In business today, the internet must be a part of your strategy. Where do you start?

First, get your website in order. Your website is the cornerstone of your internet strategy, it’s the place that you want people to go to, and it should be designed to make it easy for people to find, and easy for them to achieve their (your) goals.

You want people to go to your website because that’s where your message is, and that’s where you educate people about your products and services and prompt them into action, whether it be making a purchase or enquiry, or just signing up for your email newsletter, allowing you to market to them later.

You want people to end up at your website, but they won’t necessarily start there. They may start at Google, or an online business directory. The more places your presence can be found on the internet, the easier it will be to find, or stumble across, your business.

Consider a twitter account. Twitter allows you to ‘tweet’ about what your business is doing; new products, announcements etc., and link back to your website. People will find your tweets and click through to your website to read more.

Are you passionate and knowledgeable enough about your business that you can write about it? On the internet, information is gold. Start a blog and write about things that your business does. Write regularly. People will find what you are writing about when they search or browse the internet.

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.

Introducing Fig Creative Brands, a Maleny based marketing, branding and website business with a national and international target market.

Fig is a joint business venture of Jennifer Perri, Adrian Anderson and Nathan Arrowsmith, who have overlapping expertise in website development and business marketing, and all have been successful in business as individuals.

As a collective, Fig synergises the specialities of the individuals into a premium branding and marketing agency, with a focus on results – your results.

In addition to the three principals, Fig incorporates a network of specialist contractors, talented local professionals who round out our offering of professional services.

Our goal is ‘Growing Your Business’, and our success will be measured by your success. Check out www.figcreativebrands.com for more information, and feel free to say hello.