Try to create a company that stands out from your competitors - through branding, design and originality. TILT media. (01-09-10)
Making your website work.
You MUST promote any website, new or old if you don't you have wasted your money paying someone to build it! SD2001. (31-08-10)
Payment
Once you start getting work in from customers, then ask for at least half the payment for the work up front and always wait for a cheque or card payment to process before starting the work. Walk in Webshop. (27-08-10)
Get the most out of seeing a Business link advisor
The free advice service for start up business offered by business link is well worth the effort. Make sure you go prepared and write down as many questions that you have beforehand. WebsContent Ltd. (24-08-10)
Don't spend a fortune on your new website.
There is no need to spend a fortune on a new website especially if you are just starting out. We can provide a good quality, professional looking website at a fraction of the price a lot of web design companies charge. Discount Web Design. (17-08-10)
Use your existing contacts
When setting up your own company, your first port of call for advertising should be your family and friends! Email and text everyone you know, and message everyone on your Facebook/MySpace/Twitter accounts. Don't forget to ask all of these people to send the same message on to all of their contacts. This can really help to get the ball rolling and you will be amazed at how many sales you can generate this way. Good luck! Empire Web Designs. (06-08-10)
A website is like a poster in a field...
...unless you actively market and promote it. This involves studying your analytics data, collecting demographic data about your site visitors and trialling and testing different marketing campaigns and variations of your site. A website should be an organic entity - it isn't finished the day you pay your web designer's bill. Storm Consultancy. (06-08-10)
Achieving organisation goals with a website
It might be obvious but always keep in mind your organisational goals when commissioning a website. Successful web solutions are those that are alligned with your organisation's overall goals and not just there for its own sake. Kudo Solutions Limited. (05-08-10)
Understand your consumer
The most vital part of running a business is to understand who you are targeting, then you can find out where to communicate to them and what you want to say to them is also very important, as you do not want to give the wrong impression. Mixcreations. (05-08-10)
Website Design, Online Marketing and Digital Design in Chester
The best tip is communication - always keep lines of communication open with your clients, your suppliers and your work force. 5Tendesign.co.uk. (04-08-10)
Fail to Plan = Plan to Fail
Do your market research, know what you are trying to achieve, understand the figures and have a clear plan as to how and when you will reach your goals. Stick to it! Pink Dylan. (30-07-10)
Be positive.
Always be positive in what you do and do the best you can. PG Designs. (28-07-10)
Need a professional website?
Contact Rutland Web Services www.rutlandwebservices.co.uk Rutland Web Services. (28-07-10)
Don't give up
If you have a business idea and your passionate about it, resilience, dedicated and perseverance will see you suceed web design blackburn lancashire. (21-07-10)
An Email Opt-in Form on Every Page of Your Website is a Must!
The biggest Sin any Business Website owner can commit is to Design & Build a website without an email opt-in form to gather visitors� email addresses and build a contact list!
When an Internet user happens upon your website, they have no knowledge of you or your business, and the likelihood of them getting their credit card out on their first visit to your website is next to zero.
Internet marketing is about building a relationship with your prospects, and takes time. However, it is extremely low cost and effective when done correctly. Once someone joins your mailing list, marketing to them is easy, and absolutely FREE! Stuart Thomas. (17-07-10)
Google Places Listings are great for SEO
Get onto Google Places and create a profile for your business. You'll be surprised what it can do for your SEO. Orcare Limited. (09-07-10)
What is SEO and why is it important?
A home-made website, or one built using a free online tool, might look okay but does it attract visitors? After all, the purpose of a website is to attract visitors, help turn visitors into customers and turn customers into repeat business. If your only visitors to your website are people who've seen it on your business card, your website isn't working for you. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the art of getting your website noticed by Google and other search engines. We say 'art' as it's not a science. Whilst there are some tried and tested approaches that can help, it needs the keen eye and talent of a good web designer to make it work. Your website should work for you. SEO helps with this as it targets certain keywords or phrases that your customers are looking for and optimises your website to be found under them. If you're trying DIY SEO there are a few things you need to concentrate on:
1. CONTENT. It is the content of your website that search engines look at the most. Make sure your content is as good as it can be, includes the right phrases and keywords that your customers are interested in, but most of all make sure it's relevant and useful for your visitors.
2. TITLES. make sure you update the titles of all your web pages to include some of your keywords, as appropriate to that page. For example, if you are a plumber in Manchester, your home page might have a title of 'Plumber and Plumbing Services in Manchester', rather than just 'Home Page'. But keep to no more than 70 characters.
3. META DATA. Meta data is the invisible data on your page that only search engines see. This includes name, description, content and other information. These are less relevant these days for Google, but some search engines still use them, so it won't hurt to add them in.
4. INTERNAL LINKS. If your website has several pages, link them together with links in the pages as well as in your menu; especially if your menu is image-based rather than text-based. Search engines look for those links and use them to build a map of your website, so make sure all your pages are linked to, ideally they should all be linked to from the home page or one of your main pages from your main menu.
5. IMAGES. The correct use of images works well for visitors and search engines. Websites are better for humans if images help to illustrate a point or demonstrate a product or service; and search engines take note of them too. Use the ALT attribute to your IMG code so search engines know what the image is about, and so visitors know what it was supposed to be in case it doesn't load for some reason, or in case they're using a text version for accessibility; e.g. for the visually impaired.
6. BACK LINKS. Other websites linking to yours is a good idea as it increases the authority the search engines consider your website to have when another website with a high authority links to you. But beware link exchanges or one for one links where you link to someone's site and they link to yours. These circular links can be seen by Google as an attempt to deliberately use linking to force up your ranking, and they may ignore it or mark you down for it. It's better to get a genuine reference from a related business.
If all of this seems too much, or your free site-building tool doesn't allow you to make these changes yourself, then you should turn to a professional. Many, such as ourselves, will perform an assessment of your existing website and suggest and make the changes necessary to improve your website's search engine ranking. The return on investment can be well worth it, and if well executed can be felt in a short time.
Remember: if you build it, they won't come, unless you find some way of attracting them, and a well executed SEO campaign is the best way. Principle Web. (26-06-10)
SEO - a reality check
Search engine optimisation - one of the current wowser words on the net today! There are thousands of companies offering SEO services out there all offering a 'great service', and all offering, in some shape of form, a guaranteed result (some more honest than others). But the question I�m posing today is: �is it necessary to use SEO, as in the services these companies offer, in order to have a successful online presence, or can you survive without it? Or, in other words, is it necessary for you to spend hundreds, if not thousands of pounds (dollars, yen, euros etc.), on these SEO services in order to be successful online??? The answer varies depending on what business sector your in, the level and sophistication of your competition. Hot Lemon. (25-06-10)
Planting the seeds
Build networks - tell everyone what you do and why? Don't sell just tell. Itseeze web solutions. (22-06-10)
Don't just get a website - market it!
A common pitfall for small business startups is to get a website and assume it will automatically generate business. There's no point having a website if no one visits it! No website can be successful without a strategy of how it will be marketed.
Look for a web design package that includes designing to be search engine friendly, as this maximises your chances of getting a good position in the search engines such as Google. Your web designer should also register your site with the main search engines as standard. It may also be worth considering a time-limited or ongoing Internet advertising campaign to drive more customers to your site. Cadover Creative. (15-06-10)
Choosing the right web design & marketing agency
The web can do fantastic things, but beware of snake oil salesmen who will promise the world. Make sure any agency you do business with gets to know and understand your business. Only by understanding your business can they do you proud.
Also, any agency which cannot use plain understandable English should be avoided like the plague. Don't get caught by someone selling you lots of features - find out what the benefits are, and if they can't explain them..... Hot Lemon. (05-06-10)
Hire Developer.
Hire highly qualified Offshore Software Developers. Experience of our offshore software developers can help you make a better decision on what you may require to meet your needs effectively. Hire Developer. (03-06-10)
Invest in Marketing expertise from day one!
A trusted marketing expert will be invaluable and critical to business growth. Examine their credentials, choose one and agree an hourly rate to book their time and sit down each month to plan your activities. Agree the review criteria at the outset, ask them to provide the criteria. Ensure they support their recommendations with commercial scenarios that illustrate payback. Spiritas Website Design. (27-05-10)
Networking, Networking, Networking
Word of month recommendations are the best leads you can get as they are hot leads. Look into joining a local BNI group www.bni-k2.co.uk Anthropologie New Media Ltd. (13-05-10)
It needn't cost the earth ...
There are many ways you can save money on your IT spend. For example, OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org) is a free Office Suite which can read and write Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Why not try it out to see if it meets your needs before splashing out on Office?
Your web site needn't cost a fortune either ... many web hosts (such as ourselves) offer free site builders, allowing you to create a professional looking site without the need to pay a designer. Other hosts have their own offers - we include a basic site builder with all hosting packages - starting from just £20 per year. Caterham Computing. (13-05-10)
