Low Cost Methods For Creating An Online Presence
Are you running a small business that needs to create an online presence? Maybe you own a cake shop, an art gallery, or work as a clothes tailor from home? Irrespective of the type of business that you have, if you have been wondering how you can use the Internet to increase your business presence and attract more customers, then read this article prior to going out and spending money on a web design company to put together a site for you.
Whilst it may not be your core business, it’s worthwhile to educate yourself a to some extent first before you spend any $$. This article will provide you with a foundation of web marketing before you hire someone to create a website for you so that you aren’t uninformed. It will also guide you about some things you can do yourself, which you may take the option to do by yourself and save you the cost of hiring someone else.
Some Facts About Blogs
If you have the inclination to provide regular updates and news pertaining to your business, you might consider setting up a blog instead of a website. A blog functions like a diary, and each entry has a date and time stamp. Here is a blog about finance as an example. Note the time and date stamped posts and the optional peel me ad in the top right hand corner of the page. You don’t need to know any html or programming to use a blog. Once your blog is installed, you just login to a control panel, write out what you want to say into an entry field, and click the publish button.
Blogs are also very easy to setup. You might even try your hand at creating one yourself. You can get very affordable cPanel webhosting nowadays beginning at $4.95 p/mth. cPanel hosting includes a system called Fantastico, which enables you to install a blog with just a handful of mouse clicks. A decent hosting provider will be able to help you install your blog as well, even if you are a novice. After all, they want your business.
Web 2.0 Content Sites
An alternative method to get the word out about your business without having to create a website, is to create a free webpage on one of the numerous Web 2.0 content sites such as Squidoo.com and Hubpages.com. Here is an example Squidoo lens which is a review of Success University. These are even more simple to setup than a blog because they don’t require any technical know-how at all, leaving you to focus on your content and saying what you want to say to your target audience. Pages on Web 2.0 sites also frequently appear towards the top of the search engine results, enhancing even further the means by which more people can find out about your business.
Social Networking Sites
Facebook, Linked In and MySpace are amongst the three most popular social networking websites. As with the Web 2.0 websites, social networking websites also work on pre-defined styles and templates, removing the need to have any html knowledge and allowing you to save the funds you might have otherwise spent on a web design company and invest that elsewhere.
Search Engine Optimization
Once you have setup either a blog, Web2.0 or Social Networking page, you will want to ensure that your page obtains a high profile in search engine results, and therefore sending greater traffic and increasing the number of people who become aware of your business. This is where SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, comes into play. Don’t be scared! You can learn about search engine optimization by borrowing a book from your local public library or investing a little time researching it on the web. There are a plethora of free websites containing information on search engine optimization, in addition to paid membership sites like Portal Feeder who can allocate a mentor to you to assist you in your search engine optimization knowledge and site creation endeavours. There are some really simple things you can do that will boost the presence of your website and drive traffic to it.
