If you have a local business whether it’s in Toledo or anywhere else, undoubtedly you’re trying your best to market your business to prospective clients. As you continue and get better and want to do more, you’re going to find that you’ll reach a point (if you haven’t already done so) that you’re going to need a website. Today at the Breakfast Club networking meeting, I mentioned that to several business owners but I didn’t really give a full explanation and, more importantly, I didn’t have a chance to offer a solution. So, I thought I would do that here and now.
Just to be clear, you don’t have to have a website, even to get customers to call you. But a website gives you more options in your marketing and the ability to attract even more customers and build a relationships with those who don’t know you or your business very well.
Something that’s critical is that if you’re using videos that you post on YouTube or if your posting links on your Facebook fan page, ALWAYS make sure that you send prospective customers to a website that you own and control! Don’t send them to a “company-owned” site and hope/expect “the powers to be” to send them back to you (it rarely happens!)
If you work for a company that has a “corporate site”, you’ll get more business if you “brand” yourself. After all, your clients buy YOU first before your company. Use that to your advantage and market to YOUR prospects and clients.
Think of your website as a base from which to communicate to your clients and prospects. And there’s all kinds of things you can do with that, such as post videos, articles, advertise specific products or services, and on-and-on. How to use your site is so vast I’ll just leave it at that.
Also, if you have your own website with a domain (the website address) you can stop using those “free” email addresses. What looks better: BobCJones@hotmail or Bob@mycompany.com? (Exactly.) You can build a more professional image.
So, bottom line, you’re going to need a professional website that looks good and that’s also set up and optimized for Search Engine traffic. If you’re a local business, the best type of website to have is a “blog.” It’s just a specific type of design. (Think of it like a chassis that the body of a car sits on.)
In fact, most people involved with marketing on the internet will tell you same thing for many reasons but mainly because:
- They’re easier to use than a regular website
- You can continue to add content AND
- The search engines LOVE blogs. (You know how I am about search engine traffic – had to get that on in!)
Obviously, you can always pay someone to do it. Most will charge somewhere between $500 – $2,000 for anything decent. But I know funds are tight for a lot of companies right now but it’s also critical to continue marketing. (In fact, you should be ramping-it-up to get ahead of your competition!) So I wanted to share some information with you that I think you might like. That is, if you don’t mind doing the work yourself (with some “assistance” along the way, of course.)
First let me explain some of the very basics. When you have a website, you’re going to need two things:
- A domain name (your website address)
- A hosting company (this is where your website “sits” )
There are many alternatives for each but, as a rough rule of thumb, a domain will run about $10 per year. Hosting is all over the board price-wise, but let’s say $5-$20 per month as a broad range, depending upon many factors and features. So let’s say hosting will run $10 per month (if you pay monthly).
In addition to price, it’s important that the company is reliable because if not, you’re website can be down and it can be a headache to deal with if your hosting company isn’t “top-shelf”.
That’s all great, but you don’t know ANYTHING about building websites, blogs or anything…it’s all Greek to you, right?
Part of the "Take You By-The-Hand Training"
There’s a company that’s offering a “Business Blog Blueprint” that lays it all it for you. They show you what do every step of the way. How? Videos! Yeah there’s a library of videos that take you by the hand even if you don’t even know what a blog is! (If you can use a word processor, you can do this!)
Normally, this Business Blog Blueprint is $197. Right now, they’re running a special where you can get it…free! Yeah, really.
What’s the catch? You just set up your hosting account with them and they’ll include this Business Blog Blueprint at no charge (for right now, anyway). You’re going to need to get hosting from somewhere anyway. They’re just running a promotion to get more customers. (How’s that for marketing?)
Remember I said you’ll need a domain name? Well guess what’s? That’s included for the first year as well…no extra charge! (Do you smell a bargain, yet?)
Also, they give you templates to use to make it even easier! And these aren’t cheap ones – you can buy these on other sites for $100! Why are these good? They’re “geeked-out” for the search engines! (Ha! Gotta love it!) And you can hook up all of your social media sites to it, too! Been wanting to connect your “Facebook”, Linkedin, Google+ and Twitter accounts? The templates make it simple to do.
I mentioned that a hosting company MUST be “top-shelf” and reliable. So, you might be asking, “Is this company any good?” Actually, it’s better than good. How do I know? I’ve used their hosting for years! (Yeah, they’ve put up with me for that long…can you believe that? OK…you can stop laughing now!)
Here’s the best part: it’s only $6.95 per month…for everything! (Right now at the time of this writing, anyway.) Really. That’s it. Done. So here’s the deal:
- Domain name for one year (included)
- Business Blog Blueprint (normally $197 – included )
- Video Training Library (included)
- Premium WordPress blog template
Oh, one more thing, right now, you can set up your blog and no charge and test it out for 30 days. (Think of it as giving it a test ride.) If you don’t like it (but trust me, you will) you’re not obligated to continue – just stop. (But remember, you’ve been able to go through all of that information, including the videos while you set up your blog! That in itself makes it a “no-brainer”! The information is awesome!)
My advice? Jump on it, now while they still have this available. Set up your site, start marketing, get customers and start winning! Or you can just sit around eating bon-bons all day and complain about how bad the economy is. But I’d say take some action and make some things happen.
Check it out and start building your own website...like a pro. Click here and get started!
Photo Credit: urbanwoodchuck
Tags: business marketing blog, business website, local marketing
ness owner asked me a great question about how their business should be listed and since principle applies to many businesses I though I would write a quick post and address it here.
Local businesses are clamoring to scratch their way to the first page of Google and the other search engines in the hopes of getting seen by new prospective customers. And each day seems to bring on a brand new solution that’s going to solve all of our marketing problems, whether it’s a new strategy, tool or resource or how about a new “social media” platform? We need another one of those, don’t we?
One of the more popular features of many social media sites is the “check-in” feature. Facebook, Bing, Foursquare – they’re all in the game. I think the concept is a great marketing strategy for businesses to attract new customers and keep they ones they already have. And I believe there’s value in the reviews and recommendations.
Google Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Local are the three major directories a business needs to be listed with. The reason is that when someone performs a search by entering a product or service followed by the name of a city, state or zip code (commonly referred to as, “Geographic modifiers”) each search engine will typically pull up a map showing the information of businesses that best match that search request.
