Articles

So you’ve chosen your small business web site developer . Now what? After agreeing on your contract and conferring with your business partners or colleagues on the direction you want your website to take, go through the following points to smooth your interaction and eliminate any potential headaches.

1. Send all your marketing materials and company info.

Very often, small business owners have composed their own marketing campaigns on the fly and are surprised to have to supply artfully-written copy and carefully selected photos to their web design partners. Compile all your company slogans, vision-mission, and photos in a CD, flash drive, or zip file – or better yet, compile Basic Info Checklist: What Information Every Small Business Website Should Have

2. Check your spelling and copyrights.

Did everything pass through the spell check? You should either use royalty-free, buy stock images, or have your designer design or buy for you the right to use original photographs and images. Just because it’s online does not mean it’s free for you to use – unless you want an infringement lawsuit.

Like you, I receive (and give) business cards at networking events — and it just astounds me how only 1 or 2 out of 10 business cards I receive have a website address. And maybe only 1 out of those same 10 has their own domain name, i.e. (yourowndotcom.com).

It’s way past the time for businesses, small or Fortune 500, to take a serious look at their online presence. There are many networking or website how-to’s for beginners available — meanwhile, I’d like to let you in on the Top 5 common misdeeds of business owners and save your business’ credibility online).

Should Your Business Have a Newsletter?
One of my mentors in my former direct selling business taught me to keep in constant contact with both prospects and the already converted buyers. She sends Christmas cards or invitations to product launches. My other mentor in the financial products business does the same. This is an old-school sound networking must-do.

Say Hello to their Real World Mailbox
Receiving a handwritten or even typewritten but snail-mailed letter is a rarity. It takes time, special paper, mail merging, envelope labeling (does anyone even actually know how to insert the envelope in the printer?) - a lot of cost goes into just "keeping in touch".

Everyone is on Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, and Yelp. Social media or UGC sites, where users socialize and share what they like (or hate) with their friends and the global community, grow big and grow fast.

Social media include blogs, blog communities, wikis, forums, podcasts, video blogs (vlog) or your own online "TV show", social bookmarking, widgets, and social networks.

What are the benefits of using social media? How do you maximize social media marketing? How do you get started with social networks? I threw in a quick-start checklist.