The first quarter is about to end, and I’m sure that we will be seeing interesting numbers about technology, smartphones, and internet use since the beginning of 2013. I guarantee that you will not hear about mobile or internet consumption dropping over the past three months. Yesterday, comparisons between papal history of St. Peter’s Bascillica in 2005 versus 2013 (<- You REALLY ought to see these pics!) were appearing on various blogs and news sites. As you can see, the internet users are changing the way they use and consume media at a rapid pace. It’s time for small businesses to catch up with an affordable internet marketing solution.
Starting a Web Presence from Scratch
One of the first things that we insist on doing for new clients is to rebuild their website. We believe that a fresh start with updated code, design, and mobile functionality is so important that we offer it in addition to our services at a considerable discount.
Small businesses have a hard enough time keeping up with changes with technology and the internet. That’s why it’s important to build web presences with the future in mind. Building a website with WordPress (a wonderful content management system) allows small business owners the freedom to adapt with a platform that is updated a few times every year. These updates benefit website security, functionality, and more. This is one of the many reasons why TrustWorkz only build with WordPress websites for small businesses.
Keeping the explosion of mobile technology in mind, it’s important to make sure that your web presence can adapt to a variety of devices. When smartphones first began to hit the market place, some businesses adopted mobile websites. These were websites strictly designed for mobile devices, which typically did not function well across all mobile devices. This made things difficult for small business owners because they would be responsible for managing two websites; a normal desktop website, and a website for mobile. With the introduction (and blessings from Google and Bing) of responsive web design, small business owners now have the ability to own a website that serves desktop computers as well as a variety of mobile devices without having to worry about two different sites. Mixing WordPress into the equation gives small businesses even more power by making it easy to update content to meet the needs of their potential new clients.
The design and development of a website play a very interesting role in the success of a small business online. Without a current design that stands the test of time, a small business might struggle over upcoming years. Whether they are trying to gain dominance or maintain their high position, an outdated website makes things increasingly more difficult. An elegant website that is designed to meet the needs of the user will leave a lasting impression that draws in new clients. Websites need to be thought through from beginning to end, with the ability to be adjusted as time progresses.
Building Website Content Never Ends
Internet users are no longer satisfied with place holder style websites. Today, websites need content to meet the needs and questions potential customers using the internet might have about your small business. A well qualified lead is going to put some research into your company (probably using the internet.) Your website should continue to grow over time to meet the needs of your current and potential clients so that they can easily find the information that the need. Using WordPress helps small businesses update their content within minutes. It also provides businesses with a search engine friendly ability to publish blog posts.
Blogs grant small businesses the ability to quickly update their clients from their (branded) website. Posts can benefit busiensses in a variety of ways. They help the brand look more human, social, full of expert advice, and blog posts also provide search engine optimization (SEO) value. Some blog posts meet the immediate need of getting information out quickly to your customer base. Other blog posts with evergreen content will be searched for in the future for months to years. These types of blog posts will provide your business with lasting value.
Using Social Media to Build a Web Presence
A web presence isn’t just built with a website though. Content creation for social media also plays a major role in building a dominant web presence. Small businesses should focus on a small selection of social media channels to focus on to maximize their results. Signing up for every new social channel won’t help you if you don’t take the time to update them.
Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, you want to find where your potential clients spend the majority of their time. It makes no sense to spend hours of time making posts on LinkedIn if your small business is predominantly B2C.
No matter which platforms fit your needs, the last thing you want to do is launch a profile and then abandon it. Businesses on Facebook frequently show up well in Google searches. If a business hasn’t updated their page in weeks or months, it might appear to a user that the business doesn’t care about connecting with clients or it might not even be around any longer. Neither situation is helpful to either party involved. The best option when building your web presence dominance is to select the profiles that make sense to your company and update them regularly.
Dominating Your Local Market
Building a dominant web presence doesn’t happen over night. While building the website doesn’t take much time, building quality, original content happens every month for every year. Small businesses that choose to build quality web presences now will benefit three years from now when their competitors are desperately trying to catch up.
If you’re interested in building a strong web presence for your small business, contact TrustWorkz® today!
