Look for these capabilities when selecting your website team:

• Web design and Web 2.0 capabilities
• Programming
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Hosting
• E-commerce
• Blogs and Portals

Why do I need a website?

For starters, today the public expects virtually every business and organization to have a website. It has become as essential as having a telephone or fax number, printed brochure or retail location. In some instances a company conducts all of its business functions through its website – so having a well-designed one is critical to sales and increasing profits. Customers, shareholders, prospects, job seekers, competitors, and journalists now search the web rather than the Yellow Pages or other sources when trying to locate a specific business or one specializing in a particular industry, service or product.

Tip: The company name is always a good choice for your web address (URL), but it’s not the only option. If a keyword phrase can be worked into the URL, it can positively impact your rank in search results. Avoid using abbreviations for longer names because those aren’t as easy to remember.

What is a website used for?

Several years ago, websites where basically an online billboard to post basic information about the company and a means of getting in contact. This type of website usually displayed the same information to all visitors. Similar to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, this static-type website generally provided consistent and standard information for an extended period of time.

Now websites have become very dynamic. In addition to the “static” information, they are frequently updated with company and industry news, and customers can shop online and track every process of their purchase, watch video about products, and even leave comments that are beneficial to the business. Some businesses have taken advantage of current and emerging technology capabilities to make a website visit interactive. Blogs are one example of a way to engage customers in conversation. Some popular blogs have even become businesses themselves.

How can a website support your business objectives?

• Expand the effect of a print ad. Print space is limited, but by adding your website address you can provide a link so a reader can get additional information about your company via the Internet.
• Education potential clients about what you do (and why your company is the best choice over the competition).
• Make it easy for customers to contact you with questions and concerns. Being accessible and responsive can help develop your customer relationships.
• Save time. Some companies waste time by repeatedly providing the same information either by phone or in person. Having a section on your site that provides answers to frequently asked questions is a great time-saver.
• Provide online reports, manuals, and other content heavy documents so they can be downloaded or printed on demand (saving you printing and shipping costs).
• Make it easier for clients to find you. Include a detailed road map on your site, and make things even easier for customers by indicating parking lots and transportation routes.
• Publish a calendar of events. Dates and details can be added daily.

What kind of website do I need?

When developing a business website, it’s important to ask and answer questions in order to know what you need to include on the website.
• Who’s my target audience?
• What am I trying to achieve?
• Will I try to sell things on the site (e-commerce site)?
• How much do I want to spend?
• Do I want to use my business name for the site’s URL?
• Will I have content that needs to be updated frequently?

Visit some competitor’s sites and see how the user experience works. It’s easy to get caught up in how you are presenting your company, but you must think about how visitors will use your site. If you are often asked the same questions, make this information easy to find. If your service is new, explain it. Always think about your site from the user’s viewpoint. If you know what your target customer is looking for, you will know what your site needs to provide.

What content do I add to my website?

Depending on the website you’re developing, there are a number of things that you can add to build awareness for your business.
• Write specific descriptions about your company and its services
• Introduce your staff and clients
• Validate your company with historic content about your business
• Post good reviews or testimonials from satisfied customers
• Advertise offerings and services
• Publicize sales and special offers
• Showcase products with attractive photos
• Add corporate brochures and newsletters
• Establish an archive so older material can be retrieved
• Include a map and directions, along with business hours, if your clients need to visit you

A “content-rich” website with relevant and informative information pertaining to your products and services will satisfy users (as well as search engines, see below). Perhaps more importantly, easy navigation of all of this great content is vital to your site’s success – so make sure it’s user-friendly. If visitors can’t find what they are looking for, they won’t stay, muchless return.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization – the process that’s used to get more visitors to your website through search engines. If it’s important that people find your website through Google or Yahoo (and it probably is), building a site with SEO is essential.

SEO is developed during the programming and writing stages of the website. Web programmers incorporate information, in “tags,” into the back-end programming of every webpage. This information, such as keyword, description, and title tags, is hidden but holds some of the most important information for search engines. These tags really benefit search results when they work in concert with the page content. Keyword phrases alone don’t count for much, but when they correspond to the text and the links on the page, search engines value them more, and this can beneficially affect your page rank. Find a way to integrate keywords and description phrasing into your copy while preserving the quality of the content.

Even if you are familiar with websites and how they work, it’s ideal to hire a web design firm because they know the ins and outs of SEO techniques. A professional copywriter who understands SEO can also assist you in developing optimized content for your pages. It’s important to get it right because it will help you with online marketing efforts.

Tip: Having fresh, regularly updated content and links are important parts of SEO. If your site is updated regularly, it gives the search engine crawlers a reason to return to your site, and the more often they return, the better for your search results.

Whether you’re a retailer with things to show and sell, a restaurant with a menu to display, or a dance school that shows video of its classes, websites are important to any and every type of industry. A website has given businesses a very powerful tool previous generations lacked: One that can communicate its message across town, or across the country. If you’re in the business of making money, then you should make it your business to get a website.

Some basic components of the SEO process:

• Title Tag - Should contain major keywords of the page.
• Description Tag - Describes the page.
• Keyword Tag - Uses words that are relevant and a priority to your business.
• Main Content - Here you can work with the above tags to write the main content on every page. Find a way to integrate keywords into your copy while keeping the quality of the content.