Get Your Startup Business Online by Michael Walsh

Is your business online? If not, it’s time to get your startup
business online. It has never been easier to build, optimize and
promote a successful website.

Value and ease of a solid web presence

The simple fact is that nearly every startup business will have some sort of
presence online. Before long, having no website will be akin to owning a
business without a phone number. The competitive nature of small business
requires an established web presence, and sooner rather than later. If your
competitor does it first, it could cost you potential business.

A professional looking website is the ultimate marketing tool. It has the
potential to reach customers in a way that can’t be matched by traditional
advertising, not only in reach, but in cost effectiveness. So why are there
still so many small businesses without an online presence? For most, it’s the
“time/technology fear factor”.

I don’t have time or the tech savvy to get my startup business online

There’s a huge misconception about the amount of time a website takes to
create and maintain. The largest barrier to entry is a fear of technology. But
what if time was no issue and you knew everything you needed to know to run a
successful site?

Given the high demand to find affordable yet professional solutions, the
industry has made a great deal of progress in providing new, easy-to-use tools
and services that cater to every skill set, from those who are well-versed to
the “newbie” who knows nothing at all. One of the great things about today’s
technology is that it offers the opportunity to be as hands-on as you like – or
to offload as much as you like at extremely affordable rates. You define the
learning curve that best suits your schedule and pocketbook.

Three pieces of a successful startup business website

What goes into a successful web presence? There are three main components and
for each one there are services that can get you up and online in no time at
all. The three main steps to creating a promising website are: build it,
optimize it and promote it. You build your site, optimize it for prime search
engine visibility and then promote it. Sound daunting? It isn’t.

Build It

First, you need a website, but even before that you need somewhere for it to
live. Enter web hosting providers. If you were to build a house, you’d need
property to build it on. A website is your “home” on the web and it too requires
somewhere to exist. Hosting providers offer that virtual space on the web, where
the files that make up your website are stored. A good hosting provider will
also offer a myriad of tools and services designed to make getting online a
quick, easy experience. Be sure to find out what tools a hosting package
includes and make sure they offer packages designed for the novice as well as
the pro.

One of the services you might want to look for is a “ready made” hosting
package that includes design, hosting and site maintenance. A package likes this
allows you to have a strong web presence, but removes the time commitment from
you to build the site and maintain it. You choose the layout of your site and
the desired pages your business requires, and a team of experts will design it
to reflect your company’s brand and marketing message. When the need to update
or add new information arises, it’s a simple phone call away. Packages like
these are affordable and can include ecommerce / shopping cart functionality if
you intend to sell products online.

Optimize It

Once your site is built, how do you let people know it’s up and running? The
short answer: search engines. Search engines account for a massive amount of
online traffic, so good placement on them is essential. The way to assure good
placement is to “optimize” your site for search. Search optimization does
involve some technical knowledge, and it is without a doubt time consuming,
requiring continuous effort to maintain a high ranking on search engine results
pages.

The good news is that there are search engine optimization (SEO) services
that take care of the entire process for you. A service like this assigns a
specialist who will analyze your site and give you simple, step-by-step,
instructions on how to modify it for targeted keywords and search phrases.
Simply put, there are certain keywords searched for more often than others. In
your site’s analysis, the keywords most appropriate for your business are
ascertained and then applied to the site. This helps the search engine find your
site when a potential customer enters those keywords.

Once your site is optimized with keywords, the other half of the coin is your
reputation, as the search engines see it. For the most part, that comes down to
the outside websites that point to your own through links in to your site.
Search engines view these referrals as confirmation that an objective, outside
source saw fit to point their own traffic to your site. Some of this can be
accomplished by submitting your site to specific directories, but most of the
work involves the process of finding relevant and respected sites that are
willing to point traffic your way – again, working with an experienced SEO firm
can be your quickest ticket here. The bottom line is search engines are a
powerful way to find customers that traditional media might never reach.

Promote It

Another highly effective way to use a search engine to increase your site’s
visibility is to promote it via targeted search engine advertisements. Each
major search engine offers ‘cost per click’ or CPC pricing for ads in their
search results. The big benefit – you only pay when someone actually clicks on
your ad and visits your website. Even better – there are services that can help
you manage this process.

How do they work? Usually a site analysis is performed, as well as a thorough
analysis of your competitor’s sites. Targeted keywords are chosen and an ad
campaign is designed around them. The campaign also integrates copywriting, and
the ads are then placed on major search engines and monitored for performance.
Many services like these also offer guarantees that your ad will receive a
minimum number of views (impressions) or a set number of new visitors to your
site each month. Weekly reports are also sent so you can monitor your ad
campaign and consult with your service professional on how best to modify it.

This is an excellent, tangible way to guarantee that those customers looking
for your goods and services find your site. These services are usually very
affordable, especially when you consider what you’d spend to hire a marketing
consultant.

The value of collaboration

We all have our own areas of expertise. The hard part for entrepreneurs
looking to take a startup business online is not limited to time and resources.
Entrepreneurs are required to wear a number of hats at the same time. Taking
advantage of professional online services allows web experts to do what they do
best – help entrepreneurs run their websites — while freeing entrepreneurs up to
do what they do best – run their businesses.

The number one reason many small business owners don’t build a website, or
let their existing one fall by the wayside, used to be time. In today’s online
world, given the web solution providers, tools and services available, there’s
no reason a website can’t be an easy-to-manage, valuable extension of your startup business.

Michael Walsh is a content developer for
Affinity Internet.
Mention this article to receive a special discount for StartupNation members.

Article was taken from Yahoo!

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-article-a-57782-m-3-sc-17-get_your_startup_business_online-i