Get Your New Business Online
Are you only starting up your new business in 2015 and finding it hard to juggle everything? Here are six easy steps.
Are you only starting up your new business in 2015 and finding it hard to juggle everything?
Here are some solution for you; get your business online the easy way with no stress. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself. How do I build my website? How do I register a website? How do I set up my business email address? Should I be on Social Media? What social media platforms should I be on? How do I get my website ranked with Google Search Engines? Stop! We can see the panic starting to set in with the realisation of all you have to do.
“Why Waste a Sentence Saying Nothing?” Seth Godin
No matter what advice you get, your business needs to be online today. Whether you are selling a product or providing a service having a website is key and can increase leads and sales. It will also help you target your audience and give you insights to potential new business opportunities. These are the key factors you need answers to and with six simple steps and you can achieve this.
STEP 1. How do I build a website?
There are a lot of content management systems on the Internet with templates you can use to create a professional website such as Wordpress and Wixs. You can also use a company themeforest.com to look and buy from. What content should I put on the site? We always suggest to get a blank sheet of paper or white board and start with the basics and work outwards. Look at your core business, the products you sell or the services you provide. Don’t fill the page with information that is too technical.Remember if you are selling to consumers think of that person, put yourself into their shoes and try to understand what they want if you are selling B2B think of what that client is looking for. Keep it simple and to the point. If the page is to crowded they will go elsewhere. This should follow all the way through your website, make it easy for them. That is the key.
STEP 2. How do I register a website?
First you need to figure out what domain name you are going to choose that is easy for your customers to find you. Keep it simple and pick something that is relevant to your business. Next you need to check is it available, there are a number of domain and hosting companies that will give you these results instantly. www.letshost.ie, www.register365.com, or www.godaddy.com. You can register a .com .net etc. address here or if you are a registered Irish company we would advice you to register a .ie address. All of these companies will also supply hosting for your website.
STEP 3. How do I set up my business email address?
When you register your website you will receive with a set amount of email addresses which you can personalise. Your business should always reflect your professionalism. If your business email is a Hotmail address customers find it hard to remember and think twice about sending an email to a Hotmail address incase it does not reach the correct person in your organistation. This little thing can have a major affect on your sales. With this in mind set up your business email that reflects your business i.e. [email protected] your web developer can do this for you or there are tutorials online to help you set this up yourself.
STEP 4. Should you be engaged in social media?
Yes you should! Social media has now become a part of everyday life. One of the biggest benefits with the emergence of social media over the past number of years shows that it is imperative for businesses to have a presence on these platforms. Consumers are always looking for new content and ways to engage with brands. The three basic rules of social media should be, Educate, Inform and Entertain.
STEP 5. What social media platforms should I be on?
Your company should set out clear objectives of what you want to achieve and decide which channels will let you reach these audiences. Look at what channels your target audience are on and that is where you need to be, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Linked In.
- Facebook: engage with the customer’s through emotive and visual posts
- Twitter: micro blogging site (no more that 140 characters)
- Pinterest: Create Brand awareness, showcase your products
- LinkedIn: Business to business platform for network connection
STEP 6. How to get your website ranked on Google?
There is no quick fix to page ranking your website. However, there are ways that you can speed up the process by uploading content on Social Media, Blogging and posting on different platforms and linking them back to your website. Try to encourage other businesses to give your website a back-link. A back-link is the technical term for a referral. If they are kind enough to do this you should return the favour by back linking to their site. This will also assist you in networking with other businesses. Google searches the Internet everyday for new content and the more your business has prominence, the better your ranking will be. Your website developer should have embedded codes on the back end of your website. These are called Meta Tags and they include a Meta description and Meta keywords.
Meta Description: This is the description of what your business does and should be no longer than 155 characters Meta keywords: Your keywords are the words that customers will search for on the internet for a product or service, so make them relevant to what is on your website. Try to include these keywords in the first paragraph of each landing page.
When this is all done you need to be able to measure your rankings and use the data to understand what your customers are looking for, where they came from, what device they used and how long and were they were on your website or your social media platforms. In order to understand your clients or customer you need to do the analysis to determine there requirements.
There are a number of FREE tools available on the Internet you can use to track this information.
Google Analytics: One of the best free tools available. All you have to do is add a simple piece of code to your website for Google to calculate these results and you can see all the traffic that is going to your website.
Facebook Insights: This is a Facebook Analytics tool to help you gain an understanding of what people liked and their age group, gender, and lots of other great insights you can develop and act upon.
Twitter: also has an analytics package as well. Plus many online monitoring tools available these are just a selection of what is out there. We hope this information will be of some benefit to you in getting your business online.
If you have any question about any of the above topic covered. Please do not hesitate to contact us. if you would like a copy of this blog in PDF format.
Send us a email [email protected] Alan Hennessy I would love you to leave some comments on this post feel free to add some.
Email: [email protected] For all you digital marketing solutions visit our website. www.kompassmedia.ie
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