Internet Marketing Ace

The current trend is for businesses owners with physical locations is to add an online component to their marketing arsenal. The website is your online component and is a way of marketing on the internet so that people can find out about your business and buy products while your business is closed or if the customer can’t actually visit your business. Of course, adding your own website is a great idea for any business wanting to bring in some extra profits, but there are some things to know before you begin building a profitable web site.

The very first piece to building a successful online solution to your offline business is to find a hosting service that is affordable and easy to use. Some are so difficult that you need to be a computer programmer to run and operate a site. Others aren’t so difficult, I would suggest a hosting package that includes cPanel as this is by far the easiest to use. It will also offer automated installation of several very content management systems, my favorite being wordpress. Some hosting services offer a template for you to enter photos and information. This is always helpful because products and services change, and the site must be altered to show these changes. I recommend HostGator or IX Webhositng for your hosting needs, both are affordable and reliable hosting solutions. Which both have Cpanel Type Management Systems included and that is very important to the ease of use when you put up your first website.

The hosting site also needs to allow for an e-mail address so that customers with questions can get in touch with business owners. Make sure the address isn’t something complicated. Also, make sure that the e-mail address is easily associated with the business such as owner@yourbusiness.com. This also goes for the actual web address for the business. Choosing a host that allows for you to have your own domain name should easily solve these problems. The trick is to avoid web addresses like http://www.hostingservice.com/business.htm. What you want is something like http://www.yourbusiness.com. I suggest you check out NameCheap.com for registering your domain names, they are affordable and allow the most flexibility with their domain.

Once you’ve chosen a hosting service that’s easy for you and your customer to operate, the next thing to do is to make sure that your site is user friendly for everyone. Be sure that links are clearly visible, and also be aware that customers hate to spend a lot of time searching for what they’re looking for. A logical site map should make it easy for customers to navigate your page. Adding a link to your site map often makes it easier for customers to have a clearer picture of your site’s layout. Text should be easy to read; don’t choose text that’s too fancy or difficult to read due to size and color. Headings should be in bold, and bulleted lists make it easy to get a brief overview of any subject. Always have navigation strips somewhere on the page so as to make it less difficult to get from page to page.

Your pictures should be of excellent quality, and they should be able to clearly explain your product without leaving the customer with too many questions about its attributes and/or use. Prices should also be clearly listed, and the price should appear somewhere near the items themselves to prevent confusion. Offering a search tool is a great way for customers to find specific products in your inventory and on your site with greater ease and efficiency. Finally, your site should have a check out procedure that allows them to pay for their items. Offering a variety of options including debit, credit, and online payment services such as PayPal will make it easier to draw and keep customers. Finally, be certain to offer your contact information including phone numbers, street addresses, e-mail addresses, and TTY machines for the deaf so that customers can get their questions answered.

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