Like you, I receive (and give) business cards at networking events — and it just astounds me how only 1 or 2 out of 10 business cards I receive have a website address. And maybe only 1 out of those same 10 has their own domain name, i.e. (yourowndotcom.com).
It’s way past the time for businesses, small or Fortune 500, to take a serious look at their online presence. There are many networking or website how-to’s for beginners available — meanwhile, I’d like to let you in on the Top 5 common misdeeds of business owners and save your business’ credibility online).
5) ARE YOU USING A FREE DOMAIN NAME? AND FREE HOSTING?
Buying your own dotcom can cost as little as $10 a year. And you need a place to store your website files, mine costs about $20/month. You can cover your domain name and hosting cost in about an hour’s worth of work. This way, your website isn’t sprinkled with ads posted by free hosting providers.
Giving out a free domain name or subdomain (like yourbusiness.multiply.com) says “I’m too much of a cheapskate to get myself a proper web address… and I have no idea how important that is.”
Added bonus? You can use [email protected] and give the same to your employees instead of using a free yahoo or hotmail account.
4) DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO ACTUALLY VISITS YOUR SITE?
You keep track of your direct mail letters and cold calls, don’t you? So why don’t you monitor who visits your website and what they do? Do they visit and leave right away? Or stay awhile and read what you have to say… and very possibly place an order or sign up to be contacted later on?
Maybe websites can’t quite track all the names of those who visit but you can monitor where they come from and what they do. Don’t miss out on this valuable information.
3) HAVEN’T YOU NOTICED YOUR NOWHERE NEAR PAGE 1 OF THE GOOGLE RESULTS FOR ?
And you’re not doing anything about it? There are 2 ways to get noticed on Google search results for your product name or service. Either a) pay for ad spots on the search results via Google AdWords; or b) search engine optimisation.
Search engine marketing is a very intricate process; not an exact science. You have to show the search engines that your website is relevant for that product name or service. Submitting your webpage to top directories, publishing articles relevant to your product or service, and building more links going toward your website or a few of the techniques you can use.
2) DO YOU MAKE IT HARD FOR A WEBSITE VISITOR TO CONTACT YOU?
Make it easy for the site visitor to reach you. Should they call you to place an order? Display the number in big, clear letters right at the frontpage! Not at the bottom in tiny text.
It’s easy to sign up for a free guestbook (although it looks rather unprofessional). Have a clear action for the site visitor to do when they visit your site. Meanwhile, our blogging services comes with a contact form.
1) CAN THE SIGHT- OR HEARING-IMPAIRED READ WHAT’S ON YOUR SITE? HOW ABOUT EVEN JUST THOSE ON DIAL-UP CONNECTION?
Put yourself in their shoes. If you’re a Windows user — have you stopped to consider if your webpage looks readable to Mac users? Skip those flashy animations — I always “Skip Intro” even though I have a broadband connection. They’re usually ‘noise’ or not value-adding to what I need to know about a company.
