The site is specifically geared towards Baby Boomers caring for their elderly parents, as well as those same people looking to prepare themselves to age in place.

Related, if you or your company provide products or services to the elderly or their family caregivers, consider submitting an article or contact us there to discuss any ideas you may have for contributing to the site. Additionally, if you would like to share some of your own stories we’d love to publish them.

I appreciate the emails I’ve gotten lately from readers who have wondered what’s happened to me.  My apologies for the absense … this project really tapped me for a while.

One of the big decisions you will need to make is how you are going to publish your information online. In Internet terms, what website format are you going to use? There are a lot of choices, and I won’t go into the technicalities, but here’s general overview of your choices in ice cream terms.

Vanilla:
The old stand-by. Static. You (or your web person) make updates by hand. Content is not stored in a database (called ‘dynamic’). This is the old school web, with all the hand-coded HTML & CSS (cascading style sheets). This is the more difficult way (if you aren’t well versed in such practices) and does not lend itself towards creating a content-rich website. Yes, they can look just as good.

Chocolate Ripple
A little bit of zip. Dynamic. You (or your web person) make updates into a light-weight content management system (CMS) and the content is in a database, including images. Great for blogging, small company/organization sites that want to easily make regular updates to the site and those wanting to couple that with good search engine optimization (SEO) practices. Some examples would be the Wordpress blogging CMS or CMS Made Simple.

White Chocolate Rasberry
Definitely on the adventurous side. Ultra-dynamic and flexible. A CMS like this is much hardier (and, at times, unwieldy), but is ultimately more customizable and powerful. All the SEO benefits can be incorporated, and accommodations are made for large editorial teams and the large amount of content they can generate. Examples would be Drupal or Joomla.

Pick the best flavor for you

Now, could a mom and pop shop benefit from Chocolate Ripple? You bet! Do they have to have it? No. Just because a company is generating $10 million a year does it mean it needs White Chocolate Rasberry? Nope.

In the end, it all goes back to the plan. What you want to do with your website needs to dictate what type of technology you use. Just remember, a website is a tool. And, like any job, you need to right tool to accomplish the task at hand. Every one has it’s place, but not all are created equal.

image: karindalziel

It’s like a day of fishing

You’ve got all your gear in order, weather station says it’s going to be a sunny day, cousins Jim and Steve just showed up in their lucky hats and ready to go. You’re excited, because you can imagine the tastiness of the trout you’re going to grill for dinner tonight. The only thing left is to decide where to go.

Figuring out where the fish are biting is part experience and part luck. The norm would be to head up to the river and agree on a spot. If nothing happens, you move on. But (and, my apologies to avid fishers), wouldn’t it make more sense to divide and conquer? Hit as many spots as you can in a day separately to maximize the chances of having that delicious trout for dinner?

Silly, I know. But, start thinking

Are there a lot of local people in a certain group on Facebook? Do many of them frequent a local website? Do they use StumbleUpon? That’s online, what about off-line? How many customers (or potential customers) are members of the Elks club? How many volunteer for a local charity? How many are band parents?

Guess what? You can be in those places, too. (This is where you should go write down the ideas that are (hopefully) going through your head now.) It’s called networking and establishing yourself as an expert, and works online just as well as it does off-line. (You should get on that.)

Real world examples

• Knoxville Business Owners group on Facebook gives you the opportunity to network with other business owners in the area.
  Do you sell office products? Provide affordable marketing services?
• The Blount County Voice website offers you a chance to post your thoughts in written form about (nearly) any subject.
  Dry cleaning tips? The best way to shop for a new car? Childcare choices?
• Maryville, TN Kiwanis Club: According to their website they currently have 130 members. That’s 130 people that may not use your services or products, or who know people who can.
• GoSmokies provided by KnoxNews.com is a social network for people who love the Smoky Mountains.
  Do you own a bike shop? Know the best places to hike?
• KnoxMoms is a great place to rub shoulders with other moms. They have get-togethers in real life, forums to post in with lots of opportunities for mixing with potential customers.
  Make baby clothes? Own a babysitting service?
• Since 1992 Blount County Habitat for Humanity has built 86 homes and provided simple decent shelter to 190 children. Think you could make some connections in the community doing that?

This could be doubly beneficial!

Imagine networking into walks of life you’ve never touched before. Imagine working with some people to have a positive impact while you’re at it. Get involved with what people are involved in where you live. Figure out where they are and be there. You may just have the time of your life AND earn some extra customers.

image: just-us-3

Note: This, of course, is not going to be exhaustive; just an overview. There is a lot to search engine optimization and online marketing and word of mouth advertising. Unless you are pretty Internet savvy, you might be well served getting help from a web professional. Yes, you can do it yourself, but it can be time consuming. It can also be frustrating if you don’t know what you are doing. This is an area you certainly don’t want to skimp…it is really important.

Search engines are your friends

Search engines WANT to index your sites and have them rank good. Their job is to find and provide people what they are looking for online. No search engine is perfect, but most do a pretty good job.

Now, remember, we are trying to reach local customers

Much of the responsibility for getting ranked high in search engines rests on the website creators. (That would mean you and whomever you hire.) Yep, and it’s called ‘content’. Every search engine indexes content in it’s own way. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, you need to focus on two things (both we’ve already talked about):

• Content that is: High quality, relevant and regularly updated
• Content and site structure that is keyword and locally optimized

Remember, we make it about the customer first and search engines second. You don’t have to be perfect; just consistently good.

Spreading the word

There are so many other ways to get the word out about your website; we’ll break it into two parts: store-based and Internet.

Store-based

There are several things you can do to get some local attention right here at home (some of this bears repeating). All are pretty easy, but it takes a little discipline to get in the habit. Just do these and you’ll be glad you did.

• Make sure every piece of paper that goes out of your business has your website address on it and (as appropriate) highlights the benefit the site has for the consumer.- Business cards
  - Paper newsletters
  - Invoices
  - Sales receipts
• Make sure any advertising you do has your website address on it and (as appropriate) highlights the benefit the site has for the consumer.- Print advertising
  - Fliers
  - TV or radio ads
• Word of mouth- Talk to your employees about the website and make sure everyone talks it up to the customers

  - When you are talking with other business owners, church folks, lodge buddies or the babysitter or anyone who will listen … talk it up.

Internet Based

There are so many ways to promote your website yourself online I couldn’t possibly mention them all now. Here are a few that are easy to do and won’t take too much time.

• Mention your website to people you know online. If you instant message or post in forums online, mention your website there where appropriate.
• Use social websites to link to your website and get your employees and friends to do the same. Services like StumbleUpon, Magnolia, Netvibes and delicious (just to name a few … and there are a ton) are great places to have other people come in contact with your site AND help with inbound links on the search engines.
• Get links from other website owners who have complimentary content. Try to get appropriate keywords in the text of the link.
• Join social networking sites and link to your site in your profile.

That’s it for today’s installment. Keep coming back as we’ll have more for you on getting your site running like it needs to for attracting local customers!

As a side today, if you haven’t subscribed to get updates to the site, why not do that now? You can get it delivered to you in email or subscribe in your favorite feed reader.

image: oneofsomany

Domain Names

This is the name address of your website; it is a ‘friendly’ way for people to know where you website lives. Instead of having to remember a numeric address, you get to have a name. So, Sally the real estate agent wants a website. She can get a name that either will identify her or her business to her potential customers. These domain names are leased from a registrar for X number of years and are fairly inexpensive. Generally, you can pick up a domain name for $8-$15 a year.

For example: sallywallace.com, sallysellshomes.com or knoxvillehomesonline.com

I’m not providing a link to a registrar (and there are TONS of them) because I don’t want you to go out and buy one on a whim. You need to think carefully about what name you should get. Your domain name will become part of your brand, so it needs to be well researched. (And, by that I mean you need spend some time figuring out what choices you have and why one would be better than another.)

Domain names come in several flavors (extensions), the most common being .com, .net, .org, .info and .us.

Website Hosting

Hosting is a service that gives a ‘home’ to your website. Essentially, it is a server (computer) on the Internet that will house the web pages, images and other media that make up your website.

Web hosting is also not expensive. You generally pay by month or year, and it can vary from $6-$25 a month. The most important thing you can do is make sure the company you go with has a good reputation. There are thousands of web hosting companies, so it should not be too hard to find some people who have experience dealing with one.

More to come soon!

Want people to call you when they search for your products or services online? Want some more local traffic for your website? It’s easy. Just add your listing to any search engines or directories that have local business listings. Here’s a few to get you started.

Google local business - free

Yahoo! local - Basic listing free

MSN Live Search - free

InfoUSA - free

SuperPages - free

I hope you take a few minutes out of your busy day and get your business listed at these sites. (It is free after all.) Once you have, make sure you go back should your contact information ever change.

I’ve already mentioned that you need to make your content relevant. Your site’s purpose is to get more customers, members, donations, exposure, traffic, etc. Figure out what you want to say about those things and make sure everything you publish is geared towards your goal(s).

I know, it seems a little elementary. But, I can’t drive the point home enough that your content needs to be focused specifically on the stuff your (potential) customers need to know about you. You need to figure out what that will be ahead of time. I always suggest building an outline before you ever write a single word of copy.

Don’t miss today’s bonus - more customers calling, more website visitors >>

Constructing your content

Writing for the web is a little different than, say, writing an ad or a term paper. We know the #1 rule is make it about the consumer. So, to that end, here are a few ideas about writing for the web to make it EASY on your visitors to find the information they are looking for. And, remember, users scan pages for words that will alert them to what they are looking for … don’t forget that.

Your pages or articles should be constructed similarly to this little outline.

• Page or Article titles need to be descriptive and simple (3 to 5 words)
• Opening paragraph summarizes what the page is about
• Paragraphs need to be short
• Opening sentence of each paragraph summarizes what the paragraph is about
• Images need to be related to the content on the page
• Write for a 6th grade reading level
• Make it flow. Make transitions from one concept to another smooth
• Don’t ‘fluff up’ your content just to make it longer. Concise is good

Use the right words

As I said earlier, people scan information for words that tell their brains, “This is what you are looking for.” Using the information above will help make sure they can get those messages in their brains when they read your website. But, there is more to it. You also need to make sure that you use the right words in your content so people can find your website when they are on Google or Yahoo! searching. (Yes, people will do that … a lot.)

So, just how does someone who is on Google looking for “knoxville dry cleaner” find your site? Easy. You have those words “knoxville,” “dry,” and “cleaner” in your text. Search engines have computer programs called spiders that find all the content on the Internet. When it visits your website to see what it is about, or if you have added anything new (called ‘indexing’), it will see those words in that order on your web page. Since it checks out every page, it will conclude your website is for a dry cleaner in Knoxville.

The key, however, is knowing which words to use. This is where finding keywords is important. Keywords are words that people use on search engines for a particular topic. One of the most important things you can do is discover just what those words are and incorporate those words into your site. Most of the words will be natural to include (as in the example above). However, knowing what words are used and in what order (as in a phrase) is invaluable when writing your content.

If you don’t know how to research keywords for your niche (subject, services, products), find someone who does and hire them to help you. It is that important.

The benefits of doing it right

Putting so much effort into your content does two things. First, it makes it all about your visitor … and hopefully helps convert them into a customer. Second, it makes your pages seem like valuable resources to search engines. Which, in turn helps you reach more customers.

Do not skimp on the content for your site. Get help if you need it. Also, you would not hire a 10 year-old to write copy for your print ads. Make sure the people you work with on the content for your website knows what they are doing.

image: _Star_Dust_

Rule #1: Your website has to be about the consumer’s needs first, not yours.

Sounds like a no-brainer, but I can’t tell you how many customers I’ve had to tell that the content they were planning on was going to be of no use to consumers. Or, that the flashing colors (widget, unrelated content, etc.) would be an annoyance to the consumer or hinder them from seeing the important stuff. Moving on …

What really makes good content?

I’ve heard many answers to this question, but we are going to approach it based on rule #1 above. We will go with the basics first. Your content needs to be:

• Brief - People will not sit there and read a novel about your company. People scan pages for words that clue them in to what might be interesting to them. If they don’t find it quickly, they will go someplace else. (That’s bad.)
• Relevant - Information must be relevant to their perspective and what their needs. Focus on making product/service information categorized and ‘findable’, as well as content that highlights why you (or your products) are unique (or better). No long, drawn-out explanations about anything! (No, you can’t talk about your grandkids, train models or weekend trips. Yes, those are examples from real customers.)
• Intuitive - Simply put, navigating your site needs to be easy. People should not have to search. Incorporate plenty of white space around content items. And, make sure menus are clearly visible and distinguishable from other content items.
• Interesting - Let’s face it, if it won’t hold their attention, they won’t stay. Make sure your content is well-written (and see Brief above). Incorporating services or gizmo’s that enhance the consumers experience (in relation to your companies services) is a really good thing. Again, highlight the uniqueness of what you do or how you do it.Note: One phrase commonly used in the industry is ’stickiness’. It refers to having content or tools on your site that keep people on the site longer and coming back for more. The ’stickier’ the site, the better.
• Fresh - This is where people fail the majority of the time. Your content needs to be updated on a regular basis, with a focus on consistently adding more. More doesn’t have to be added daily (although, search engines think that is yummy!), but it should happen often. At minimum, you need to add something every month. This will help you ensure that it is up-to-date for consumers AND keeps the search engines happy.

Common Pages

• Home - Just like it sounds, this is the entry page to the site. You want to make sure the most useful content to consumers (and most timely) is on this page. This would include links to product/service information, news, store hours, delivery area, etc. You want to make sure your prospective customers can find what they are looking for quickly and easily get to it. Secondary to that, you want to make sure the most important information you want them to see is here. Things like a link to online ordering, frequently asked questions (FAQs), special online services, newsletter sign-up, etc.
• Services/Products - These pages will highlight what you offer the consumer. The more interesting, the better.
• FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) - Want to cut down on having the same questions asked over and over, and relieve some frustration for your customers? A simple list of the questions and answers will go a long way.
• About - Briefly explaining who you are, what you do and why. Any credentials, specialty, etc. would go here as well.
• Contact - How they can contact you: Mailing address, phone number and a contact form.
• Location - Physical address and directions (with landmarks). Location maps are awesome.
• Privacy Policy and/or Terms of Use - Yes, it sounds like it doesn’t apply, but it does. If for nothing more than the user’s peace of mind you need to (at minimum) include a privacy policy. Besides, Google thinks privacy policies and terms of use lend credibility to your site. (Credibility = Good for you.)
• Other Pages - The more the better … as long as they are relevant to the site and of use to the consumer.

Services

The services you offer online for consumers can make or break their experience. Many times, people are looking for information (location, contact information, hours, etc.). Increasingly, consumers are looking to (or are willing to) interact with a company when they visit a site. Not only is adding services to your site a good way to increase stickiness, it is also a great way to increase sales and draw them in so you can get your message(s) across. Get creative with online services. Discuss different things you can offer to consumers with the people building your site. A few common services are:

• Shopping - Having a way for your customers to order from you online is good for everyone, if applicable to your type of business or organization. If applicable, you should at minimum highlight that they can call to place an order. A form to get a quote for services or products or a shopping cart where they can place an order online are great. All of these should be tied into your products and services pages!
• Email Newsletters - These puppies are great for keeping on open line of communication with your customers. They don’t have to be elaborate and, quite frankly, are cheap to for you. Use them to highlight special events, online or in-store specials, news or accomplishments … anything that will keep you on their radar.
• Sharing - Make it easy for people to spread the word about your site/services. Having “email this page”, social networking, bookmarking/social bookmarking links on applicable pages are invaluable.
• Tools - This is where you can get really creative. Interactive tools will keep people on your site and can be used to educate the consumer, increase awareness of your brand and can even help you gather information about the people visiting the site. Financial calculators, polls/quizzes, interactive animations are a few examples.Note: When I say, “get creative,” I mean the sky is the limit. Let’s say you are a dry cleaner and have one or two complaints that come up all the time. You could use an interactive animation or quiz to educate the consumer. Not only would you be able to alleviate a portion of those complaints in the future with the information, if it was built correctly, you could also learn something about people who may use your services.

If your focus stays on the consumer and you follow the guidelines above, you will stand out from your competition and improve consumer perception. You will also have taken great strides towards ensuring repeat business. As a bonus, you will find that your website will do better in the search engines, since you’ve made it relevant, fresh, usable and ’share-able’!

In the next segment we’ll be discussing more about content and how carefully creating it will make your site easier to use and increase the chances of it being found in search engines. I’ll also give you some juicy tidbits on how you can increase the number of people that see your site easily and FREE! (Well, maybe free and cheap options … we’ll see

image: takomabibelot

• You could have the top ten questions you are asked every day answered before they even walked in the door?
• You had a new avenue to notify your customers of sales without ever having to buy a print ad?
• Every time someone went to Google or Yahoo and searched form someone in your area that provided your services or products, they would be provided a link to your website?
• You could automatically process customer orders online with no need for them to come to your place of business?
• You could provide new services to your customers online that could put you ahead of your competition?

That’s just a few examples, of course. The possibilities are endless. The bottom line is that there is definitely the potential to provide more services, increase customer satisfaction and increase your bottom line.

Why should I spend time and money on them when I’m trying to get more time and money?

So you can get more time and money, of course! Yes, it’s a trade off, initially. You make your investment now, build it properly, maintain it and you will be able to reap the return on your investment.

More than that, though, the Internet is here to stay and the tool that consumers and businesses are going to use for a long time to come. Your competition will utilize the Internet (if they aren’t already). If you don’t have a website already, you need one. If you do have one, you need to start planning to make it more useful for your customers (and you), and make sure that it is built/maintained properly so people can find it in the right places online.

Which leads me to …

Being where consumers are

In an earlier post I talked about how 86% of Internet users search for products online then go buy them locally. That’s right. They are going to the web to find the products and services they want, then purchasing them from local companies. (Why else are the retailing giants putting so much cash into local advertising?)

For those who might be slightly behind the Internet awareness curve (sorry Mom), you need to know that the web is the future of business advertising (consumer information, entertainment, shopping, etc.). Don’t take my word for it.

• People are window shopping online and buying locally
• When consumers have questions to common problems (which you may provide a service for), they turn to the Internet
• Over 71% of Americans are Internet users
• People are talking about products and services online … they could be talking about you

So, where are they online? Search engines, social networking sites, forums, your competitor’s website? Yes to all and more. That’s why it is so important that you not only make sure your site is built properly so sites that index content can find it, but also that it has content on it that people will share or talk about, both online and off.

You get the keys

The cost of a website and using it as a tool for your business is small in comparison to what you could spend long term on other marketing ventures. But, more than that, you are investing in a tool that you get to control. That’s why you need to know a little bit about what is possible. It’s your business, you need to be driving.

In the next installment we’ll be diving into what needs to be on a website and how you can leverage the web to get noticed, improve your brand and create a ways to ensure repeat business.

image: Redvers

So, I thought you might be interested in a little more insight into what I think the web can do for your company and what it can do for you locally. Many of the items I am going to cover are the basis for much of why us Internet people do what we do. Some are a little more difficult to explain, but if you’ll follow along, I think you’ll start to have some lights go on. (Followed, hopefully, by an ‘aha!’ moment.)

It’s really good stuff & FREE!

Sign Up to Get Internet Boot Camp Via Email >

This is going to be some awesome information that you could easily pay big bucks for. So, come back regularly over the next week or so and get your daily dose. (My apologies to the armed forces for taking such license with my cheesy title for this series. No, we won’t be starting promptly at 4:30 a.m. every day. … Your REM sleep is safe.)

Tell your friends & fellow business owners

Have them visit this site or send them an email … they aren’t going to want to miss this!

image: surfingsanders

For small business owners who have a website already, a couple of tips about websites: 5 tips for writing website content that gets results and 7 deadly design sins that can kill your conversations.

Nothing can take the place of knowing where your competition stands … unless you can Get Ahead of Your Competition

Blogwell has some really good content on their site, like 100+ Useful Web Resources forSmall Business and Non Profits … you should bookmark it.
Jennifer Laycock discusses Three Steps to Creating New Content and it is all about those yummy keywords we’ve discussed so many times before.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back in my regular routine in a few days (so very, very sad … will miss the islands). Anywho, stay tuned!

image: zophos

Acres of Diamonds - Russell Conwell’s short work on life, success, money and priorities. Simple and challenging.

The Seven Laws of User Interface Design - Yeah, I know, it sounds boring. If you’re interested in knowing what will make your website more usable, you need to read this.

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Facebook- This link from someone I really respect. Perhaps for those who are a little more web savvy, but good information for those interested in leveraging social networking websites to increase their exposure online. And, yes, you can even use Facebook (and other social sites) to find more local customers. Really!

What Question Does Your Product Answer? - Even though this article is speaking about Internet startups, the information is a good read for any small business owner.

That’s quite a bit for now. If you like reading these little gems, make sure you let me know.

Build it right … with the right stuff

When it comes to the correct way to build a website (technically speaking), you have to use the right technology for the features you want. You also have to make sure it is constructed in a way where your goals are accomplished. (Goals like good search ranking, easy navigation for visitors, easy purchasing system, etc.) Those are several reasons why the first point (Get Help, above) is important.

Oh, and if you want current or prospective customers to visit your website, make sure you’re building the stuff your customers will actually use. (Try asking them.)

Search Engine Optimization

I have two rules for you about web design / development companies and search engine optimization (SEO):

• If they don’t talk to you about search engine optimization and how they are going to help consumers find your company online, fire them. 
  
  
• If they don’t talk about keywords with you before they start integrating content on your website, fire them.

Pretty rough sounding, I know. But SEO is so important. The site has to be structured properly, contain the right keywords and be worded correctly to be relevant (from a search engine’s point of view). You also need to have inbound and outbound links, quality (original) content and kept updated regularly in order to rank well. (Amongst many of the good practices for search engines.)

Get listed

Getting your website included in search engines is of utmost importance. It may take a little time initially, but it isn’t that hard. But, the ultimate goal of getting listed for a local business is (you guessed it!) … to get in front of consumers doing local searches. Making sure your site is optimized for search engines is critical. However, you also need to take advantage of local business links  from companies like Google , Yahoo and other local search engines.

Provide useful (and relevant) content and keep it fresh

Nobody likes a site that isn’t kept up to date or doesn’t have useful information on it. Search engines like sites that are regularly maintained with content that they think their users are going to find useful. Your content needs to give the search engines that impression. Here are a couple of guidelines … your content should reflect:

• Your locale (Knoxville, Maryville, Sevierville, etc.)
• Your services or products (Air conditioning, car repair, coaching)
• Words that consumers use to find your products or services in your locale (Maryville, TN car repair … not just car repair)

And, don’t be afraid to get creative with your local content. You would be surprised just how much traffic a Google image search or YouTube video could bring you.

Get help

Hire someone who knows what they are doing and has a good reputation. Yeah, it may take time to find the right one, but it is worth it. Ask friends or other business owners, or call around to some local organizations … you might find out some good information.

Also, you don’t have to pay a fortune. (Yes, I know the last guy you talked to already said you would. Yes, I know he’s your wife’s, best friend’s cousin.) Buying the services to have a web site built is like buying a car. You pick out the type (make/model) and the services (features/amenities), then they give you a price. If you don’t like the price, go check another shop. If it’s in the same range, maybe you need to re-think your requirements.

So there you have it. Have comments, leave them below. Have questions, let me know.

image: Gwire

Over Promising and Under Delivering

So, I take my car down to the dealership for some work to be done. I’m proud of my car; I love to drive it. I look really cool in it and it makes me feel young(er). The service rep tells me it will take a day to get the parts, then a morning to get them installed. So, if I will leave it, they can have it ready by Friday. I’m bummed, but, if it’s going to keep making me look good, it has to run good. I agree, call for a lift and I’m off. I’m a little happier now, knowing I’m taking good care of it.

Friday rolls around and I call the service office. No, they won’t get the parts until 10:00 a.m. this morning, so, they’ll have to keep it until Monday. I’m pretty aggravated at this point. I tell the guy they told me Friday. He says, “Sir, I don’t know who told you that, but sometimes it takes longer to get the parts.” As controlled as I possibly can I say, “[Mister Service Man’s Name], YOU told me that. I dropped the car off to you.” Silence.

Whatever…I was setup from the get-go for frustration. Here’s a couple of bullet point thoughts:

• If he knew sometimes the delivery for parts was not accurate, why didn’t he tell me that up front?
• If it got delayed, why didn’t they call me?
• Why didn’t he apologize or try to comp me something to make me feel better about their service?

It’s a little thing called “Service Recovery”, Mr. Service Man … you might want to read up on it. It goes miles towards keeping that customer you just hacked off.

So, how do you frustrate your customers?

Are you making them wait longer than you told them? (How much harder would it be just to change what you tell them?) Are you making your employees use a process to move the customer through that is frustrating to everyone involved? (Change it.) Does getting service from you take a lot of effort for them? (Make it easier.) Are your employees challenging to your customers? (Train them or replace them.)

Hey, they can go down the street and get frustrated too … maybe for cheaper.

I dare any small business owner in the Knoxville area (or from anywhere else, really) to click on the comments link below and share how you’ve frustrated your customers and what you’re doing to make it better. Let’s learn from each other.

Build it and they will leave you…

On a side note, when it comes to websites, nothing is more frustrating than visiting one that isn’t maintained or contains the wrong (or not enough) information. Listen, people are actually accustomed to using the web to find out LOCAL information. If your website doesn’t have the information or services that people expect, they will leave it.

Oh, and there’s a good chance they searched Google for your services and will click back to another local website for a company that has the right information on it. BOOM, you just lost a customer.

image: phunkstarr

• Family friendly and accommodating?
• Obsessed with customer satisfaction?
• Honest and deal with integrity?
• Can service their [insert mechanical device here] better than anyone?
• Revolutionary and will change their daily lives?
• Are a deity incarnate and can do everything, including walking on water?
• Are a crazed ingrate and, after seeing your commercial, they are pretty sure you are a salesman. However, the only expectation they have is that they would probably get accosted should they visit your company.

The Balance

When a customer comes in contact with a message from your company, you have to make sure it says what you mean and is on-target. Making outlandish claims or too-good-to-be-true promises will do nothing more than shed a negative light on you in their minds. Using misleading or deftly crafted words will make them feel unsettled. Even more important still is their ‘feeling’ of what you are like (stand for, think is important, represent).

Being creative is O.K.! Being silly is O.K. You just have to keep in mind that people will form an opinion (get a feeling, have an impression) of your company before they even walk in the door. Don’t give your customers a reason to be dissatisfied on the first interaction. Set their expectations every time they see an ad, visit your website or come in your store. You know what ‘they’ say: You only get one chance to make a first impression.

What does this have to do with a website? Everything! Just like any other marketing initiative, the goal is to engage and entice a potential customer. Create a continuity in your messages. Make it the right one for your company … and make sure you can back it up.

image: leh4

One person I’ve run across that I pay attention to is Seth Godin. Maybe you’ve heard of him; maybe not. I really admire Seth; he’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever read. He’s a giver and I’m a taker . It works out great. (Of course, I support his work, too; I buy his books.)

As small business owners we need to be on the lookout for smart people. They don’t have to have a degree from Stanford to have great ideas. The average, ordinary people in our lives can inspire us, give us a brilliant idea or maybe just make us take a pause to think about something that is important for us right now.

They give. We take. We grow. We move on.

Keep an eye out; you never know who the next smart person will be for you. Maybe the the grandmother next door, the paperboy or the guy that’s been coming to your shop for 10 years. That idea that will transform your company (personal life, church, civic organization) could be right around the corner.

When you take … run with it. Don’t stop and think yourself out of it. Don’t underestimate that urgency inside that says, “This is an awesome idea!” Run until you cross the finish line. And, be genuinely thankful for the smart people.

image: Noah Bulgaria

What exactly is the purpose of your business?

That sounds overly simplistic, I know … perhaps even a little amateurish. Seriously, though, why did you get into business in the first place? What need were you meeting? If you go back to the root of the “why” you can better judge your success (or failure) of doing what you set out to do for your customers.

It’s a natural progression of business to add to what we do for obvious reasons: more clients, more profit or more exposure. Many lose their ‘first love’ along the way, or get off-target from their original goals. Don’t get me wrong. Growth should be in the plan from the get-go. (Doing more and earning more are definitely on my radar.)

What about solving more? Or, more importantly, solving better?

Solving problems with your products or services is at the core of any business. Taking inventory of why you started in the first place and committing to doing that thing even better (faster, more efficiently) with a goal of increased value to your customers … that’s progress in the right direction.

The Internet is a tool you can use to do just that

The possibilities are proportional to your commitment to reach your goals. Leveraging a website to do what you’re doing better for your clients could be a very smart decision on your part.

image: striatic

“…86 percent of Internet users search for local products and services, up from 70% in 2006, and more than 90 percent of the transactions resulting from these searches are completed offline. Recognizing an opportunity, advertisers’ investment in local online advertising services are projected to grow from $8 billion in 2007 to nearly $20 billion in 2011 …“

We’ll wait for a second for you to go back and read that again. ……………….. Ready?

Now, 86% is A LOT of people, but that’s not the kicker. The real information is in the last part: National companies are doing local advertising to reach YOUR customers to buy THEIR products. “Oh, but they’ve been doing that for years on TV and in newspapers. What’s it matter?” Well, I’m glad you asked …

Newspapers, as we know them, are going away. Yep, you read it right. People aren’t reading them like they used to. Why? Well, for one, they can get most of what matters to them online. And, TV? Well, it’s changing too. Right before your eyes it’s changing. Digital programming means it can be delivered where? To the Internet. (Ahh….the lights go on.) Its all going to be online. Yes! The Internet is the playground now.

So, if the big boys are using the Internet to reach out locally to consumers, where does that put your company?

Get moving before it all catches up to you

Getting a website and building it right is not that hard. Scary, maybe at first. But, you really don’t have a choice if you want to compete in these changing times. They said that about papers and radio and TV. It just keeps moving, so you’ll have to as well.

Start small. Get a web developer to help you get a site up. Find someone who is knowledgeable and small business friendly. (And, by that I mean, “not looking to take advantage of the little guy because he doesn’t know a lot.”) Just be smart and plan well.

image by aftermark

Yowzers! That is a big, big number. (Um, anyone interested in creating/fine-tuning their website now?)

OK, Mr. SmartPants … How do I get those eyes on me?

The story is the same for every local company, no matter the size. There are things that you can do to your website to make sure you are found by potential local customers on the web, that the interaction with you (your site) is positive and they are satisfied with the experience.

• Make it Local : Target Knoxville, Maryville, Alcoa and surrounding areas with the use of geographic keywords in the text on your website (and links!)
  
  
• Make it Relevant : Quick! What are the top selling products and/or services you have? Create web content (catalog, product highlights, etc.) that target the most sought after products you have, using keywords that reflect those products. Yes, this requires some serious research. (Hint: You might have products/services that people might actually be looking for, but they don’t know you have it.)
  
  
• Make it Convincing : Nothing beats good flowing text on a website that screams, “I’m an expert, listen to me,” or, “I care about my customers enough to provide them the best.” Get some help writing content that will do these things and lend credibility to your brand.
  
  
• Make it Easy : Make using your website or buying your products/services online, easy. Make sure your site is built to be intuitive, checkout processes are streamlined and you don’t put stumbling blocks in the way of people trying to find out about you or buy your stuff!
• Make it Pleasant : Focus up-front on ensuring that the colors, layout and navigation of the site is conducive to a calm and pleasant experience. Bright colors, flashing graphics, too much movement, etc. are all turn-offs. Build something your mother would use.
  
  
• Make it Rewarding : Offer benefits to your customers for using the site. Not just for buying something, either. Advertise in-store discounts to web visitors, coupons, online only specials or content that is exclusive to those that take the time to visit.
  
  
• Make it Open : Solicit for feedback … and answer every one. Let people tell you how you are doing so you can do better. Solicit product or service reviews from your customers and link to your reviews from consumer sites. Whatever you do, squelch the fear inside that says, “I can’t let people say negative things about me!” Everyone knows that no one is perfect. What makes us good is how we recoup.
  
  
• Make it Visible : No one will use your site if they don’t know about it. And, make it all visible on your site … your commitment to your customers, your return policy, your business ethics, your specials, your cat’s picture … everything. (OK, maybe not the cat.) Show them why they need to do business with you.

As an interesting aside, the same article mentioned above said that, “Consumers are looking for more online from these companies …76% would sign up for information on specials and savings offers, and 47% say they’d like to receive on online newsletter.” Excited yet?

image courtesy of b_d_solis

What would your return be? New customers? More sales? It all depends on what your goals are. For my customers, we don’t start until they have defined their goals for the website. So, how do you go about reaching those website goals? You get that spankin’ new website in front of the people who are looking for your goods or services.

You have to make your site easy to find
If you are a local business in Knoxville, and you want people to be able to find your website, then you will have to have the words on your site reflect the terms people will use when looking for your products or services online (’keywords’). To do this, your site will need to be optimized for those keywords, so when someone goes to a search engine and uses those keywords, they can find you. (I.e. “knoxville real estate” or “maryville tn car repair”)

Let your existing customers know
Every piece of paper that goes out of your store needs to have your website address on it; receipts, fliers, business cards, notepads, letterhead, envelopes, gift cards … you get the picture. You’ve built a great thing! Make it easy for your existing customers to find you online and be a repeat customer.

Better than that, though, tell them! When they are at the counter, say, “Thanks for coming in and, by the way, we’ve got a brand new website that will make it easy for you to do X, Y and Z.” They will LOVE that.

Make it easy for potential customers
Along the same lines, marketing your website should fold right into any other marketing you do for your organization. Commercials, billboards and other signs, ads in magazines or newspapers; all should have your website mentioned where it is easily read.

So there you have it …. a couple of ways you get spread the word about your new website. Remember, you put a lot into your site (or you will), be proud of it and tell everyone you see. You want the best return you can get.