tweets.
Don’t spam people – by sending unsolicited @messages or DM’s.
Don’t post the same messages to a multitude of accounts, or tweet the same things over and over, or to a multitude of accounts.
Do not “follow churn” or follow and unfollow the same people over and over.
Ask for feedback – ask friends and followers to give you feedback on your website or products/services.
Facebook is one of the best Social Networking sites for website promotion. You can expect a big increase in your website business from the effective use of Facebook. This guide will help you develop your Facebook account to start sending more traffic to your site.
Many times, prospects will come to your Facebook page before visiting your website, so it’s important to make a good first impression. Your Facebook page should be the focal point for your business’s brand: the place where you project your company’s image to your customers and prospects. This is your chance to show the world what you’re business is all about.
Many people go to Facebook to connect to family and friends and people they have not seen in a long time. There are games to play, silly gifts to give and all kinds of other “Fun” things to do. However, here are many ways that Facebook can be used to promote your business as well. First, although Facebook has the option of creating a business account, it is better for you to set up a Personal Profile for yourself that will be solely used for the purpose of promoting your business. The reason for this is that a Business account on Facebook is limited in functionality.
According to its description of Business Accounts, Facebook states: “Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Social Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer. In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.”
Setting up your Profile
It is very important that you familiarize yourself with Facebook’s Terms of Rights and Responsibilities in order to make sure you are following their rules. For example, Facebook has a policy that does not allow people to maintain multiple accounts. Therefore, if you already have a personal account, you will either need to set up the company profile under the name of someone else in your company that does not already have an account with Facebook or forgo using your personal account for anything other than to promote your business.
Once you have created an account for your business, fill out your profile as completely as you can. This is your best advertisement and will help you start to establish your brand. Be sure and include your contact information along with your personal web site or blog URL. You can upload a professional or business casual head shot of yourself as your main profile photo in order to add to your professional image and put a personal touch on your page. If you wear a uniform all of the time, you may want to wear your uniform for your profile photograph. Remember you are your brand so you want to pay attention to all of the details that will help build your brand.
Be sure to include content that will build your brand strategy. This includes:
Regularly posting helpful links, suggestions and notifications Choosing a profile image that portrays your company’s branding, and is easily recognizable Posting photos that represent your business’s “personality” (remember, people buy from people, so include photos of yourself or your employees) Encouraging sharing and interaction among your Facebook followers Quickly responding to feedback in a professional way
Managing your Settings
As soon as you get your profile started, you need to go into the settings in your Facebook account and set your preferences that allow you to keep parts of your profile private. For example, you may want to have personal pictures there for your friends and family to see that you may not want clients to see. You have the ability to set your preferences so that only those you allow will see this personal information. You also have the ability to prevent others from posting to your page, or to keep updates from others’ pages from showing up as a post on yours. You don’t want to take the chance of something inappropriate appearing on your Facebook page.
Next, when setting up your page, Facebook offers 20 + pages of Applications such as the Blog RSS Feed Reader Ap, which you can customize to look like a mini version of your actual blog or web page, that allows you to integrate feeds from your company’s blog if you have one as well as to other social networking accounts that you have set up. Use the information tab of your profile to provide links to specific pages on your website such as your contact form or products and services page, along with information on how your readers can subscribe to your blog or newsletter.
Begin Networking!
Allison Driscoll’s 8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page lists 15 key steps that are relatively simple but will allow you to have maximize your success with using Facebook to promote your website:
1. Vanity URL: Now that you’ve gotten your Facebook up and running you can reach out and connect with potential customers and business affiliates. Facebook has added a Vanity URL feature that you can use to create web address which is specific to your page, is static and can be used to help others find your profile easier.
2. You can include your Social Networking URLs in the signature line on all of your emails as well as posted on your website. In addition, you can feature this unique URL on all of your business supplies such as business cards and letter head.
3. Search Feature: Use the Search feature at the top of your Facebook pages, using key terms such as Business Networking, Business Marketing, Intellectual Property and so on to look for people and businesses in your industry that you can connect with. A list will generate featuring People, Pages, Groups, Applications, Events, Web Results, Posts by Friends and Posts by Everyone found as a result of your key term search. Try multiple search terms, including pluralities of words to make the most out of your searches. Search often as new profiles are added to Facebook each and every day.
4. Start sending Friend Requests: Click on the link for People and scroll through the list looking for potential leads and contacts. Send friend invites to anyone who you feel would be a good contact for you and your business. As your list grows, you will also see that every time you refresh your home page, Facebook gives suggestions of others who you may potentially want to connect with based on those already in your friends list. Check there every time you fresh your homepage to see if there are others who may be of potential interest that you can also connect with.
5. Join Networking Groups: From your original search list, click on the link for Groups. Search for groups and fan pages that you feel are relevant to your business and industry that may be of interest to you or who’s fans you feel would benefit from your products and services.
6. Click the link to become a fan and then post a quick hello in the Write Something box to introduce yourself to others in the group. Go back often to the groups you join and post things that you feel will of interest to the group.
7. Create a Group(s) of Your Own: Go to your home page and click on the Groups link on the left hand side of the page. A list of the groups you are a fan of will pop up. There you can create a group or groups of your own that is pertinent to your industry and will be searchable based on the terms you feature in the title and within the posts that you and your “fans” post to the group. Make sure it is set so that your group members can invite their “friends” to join the group as well. Be sure and mention your Facebook group on your main Facebook page, in your blog and on your website. As more people come to your group, they will invite others to the join the group and the group will continue to grow.
8. Create a Discussion Board: Facebook features a Discussion Board Application that you can use in conjunction with your Facebook page. Featuring a Discussion Board allows you the opportunity to post interesting topics pertinent to your business and in turn enables your customers and potential prospects to tell you what they think, feel and desire. It will help you get to know your customers better putting you in a better position to customize your products and services to your customers needs.
9. Keep a Calendar of Events: If you are planning to attend or host a business function that will be open to the public or perhaps you will be traveling to a specific part of the country, post a calendar on your Facebook page (they have one in the 20+ pages of available applications) letting your readers know. Post upcoming events including webinars, conferences and any other upcoming events you will or someone from you business will attend or host.
10. Stay Active and Current: And post regularly on your Facebook Profile Page, Group(s), Fan Pages and on your Discussion Boards in order to keep your group members interested and coming back for more. Post interesting tidbits that are relevant to your field. Remember as each person connects with you, you have the potential to connect with everyone they are connected with.
11. Build Awareness: Facebook offers very affordable, targeted cost-per-click advertising options that can be laser-targeted to the city you do business in. You only pay per click, so costs are minimal. Also, a Facebook page or group can be created to help get the word out about your organization.
12. Distribute Information: Local businesses need to affordably communicate events, news, products and services. Facebook allows you to leverage your personal and professional contacts to share information– for free.
13. Create Community: Social networking serves to bring people together. Your local business can brand, build, and boost business by creating a Facebook page or group so your local contacts can converse with each other. Let your community become your best sales people and free focus group. Listen to the conversations and allow raving fans to share and get in on the conversation.
14. Offer Additional Customer Service: Through Facebook, you can answer questions, receive free feedback, promote events, and provide news to be of additional service to your locally-based audience. Facebook gives your prospective and current customers an additional web option to find and connect with you.
15. Boost Sales: Local businesses have to fight harder than ever to survive in this tough economy, but your business can have a competitive edge with Facebook. Tapping free social networking tools like Facebook to build awareness, share information, educate, build community, increase connection, and enhance customer service will all work in unison to make sales.
