Small Business Marketing and the Internet

Web site prevalence and high ranking in the search engines make your small business presence on the Internet a preferred and convenient choice for people searching for answers to their solutions.

Unfortunately, (too often) a small business may involve owners or management that know their business well but lack the experience in Web marketing strategies to the extent that the Web site becomes more of an advertisement or ego-boost than the informative, solution-provider that customers want and need.

Usually these Web sites languish virtually invisible because the business owner is unaware of the importance of maintaining the site, adding to and removing content as needed, or submitting the site to many quality search engines, if it was submitted to any. Or the Web site is designed less than adequately and lacks content and links to other helpful and related sites that would be useful to the customer; search engine optimization that would otherwise hyper-drive customers to the Web site is often non-existent.

Very often the most well-intentioned people will expect their Web site to perform for the company without updating the site. To make your Web site valuable, your site must contain the helpful information that customers demand, or it will be ignored in favor of Web sites that provide answers and ideas to visitors searching for solutions to their needs.

Your Web pages must have the content that visitors will find valuable to them, and your site must have links to it from outside sources which adds credibility to your site as well as elevates the site's ranking in the search engines.

Marketing Benefits of Quality Web Design and Development

Hospital Web sites are a prime example. A visitor expects hospitals to be clean and orderly. It would not be necessary to show exterior images of the building and the parking lot, unless it was to demonstrate the hospital's easy access and generous parking.

What really interests the Web site visitor are the results of the hospital's care and treatment, and the satisfaction it provides to the patients and their families; the specialists of the doctors and surgeons and the ratings and testimonials the hospital receives. The visitor wants to feel good about the hospital and the images need to evoke that feeling.

Splashy, creative graphics are meaningless to the visitor of a hospital Web site, but a Google map showing the location would be very helpful. Images of equipment are also meaningless to the visitor, but the mention of what the equipment and personnel will do for the patient to ease their pain, or relieve symptoms and assist them with their condition would be exactly the type of information the reader wants.

The J Howard Company will help you avoid the trappings of "feature-itis" where company owners become so enamored about the features of their company's equipment, facilities, or services that the benefits of these features are missed on the customers. For example, complete this statement by filling in the blanks: Our company has (or provides) blank which means that blank. The first blank is the feature and the second blank is the benefit. Concentrate on the benefits.

Public Relations and Press Releases can Boost your Web Site Ranking

Successful Web sites of larger corporations will usually have current press releases and public relations information posted about newsworthy items, such as golf outings and fundraising events for charities. Periodic mentions of activities are also ways to maintain and elevate a Web site's search engine ranking. Search engines love content and plenty of it. Updates make your Web site content more noticeable to the search engines.

Small businesses can have similar results with press releases and news feeds to elevate their Web site's ranking through a consistent effort of weekly, monthly, or quarterly newsletter-type articles, or comments at blogs and other social networking sites.

But this consistent writing and generating ideas can overburden many company managers and owners of small businesses. The use of a freelance copywriter or journalist can help.

The J Howard company can provide the same copywriting and topic-generating services and maintain your Website's content at lower cost with inclusive plans tailored for your individual needs.