If you’re wondering whether you should be using Twitter, here are 5 reasons why you should:

1. Follow trends – Keep track of what’s being discussed based on keywords
2. Make announcements – Use Twitter as part of your media strategy
3. Stay informed – Twitter has become the place where breaking news breaks first
4. Network – ‘Meet’ new people with similar interests and have (short) conversations
5. Generate website traffic – Always link back to your website when making an announcement

It can be challenging to get to the top of the search results for generic terms, such as ‘website design’. However, by combining keywords with a locality, you are suddenly targeting a niche and only competing with businesses in the same locality, and therefore have a much greater chance of ranking highly in the search results.

Local search is becoming more important, as people search for services when they are visiting a new area, and where people used to use the yellow pages, now they use Google instead. And with the increasing popularity of mobile phones with internet access, people increasingly look up services and directions wherever they are.

Your website is available to the whole world 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It’s out there working for you when you’re asleep and when you’re on holidays.

It costs a bit to set up and maintain your website, but nothing compared to what it would cost to hire an army of salespeople to do an equivalent job.

If you’re looking to grow your business, investing in your website could be one of the wisest investment decisions you can make.

Have you ever had one of those emails that says “We would like to get your website on first page of Google.”? I get them all the time.

To me, the first page of Google means www.google.com, and I would be willing to bet my house that nobody outside Google top level management would be able to get my website there.

Even though they don’t say it, I presume they don’t mean Google’s home page, but rather the first position in the Google search results page.

Here’s what happens when I Google “Arrowsmith Websites Maleny”:

Google provides a map and details about my business! That’s great, thanks Google!

When you do a location specific search on Google, often you’ll get a map and business details. This handy feature is even more useful when you are using a mobile phone to search for a business or service in an area you’re not familiar with.

Google your business and location and make sure your business is listed in this way. If not, you can add it using the Local Business Centre.

If your business is already listed, Google may have found your details on your website or a directory website and listed them for you. If so, you can correct the listing and add more information, even photos.

With Google becoming the main way people look for products and services, this is a simple and free thing you can do to help potential customers find your business.

So you’re putting together the content for your website, and you’re wondering where to start. If you’re a small business, you’ll want to keep it as simple and to the point as possible, to make your website easy for people to use.

There are website conventions that have become accepted to the point that people expect certain items to be there and in the right place.

You should always have a ‘Home’ button somewhere near the top left, and you can guarantee if you don’t that people will say ‘where is the home button’.

You should always have a ‘Contact’ button linking to a page with all your contact details, it’s one of the things people look for, and most people in business want to make it easy for potential customers to contact them!

Another standard feature to include is the ‘About’ page. This is your opportunity to share your history and qualifications with visitors to your website, allowing you to build rapport and become less anonymous.

What you put in between the Home, About and Contact pages is the stuff that makes you different; it’s the products and services you offer.

This formula will make it easier for people to use your website, and if you’re in business, that’s good news.