Building Your SMB Website – A Few Good Tips

The Internet is a powerful equalizer for small businesses. Having a website to showcase your small business and attract new customers can often be the best way to ensure your inevitability. But how does it all work?

To begin, you’ll need a Web address. Address sellers, (called domain hosts) include GoDaddy, NetworkSolutions and Register.com. Addresses that are easy to remember and reflect the name of your business are your best bet, if they’re still available.

Once you have your domain name, you’ll need to find a company that will host it for you (In order for a website to appear online, the files must be hosted on a server). TopHost.com lets you compare Web hosting providers based on the services you seek.

Next is determining the design of your site – a crucial step, as businesses are often a reflection of their website. How good it looks and how easy it is to navigate are critical elements to the success of your site, and your business. Forbes offers some great tips for designing a killer business website.

You may choose to work with a professional designer and developer to help create your site. Before you do, read through this article from Business Insider. It outlines a number of key points to consider before starting out, to ensure that your site, and team, work without a hitch.

However, if you want to skip all that, there are myriad services currently available that take all those steps and put them in one place.

Below, we outline a number of options that make it easier than ever to build a website for your business:

WebStartToday.com provides step-by-step instructions for creating a website, tailored for small business owners. Another option is Intuit, to help build your site. Their free trial gives you 30 days to test the performance of your website, but then is fee-based thereafter. Webs also offers a free, basic site-builder service, with additional functions available at a cost. Similarly, BusinessWebsites360 offers website design solutions, in addition to online marketing support, for a fee.

Once your website is up and running (congratulations!) you’ll want to think about how to promote your site. Many small businesses depend on having a strong local presence. Placing a link to your website on local online business directories is a good idea. Check out Google’s free Local Business Center. You can also advertise your business on Google, using Google AdWords Express. The service is wallet-friendly too, since you only pay when people actually click on your ad.

Creating an about.me page, instead of a full website, is another easy way to promote yourself or your business. They even provide free analytical tools so that you can track how many people have accessed your business’ profile.

Developing on online presence is just one piece of the puzzle, but is an increasingly important element to reaching your small business goals. Here at WorkingPoint, we hope that we can help along the way to your success.

-The WorkingPoint Team