Every business needs a website, no matter what sort of business it is, or what size. At the very least, an Online Business Card style website will ensure a Google search will find your business, and allow you some control in how it is presented online.

Following is a summary of some different categories of business website.

Online Business Card Website

This is as basic as you can get, and should be the minimum requirement for your business.

• One page website
• Displays your logo and tagline
• Includes basic details such as address and contact information
• Can also include a brief description of products and services offered

Online Brochure Website

This is a more standard website for a small business, and will suit most businesses with basic requirements.

• Approximately five pages
• The home page will be sales focused and feature an overview of your business offering
• Products and services will be the main focus of the website
• A page about your business will be included, such as your team and history
• A contact page is mandatory, and can include a map and a contact form

Content Management System (CMS) Websites

For business with lots of information to be organised and made available, a database enables efficient storage and retrieval of information.

A CMS features an administration area that you can log into to manage the website content and pages. Often an administrative staff member will take on this role.

Using a CMS allows website management to become very efficient, and most feature:

• Search engine optimised web pages
• Document and image management
• User profiles
• Creating and saving draft pages
• Microsoft Word style toolbar to simplify rich text formatting

Blog Website

Blogs are great for generating traffic from search engines like Google. A blog can be a standalone website, or can be integrated into any other type of website.

Maintaining a blog requires some writing skills, and commitment to writing regularly, and on topic. Twice a day is fantastic, daily is good, weekly is fine, and monthly is the bare minimum. If you can’t commit to this schedule, then a blog is probably not for you.

Ecommerce Websites

Ecommerce websites are focused on selling products online, and usually feature shopping cart software and online payment systems.

They can be large or small, simple or complex. The products can be physical and require delivery by courier or post, or electronic with instant digital delivery.

Payment methods can be secure credit card, Paypal, direct deposit, and many more.

Application Websites

These days, virtually any kind of software you can imagine can run on the internet.

The great advantage of this is the ability to access it from anywhere in the world, you just need a computer and an internet connection, or a smart phone, such as an iPhone or Blackberry.

Another advantage is the data storage is in a centralised location, rather than on a multitude of desktop computers.

Well, it’s dying. Today’s expensive glossy ads that cost thousands of dollars end up in the bin tomorrow.

Whereas the same money invested online can provide greater returns over a much greater time period.

For example, you can advertise in the place that more people go to when they’re looking for something – Google.

And not only that, you can target your ad to only those who are searching for products or services that you provide.

Then, you can link your ad to a page on your website that’s designed to generate sales or enquiries. That way you get instant, measurable feedback from your investment.

And with the wealth of statistics that are generated from this process, you can tweak your advertising campaign in real time to increase the return.

Once the campaign is making a profit, you can increase your investment, increasing your profit in the process.

For more information, or a free consultation regarding advertising online, contact us today.

The word ‘blog’ is a strange one. It’s been in use since around 1999, when it was shortened from the term ‘weblog’, or online journal.

Any business that wants to increase traffic to its website, and can arrange to write regular articles or updates, needs a blog.

On the internet information is king. The more you have the better, as long as it’s original and relevant to your business.

A blog is a tool that allows for the organisation and categorisation of articles on a website, which over time will build up a body of information that will generate its own website traffic.

It also provides a mechanism for creating targeted content on your website. For example, if you manage an accommodation business and the annual tourist event is coming up, you could write an article about the event, and even several more articles with updates as the event gets closer.

When people are searching for accommodation in your area and they search for the event, your website will be likely to appear in the search results. And even better, next year the content will already be on the website as an archive, so it will continue working for you.

There are many types of blogging software available, most of it is free. However to set it up properly takes some knowledge of the web. Get advice from your trusted website professional before committing your business to the blogosphere.

Having a Twitter and Facebook page that’s regularly updated will bring more traffic to your website.

But just a minute, I hear you say, I don’t have time to go around updating all those websites – I don’t even really know what they’re all about!

Well, you don’t have to! What you do need is regular content, and if you’re in business that shouldn’t be a problem.

New products, specials, industry trends, client profiles, testimonials, general news, press releases – this is the kind of information you should be generating as a business, and at a frequency greater than once per month.

The best place to publish these things is in a blog attached to your website. From there everything can be automated – publish once and distribute to many places instantly.

To find out more, contact Arrowsmith Websites for a free consultation.

Having a form on your website is a great way to get feedback from your visitors. It makes it easy for someone to send you a message, and they can do it from any computer, they don’t need to open their email program.

One problem with online forms is they attract spammers. Automated spam bots (bots are really just software programs) search the web looking for forms, then they submit them with their unwanted message.

One method of stopping spam bots is the CAPTCHA, a challenge that is easy for a human but hard for a spam bot. Here are a couple of examples:

The trouble is, often humans have trouble reading them as well as spam bots, and humans also generally find them an annoyance, which can deter them from submitting the form at all, which is not good for your business.

A simpler style of CAPTCHA is to ask a simple question, such as “What colour is an orange?”. This is much easier for most humans than trying to decipher distorted letters. The form will only submit if the answer is correct, in this case “orange”.

Leads. You know, potential new customers. Leads allow you to deliver your sales message and hope that it works (that’s another story). But you need to generate the leads first.
Here’s three of the best lead generation techniques.

Referrals

Nothing beats this one. One of your happy customers has recommended your services to a friend or associate, who then contacts you. This is great, as there is already a level of trust in place, and you can generally go ahead and do business. Don’t forget to thank the person who gave you the referral! To get more of these, keep giving the best service to your customers.

Online Advertising

Google dominates many things in the internet space, and online advertising is one of them. Google Adwords is a guaranteed way of getting people to your website. And not just any people, but ‘qualified leads’, that is, people who are already searching for what you offer.

Once they get to your website, you want to make sure it has been set up effectively to capture the details of the lead, so you can follow up.

These cost money, but the idea is to ensure a return on your investment. You can do this by consulting an expert and creating an online advertising plan.

Capture form

This ties in with online advertising, but it’s also very relevant to just about any business website.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the name and email address of most of the people who visited your website? You could build up a database of those contacts and then market back to them.

A capture form is a small online form, placed in a prominent position on your website, and usually offering a free download as an incentive to complete it.

It is a totally automated process, including a personalised response to the lead.

Summary

I can’t help you with referrals, they are entirely up to you. But the combination of online advertising and a capture form is something that requires expertise to set up correctly, and Arrowsmith Websites can put you on the right track. We aim to generate more than $1 for your business for every $1 spent, and increase that profit over time.

Contact us today for a free consultation.