1	Preparing to Build Your Own Small Business Website & Growing Your Word-of-Mouth Presence on the Web The Information You Want To Obtain The Web Site You Need!
2	Overview Why do you need a Web Site? What do you want your Web Site to do for you? What is the process of obtaining a web site? How do I find a designer?
3	Why do you need a Web Site? Marketing Tool Branding Grow your business Announce Sales and Events quickly Your contact info always available More and more people go online for info about businesses.
4	Marketing Tool ~ Branding Having a Web Site offers you an opportunity to display your company logo and information from a medium that is available to the public 24/7. Existing clients will recognize your Brand and potential clients will have the opportunity to become familiar with your company.
5	Marketing & Branding Examples
6	Grow Your Biz ~ Announce Sales A Web presence enables your company to reach out to people outside your usual sales area. Announcing sales and events is as quick and easy as a few clicks or an email to your designer. Verbiage not what you wanted? You can correct it almost instantaneously. Try that with a newspaper ad.
7	Grow & Announce Examples
8	Available 24/7 ~ People are looking for your info online The Web never sleeps! Whether it is 2:00 pm or 2:00 am your information is available 24/7 on the Web. The number of people looking online for contact information is growing every day. Web is in, phone books are becoming a secondary source for contact info.
9	People are looking 24/7
10	What Are The Benefits Of Having A Website? Better serve existing clients Save time per sale Most reasonably priced form of advertising More leisurely shopping experience for customers Site statistics provide feedback for site improvements and growth Use applications to collect client data
11	Better serve clients / Save Time Your business can collect information, via the Web that will enable you to more quickly and efficiently serve existing clients. Prospective clients give you info via the Web that will enable you to determine whether or not your products and services are right for them without taking the time of yourself or your employees.
12	Better serve / Save time Example
13	Cheap Ads / Leisurely shopping Compare the prices of full-page newspaper ads to a one time expense to get all of your ad info and then some on the Web. NO PRESSURE – Clients can shop at their leisure over the course of minutes, hours or days without taking any of your or your employees time.
14	Cheap Ads / Leisurely Shopping Example
15	Sites provide stats / Applications Site statistics provide information about the popularity of pages and products so you can more wisely use your website Site owners can use applications to gather data and categorize products to better suit customer’s needs.
16	Sites provide stats / Applications Example
17	What do you want your website to do for you? Provide information ONLY about services and/or products (Info Only Site) Sell products and/or services (Ecommerce Site)
18	Information Only Websites Information only websites are less expensive and generally set up in such a way that information provided can be changed quickly and effortlessly. Information sites can cost as little as $300 for a one-page ad type site and $800 for info only sites that are from 10 to 30 pages depending on how many images, whether or not the owner uses forms or applications, etc.
19	Information Only Websites
20	Ecommerce Websites Sell your products and services online to clients outside your usual area and without consuming the time it would normally take for you to make a sale in person. Ecommerce sites can be acquired for as little as $800 for less then 6 shopping carts to thousands of dollars for as many carts. There are advantage to taking payment online.
21	Ecommerce websites examples
22	What Are The Steps I Should Take To Start My Website? Your design Acquire your domain name Do your own website Do you have the time? Search the Web for best hosting and tools Ask some you know that did their website Building your own site means you do the updates
23	What Are The Steps I Should Take To Start My Website? Hire a Pro Hire a professional designer Your designer will walk you through all the steps of domain acquisition and information accumulation Look locally for a designer first. Ask other locals about their designer experiences Check out the designer’s website Ask for and contact the designers references Read any contract carefully prior to signing. It’s your website so make sure you are getting what you want Have your website content together prior to contacting the designer
24	Acquire Your Domain Name
25	Hire A Pro ~ Local Designers
26	Design Tips Less is more, keep it clean and easy to navigate Use your company logo and colors Consider what info your customers want/need and provide it from your site NO MUSIC unless you have an entertainment site The title of each page should reflect the content Keywords are VERY important for search engines Check the Web for similar sites and list the ones you like Search engine optimization – What you need to know
27	Clean and Easy / Logos and Colors Whatever your reason for having a website, the link for that reason should be prominent and easy to find. The easier it is for your site visitors to move around your site the longer they will stay. Customers should recognize your site by being familiar with your physical storefront and visa versa.
28	Clean and Easy / Logos and Colors Example
29	What Your Clients Want / NO MUSIC! What questions do your clients most frequently ask? Why does your phone ring during business hours? You can eliminate time spent answering questions about your business and your products/services via your website. Music isn’t cute. It is reportedly the second most given reason for clicking off of a website (#1 being slowness). Unless music is pertinent to your business you should avoid using it on your company website.
30	What Your Clients Want
31	Page Titles / Keywords Page titles should match the page content primarily so people doing searches are taken to the page they are looking for on your site without having to first go to the opening page. A secondary reason is that your page title is reflected on your taskbar using page title verbiage. Clients can easily determine which open web page is yours. Keywords are the first thing the search engine spiders “see” of your site. Keywords can determine whether or not your site is found using a search engine. Keywords tell prospective clients everything they need to know to determine whether or not to visit your site.
32	Surf for ideas / Search Engine Optimization No matter what your genre it is a given you have competition on the web. Do a search for like businesses and save the ones you really like to your favorites. This will really help your designer to understand what you are looking for in a design. Search Engine Optimization is now done by professionals at a cost that will most likely supercede the cost of your website, and, can be an annual cost. You can do some simple things to your site to make it search engine friendly.
33	The End Thank you for your time. Please ask any questions you might have or email me with them at debbie@wolfrundesign.com