About / Blog / 2015

Small Businesses: Making Your Mark On The Web

As a current or future small business owner, making your mark on the web is imperative to your business's success and longevity...but where do you begin?I recently had the opportunity to present to the University of Georgia's Small Business Development Center on this very topic, "how and where to begin making your mark on the web as a small business owner". The presentation slideshow is available, and I've included key talking points below. Protect Your Brand Regardless of the size of your business, defining who you are as a brand sets the stage for everything you do including your web presence. So who are you? Begin this thought process be defining your core values. Core values are the guiding principles that determine how you conduct yourself, your actions and behaviors. Your core values become the launching point from which you will develop your brand and culture. Next up, define your mission statement and key messages. A mission statement should serve as a constant reminder of why you are in business in the first place. It may be just a few sentences but it becomes as important as your business plan. If you need some assistance developing your mission statement, checkout this inciteful article and video from Entrepreneur.com http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230. Key messages are an easy way to get everyone within your business "speaking the same language", so develop some "perfect descriptions" within a sentence or two that sets you apart from the competition. A graphical representation of your brand and message is critical to your business as well. A quality logo is one of the most defining elements of your brand! From coloration to font and everything in between, a logo establishes your identity and serves as a visual cue. When your logo allows us to identify the company its associated with without even seeing the company name--jackpot! So, where are you to turn for a quality logo? We recommend LogoTournament.com, which simplifies the logo creation process and makes what can be a very costly process very affordable. Simply fill out a creative brief, set the "prize" amount for your tournament and watch the designs flow in! You pick the winning designer to receive the prize at the end of your tournament and in turn you get an awesome logo!Getting StartedOnce your business's brand and messaging are clear, its time to begin making your mark on the web! Acquire a solid domain from a reputable registrar. GoDaddy is our domain registrar of choice. What do I mean by "solid"? Your domain should be short, sweet and to the point. Avoid long domain names with non-alphanumeric characters that are difficult to remember or are easily misspelled.Make your e-communication shine with branded e-mail. Small businesses using free gmail accounts or personal AOL to communicate with their clients is a personal pet peeve. Its a definite strike against professionalism, but is easy to avoid. Branded email uses your business's domain name (you@yourbusiness.com) rather than the domain of a third-party (you@gmail.com). Google Apps for Business not only makes branded email easy-peasy, but a business account comes with a host of other business productivity applications to make your life easier such as shared calendars, Google drive for file storage and document collaboration and shared contact lists. The cost of Google Apps for business is $50 per user per year.Get social, as in social media! Social media is now the #1 activity on the web and 73% of online adults use social media--it is now a marketing necessity. The question for any business isn't whether you will participate in social media, but how well will you manage your brand on social media. Even before you begin working on a website, you should establish a social media presence. If your business is a B2C (business-to-customer) then Facebook is a must. Facebook is still by far the most used social media platform, and a business Facebook page is easy to start, but don't stop there. Your business' Facebook page needs your attention. Post regularly, including promotional and non-promotional content, taking care to reply to comments and messages from your customers. For the B2B (business-to-business), LinkedIn is your friend. Setup individual profiles and a company page and get to networking. In addition to posting regularly on your LinkedIn profile and company page, join groups and begin networking with others within your industry and also within your potential customer base. Don't forget to join groups dedicated to your business or personal associations and clubs. Sometimes, these can be your best source of future business and partnering.The most important social media platform for your search engine ranking is Google+. For this reason, its important for all businesses to have a Google My Business page. When a post is made to Google+, its indexed by Google within seconds and displayed in relevant search results. If you are a brick and mortar business you'll want to choose the Google My Business Local option. This action literally places you on the map--the Google map, that is. Your business location will have a marker on Google maps and map listings are often automatically placed at the top of Google search results.If your business is in its infancy, consider forwarding your registered domain to your Google My Business page to establish an easy-to-access landing page for your business complete with all the necessary content such as location, hours and services. Use these social media platforms and free tools to work your content, particularly in the early stages, and generate excitement and following for your brand. Remember that every post should not be a sales pitch. Just be geniune and follow your core values.Considering Your First WebsiteOnce you have established your brand and begun to develop a customer-base or following through social media, now is the time to consider your first website. You may be puzzled by this approach but consider this short case study ... A personal trainer (PT) recently came to us as a new client. This PT had a brick and mortar studio. As a B2C business, the PT had been very active on social media, particularly Facebook. A social media schedule was in place for making regular posts, including demonstration videos, encouraging posts of customer success stories and motivational industry related content. Very few posts were direct promotions. In fact, most were celebrations of her client's successes. The quality of the content being posted was generating brand presence, excitement, and most of all, business! This PT had been putting social media to work and doing a great job of it. The business's growth and social media following propelled the need for a website. To prepare for the next steps, the PT reviewed existing websites of leaders in the industry to get ideas from their web presence. After all, if you want to be successful then do what successful people do!When business growth propels the need for a website there are two high-level options to first consider: do it yourself (DIY) or outsourcing. When considering DIY, you as the business owner need to honestly evaluate your own capabilities, understanding your strengths and admitting to your limitations. Do you consider yourself to have these characteristics needed for a successful website?