The Content
Only you, the small business owner, can develop the content of your website — because only you know exactly what your business does, what it’s goals are and what you want to say about it. A copy writer may be able to assist you by putting this into words, but you are really the person who needs to write the content.
• Break your content into small pieces that can be put into logical groupings (pages) within your new site. A good average is 250 words/page. Consider the keywords that visitors might use to search for you and incorporate them throughout your website, with a density of between 2%-5%.
• The first page is your front door and should contain a brief description of you and your business, including: who you are, where you are located and what you have to offer. Too much information on the homepage can be cumbersome to visitors and may cause them to click away. You have merely seconds to grab your audience so take time to develop the content for this page. It will be well worth your time.
The Design
Even if you have fantastic content, a poorly designed website that lacks originality won’t keep your visitors. With that knowledge, for many small businesses, it’s worth paying a professional to design your new website.
I recommend that you take time to visit the website of your competition. Does it work? Does it draw you in so you want to click deeper into the site for more info? Or does it drive you away, leaving you uninspired, uninterested and disappointed? You also should pay close attention to how graphics, images and photographs are used.
The most important aspect in the design of your website is the navigation. Make sure visitors can find what they are looking for quickly and easily. The obvious way this works is through the use of navigation bars. You can also drive visitors to particular areas by adding links throughout your web pages.
Optimizing Your Website
Optimization is the process used to bring your website to the attention of search engines. There are many different opinions on how this can and should be done. And strategies differ, depending on the size of your business, your product or service and your budget. Yes, it’s more than just submitting your website to Google.
I have many clients who are just starting their business and are on a limited or nonprofit budget. So I believe it is always best to begin with the basics: a simple, logical navigation system that carries through your entire website; proper use of keywords within the body of your website; submitting your new website to free online industry directories where you may link to your website; and of course, submission to search engines. These are all things the person that will design your website should be able to help with.
No matter what your search engine optimization strategy is, the most important part is patience. It takes time for even the smallest changes to be picked up by the search engines. They crawl millions of sites each day, indexing the information and ranking them by relevance. The art of search engine optimization is extremely time consuming, so keep this in mind whether you do it yourself or ask for the help of a professional.
Debbie Hastings is the owner of Flying Change Webs & Graphics in Falmouth. She works with small business owners in Greater Portland and throughout New England. For more go to www.flyingchangewebs.com.