There are many factors that affect website traffic. Time of day, day of week, holidays just to name a few. Also the size of the area that you serve, the caliber of people that you serve, and how important the service that you have is. Oh, and let’s not forget about competition!
Realistically, if you do business in a small town you will probably only get a few visitors a day. If you are in a large city and everything else is just right you could get up to a hundred per day. There are really too many variables to assume numbers. Just don’t think that you will build a website and have as many visitors as FaceBook! That probably will not happen.
But then quantity is not as important as quality. If your website gets you one new customer per day, or helps you retain a customer it is doing the job! Conversion is the word here. You have to be a salesperson and convert visitors into customers. Know what your customers want and OVERDELIVER! I always say give them what they want and a little “extra”!
And that will keep them coming back!
Your webmaster should also be able to give you “traffic reports”. There is a lot of valuable information such as where they came from, what keywords they used to find you, what pages they visited and how long they stayed on your site. Study these reports and you will surely learn some things about your customers!
Keywords are in every webmasters mind when they are making a page for a web site or starting a web site. So just what is so important about keywords?
Keywords let the search engines know what your website is all about. Each page is indexed separately for different keywords. Pages are also ranked in order of importance and relevance.
And the rules are constantly changing!
Basically what a keyword is, is the word or words that a searcher types in when they are looking for something. And the search engines are trying to give the best information to the searchers.
Now if you haven’t seen it yet you will probably see companies claiming to get you the top position in the searches. Hog wash! Absolutely no one can guarantee those results! Depending upon the keyword it can be very difficult to next to impossible.
Let’s say that you have an auto repair business. Sure would be nice if someone typed in “auto repair” and you were at the top of the page. I am pretty sure that it is not going to happen unless you have a bag full of magic tricks! Because when I type “auto repair” into Google there are over 35 million results!
There are a lot of factors that determine who is the first result. Some of them are backlinks, age of domain name, proper SEO structure, correct keyword density and placement, LSI keywords, and many more, which by the way are constantly changing!
So just what does all of this mean to you?
You should be targeting “long tailed keywords”. Quite simply that is a longer keyword. So using our example, instead of targeting “auto repair”, you might target “your town or county name auto repair”. So if I lived in Sussex County and I typed in “Sussex County auto repair” I would find you.
Again, it is a case of knowing what your customers or potential customers are looking for and typing in the search engines. Take those keywords and spread them throughout your site and in all of the right places! And that is how they will find you!
The quick answer is yes!
There are many places on the internet where you can get a website for free. You can build it yourself with some easy to use software.
But do you know what a free website looks like? Well let’s just say that it will look like a free website! And your website is a reflection of you and your business. Is that the image that you want to project?
A free website has many limitations. They are very hard to optimize for the search engines, which in turn makes it more difficult for your customers to find.
Free websites usually have an ad on them somewhere announcing to the world that it is a “Free Website”.
There are many things that are extremely important in a website that you do not notice. Things such as titles, meta tags, meta descriptions, meta keywords, keyword density, web site structure, and many others. Many people do not even know what these things are, but a trained webmaster could spot them in an instant!
If you have a very small business and don’t care what people think of you, then a free website will do. Just don’t expect anyone to find it unless you give them the exact address and they type it in correctly!
But I will say again that a website is a great value for what you get. No other form of advertising can even come close to the bang for the buck of a well built website.
A website will also be the first look that some customers get. And hopefully you already know that you only get one chance to make a first impression!
There are certain pages that are required, needed and helpful with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Let’s take a look at them and how they can help you.
Privacy Policy
Required and also helpful with your rankings in the search engine results. Your webmaster will probably do this page for you.
Contact
The search engines like to see this page, but what good would it be if potential customers could not find you. I like to use a form to have people contact you. This helps with your spam in that it makes it harder for the “harvesters” to get your email address. This is also a good page for directions and a phone number.
If the phone number is important to your customers, such as a restaurant that takes phone orders, it should be on every page. I like to put it in the footer or even on the side bar. Remember that we want to make it easy and simple. We don’t want customers searching for a phone number.
Portfolio
If your business has a service that produces a product such as a home builder, you may want to consider showing off some of your work. This may also be a good place for testimonials. Just make sure that you have the owners permission. Some people like their privacy and would not want their things showcased on the internet.
About Us
This is a good page to let people know why they should do business with you. How long have you been doing it? What makes you better? You can also add some personal items. Some people like to put pictures of their families, employees, and etc. Share some hobbies and other outside interest with your visitors. It will make you look more like a person, rather than a cold business. People will be able to relate to you easier.
Free Information
Sometimes business owners forget that just because they know everything about their business, that others know nothing. You are probably an expert at what you do. The average potential customer may know nothing about the inner workings of your business. Share the knowledge. Put up a few articles or even start a blog. This will make potential customers feel more of a bond with you.
And of course all businesses are different and may require different types of pages and information. And let’s review what I said earlier. I like to think of a website as a service to your customers or potential customers. Why are they looking for your website and will they find what they are looking for? Let’s make sure that they find that and a little extra.
The address that someone types in their web browser to find you is called a domain name. Having your EXACT name is a good thing and if it is already taken, we can talk about options. The first rule of websites is to “keep it simple”.
I always look at the website address in all lower case letters as well to insure that there are no “hidden surprises”. Sometimes there are more words than intended and depending upon where people put the spaces, they can read differently!
Domain names are NOT case sensitive. So in other words http://mabelsdeliciouscakes.com is the same as http://MabelsDeliciousCakes.com and MabelsDeliciousCakes.com if typed into a browser. So it is easier to read and remember MabelsDeliciousCakes.com or even www.MabelsDeliciousCakes.com.
What comes after the name is an entirely different story. They are very different and can lead to a disaster. So if you had a page on your web site that was www.MabelsDeliciousCakes.com/Recipe and you sent it to someone as www.MabelsDeliciousCakes.com/recipe it would NOT work. Make sure that you pay very close attention to this. As a matter of fact, you may be better off copying the address from the window at the top of your browser for extra insurance.
Imagine your disappointment if you posted an address to an important event on FaceBook only to find out later that everyone got an error message when they tried to visit the page. Whoops, there goes some respect and profits down the tubes!
Always test an address before you send it or print it. And double check your work. A few extra seconds on your part can save a lot of time and frustration at the other end!
I can tell you that the internet is here to stay. And more and more people are using it everyday! And if people can’t find you online they will probably find someone else who can give them what they are looking for.
People are looking for you online.
I can pretty much guarantee you that someone is looking for you or your business online. And just what will they find? Type it in right now and see…
Will they be happy with that? Well I am sure that if they do not find your website they will be disappointed. Because they had a reason to type it in. They had an expectation. And you have let them down. Think that they want to do business with you? I am not so sure. Maybe one disappointment is enough.
Websites are inexpensive.
Websites do not have to cost thousands of dollars. And for what you get and what they can do for you, they are quite a bargain. And once up they are there to stay with very little maintenance.
Websites are great advertising.
Whether your advertising yourself, your services or your products, a website is a fantastic way to do it. Every other means of advertising costs a premium, especially if you want to target a specific group of readers. And even then you can’t be assured that they will even pay attention to your ad. But think about how easy it is for people to read and share a website. They can bookmark it in public bookmarks, post it to social websites, email it to each other, post it on blogs, and even talk about it. No other advertising medium even comes close to being as easy or as effective as a website!
A website has no boundaries.
They don’t call it the “World Wide Web” for nothing! It doesn’t matter if someone is next door or on the other side of the world. They can find your website. And it also doesn’t matter what time it is. Suddenly working globally is as easy as working locally.
A website can save you a lot of time.
Giving out your information takes time. Put it on a website and it is there for everyone to see. Every question that they may have, answered in an instant with no action required from you. Do your website right and the next thing the customer will need to do is give you the money!
OK, that should have convinced you. A website can save you time, money, and increase your profits. Seems like enough good reasons to have one! Do you have yours?
Helping your webmaster promote your site may be easier than you think! And the sum of many small things done correctly can add up to more traffic and profits for your company. There are even things that can be done by yourself or employees with a little free time that can help to promote your website.
Advertise in the Media.
If you are using other means of advertising ALWAYS put your website address in there. Think about the power of that one tip. Let’s say you took out a small classified ad with maybe 20 words. How much can you say? But if you list your website address you have given that reader access to a LOT of information.
Put your website address on everything.
Stationary, emails, promotional items, vehicles, products and anything else that you can think of. And even though they may not be able to remember the exact address, at least they will know that you have a website and should be able to find it.
Your business cards.
This is often overlooked, but you would be surprised at how many people may just shove your card in their pocket and then when they see it later, check out your website.
Forums and blogs in your local area.
Use your website address in your signature. You would be surprised at how much traffic this will bring, plus you will be giving yourself some backlinks. This is even one of those jobs that an idle employee could do. Just make sure that you are leaving comments that are useful and relevant. You will not want to be seen as a spammer!
Have a your own blog.
A link can easily be put on your website to your blog. You can give your customers extra information or up to date news about your industry.
Submit your web site.
Do a Google search on some keywords relevant to your industry and you will probably find some directories where you can list your site for free. Some will even let you put your website address on there. Some will want a fee to list your site. I would NOT pay to have a listing. If your website is built correctly IT WILL BE FOUND. You should not have to pay for any listings.
Publish articles.
There are many, many places to publish articles. And many have a resource box at the end where you can leave your website address. This is another good way to get a backlink!
Social Media sites.
Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and many others. Everybody is using them. Another way to get traffic, and to give your customers some “extra” information.
So there you have it. A lot of ways that you can help promote your site to get more traffic, more customers, and more profit! And for very little effort. Just one more reason that it pays to have a website!
