Technivise Blog Article

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12 Steps to Survive the

Internet Jungle While

Establishing Presence for

your Small Business

As you begin to take steps to establish Internet Presence, you need to beware of predators in the Internet Jungle that will tell you anything to get your money and own you – as much as possible and for as long as possible. They want to keep you captive there, parasites feeding off your wallet, doing little to aid in your bottom line. All of them will tell you they will help. Many will tell you their efforts will bring you huge rankings on the Internet and much business. Don’t be fooled by a good sign of initial success -- that you will receive many sales calls. These predators now have your scent and they are very hungry! Some of them will claim to represent Google or the phone directory. Some will clearly be scams. Others will sound legitimate. Beware. Understand the details or have a trusted Jungle guide. Don’t give out private information. Technivise is a Guide to the Internet Jungle, helping you to understand and safely take each step with you or for you, each step so you own the results, and suggesting a broader team as needed to establish your small business Internet presence. What are some specific steps to establish a new or better Internet presence for your small business? In what order? Certainly one approach doesn’t fit every small business, but the following 12 steps present an overview of what will be important to start your small business on its journey through the Internet Jungle. They are presented in order, but that order might also be adjusted depending on your business or situation.

[1] Consider the Big Picture

Before you do anything, plan your trip into the Jungle. Think about what you’re trying to achieve through an Internet presence. Set some objectives or goals. What do you want to achieve obtaining customers? How are you going to use the Internet for your operations? Operations may include servicing customers, answering their questions, setting appointments, online sales, shipping, etc. With our experience, Technivise can efficiently interview you about these topics and help you quickly come to ideas about how to market your business. Why this order? If you set objectives and goals first, you can use them to help make the right decisions in the following steps. Don’t worry, you can change your objectives and goals as you learn, but if you fail to write them down you could make more costly mistakes.

[2] Have an Identity

You’ll need supplies for this Jungle journey. Have a business name, phone number, address, and if possible, consistent branding including a logo, look and feel, and other elements that capture your business’ personality. You should also consider being registered with local authorities through your city, state, and the federal entities, not just to keep it legitimate, but to capture your brand in your business. Why this order? You’ll need consistency across the Internet and for your other customer-facing interactions. You’ll need this information for all the following steps creating your online presence.

[3] Obtain a domain name

(yourbusiness.com)

To be known in the Jungle, you’ll need a domain name to build an effective website and email presence on the Internet. Pick one that is easy for your customers to remember and type. In the past there were plentiful .com, .org, and .net domain names for the taking. Now many are devoured by one type of beast in the Jungle -- domain name speculators. They have purchased so many domains to hold them and sell them for high prices. They go unused, held hostage for high prices. Either pay the high price or come up with another domain name! Now there are so many new extensions such as .biz, .tv, .pub, .clinic, .cafe, .florist, .legal, and so many more that you have more choices. If you don’t have a business name yet, you might consider the name depending on availability of domain names. If you already have a business, then adjust the domain name to work with that so your customers can easily remember it. Beware. Some services will sell you a domain but hold you hostage to their service. Technivise can help you know where to purchase these to save money, how to purchase them to make your website work best, avoid being held hostage by providers, and stay in control of your own Internet presence. Why this order? A domain name is one of the first steps for branding your Internet presence and essential for a unified branding presence with website, email, and other services.

[4] Content - Create your elevator speech

You’ll need to create some basic content for your Internet Presence. You may already have this and need to modify it or you may need to create it. This includes a basic motto, a very short description, answers to questions customers might ask, background about you and your business, and perhaps testimonials you’ve collected if your business is already established. You can develop more detailed content later as needed. Technivise can help refine and develop this through an interview and gathering other information needed to create content for your Internet Presence. Why this order? You’ll need these to more easily create a website, populate online directories, and create social networking accounts. Creating these early will not only save a lot of time later, it will help with consistency in your Internet or online presence.

[5]

Website

& Email

Now that you have content and a domain name, you can set up a website and as many email addresses you need with @yourbusinessname.com. For your website, you can start out with something simple as a one-page placeholder and improve it over time. A full website design should take into account many factors associated with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – in the content of pages and the structure of the website itself. For your email, it’s useful to have an “admin” or “office” general email account that handles all your general business communication regarding your Internet presence. To appear professional and maintain control, it’s best to have email addresses linked to your domain name, not one hosted by another service such as aol.com, gmail.com, etc. Technivise can set up simple websites, refer you to other website developers, or work with your exiting website developer. Technivsie also set up email servers and email systems for you. For both website and email accounts, make sure you own everything – don’t be held hostage in the Jungle by providers of these services. Why this order? You’ll need your domain name and content to set these up. You’ll also need the website and email addresses to control your Internet presence on social media sites and directories. If you don’t want a website, you can have some presence through social media sites and directories.

[6] Social Media Sites

There are many civilizations in the Jungle -- social media sites where many customers may gather. Set up shop in these civilizations when they make sense for your business in places such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and all the others. Some of these can serve as a mini-website presence for you, so the content you’ve already prepared will be of use. Each social media site will require some care, feeding, and maintenance to be effective. Consider how that will be maintained – yourself, someone that works for you, or a provider. Obtain specific links to your social media site pages. Technivise can set up social media sites and help in their care and feeding. We can also work with you or others to maintain social media presence for your small business. Why this order? You’ll need your identity, website, email, and content to be effective at setting up your social media sites. You’ll also have to go back to your website and add your newly established social media links. You can establish social media sites without a website if you wish.

[7] Directory

Listings & Link

Building

Wanting to be the equivalent of Internet phone books, there are almost a countless number of online directories in which you can list your business. Some are very important and others not so much. Some are linked to mobile phone map services. Some focus on ratings by customers. Some are global, others are national, and some are local. It is critical, and free, to be listed in the top locations such as Google, Bing, and Apple. It is also very important, and usually free, to be listed in as many of the others as possible because it provides consistency but also protects and projects your Internet presence. Some require payment, but it is rare when paying them is worthwhile. It might make sense for some businesses. If your business is already listed with a particular directory, you can “capture” it so you can edit and improve information in that listing. These listings should all show the same basic information: same address, same phone number, same business hours, etc. Some will allow for more detail. Some ask for your date of birth. Do you really want to give that out? No! Come up with a close but different date of birth for these purposes. Another form of directory listings can be professional societies and communities of interest. Seek these out if you don’t know them already. The Jungle is not so safe here. Quicksand is everywhere. Increasingly more online companies, many of which are Internet predators feeding off those who wander into the Jungle unaware. They sell “listing services” to populate a number of these directories, but they are expensive and require recurring payments. The make it seem like they will give you 100 percent coverage, but they don’t. They usually don’t even cover half of the directories and they may do a poor job of populating detailed information your potential customers would want to see. If you already have great coverage, they will tell you that you don’t so they can get your money. Also, if you stop paying in the future, they could remove your Internet presence. That’s why you might prefer to control or own as many of these as possible. There are also free “listing services” where you don’t have to pay. Beware. Technivise can help you populate all these directories so you own them, preventing you from being held hostage. While sometimes simple, this process can quickly become complex with verification of your phone and address. Most of these do not require regular maintenance after being set up, but some will depending on your business type and your objectives. You can do that yourself or Technivise can assist you. Link Building means getting other sites to link back to your site. Directories are one valid approach to this. There are many others. Some Link Building techniques are penalized by Google and could actually harm your search rankings. Be careful how you proceed as the Jungle gods can be angered. Why this order? Most of these directories will need the information created in the prior steps including all your identity information, website, email, and content you’ve created such as logo, business images, and description of you and your business.

[8] Reviews

Once you have your directory sites populated, they have features for customer reviews. You’ll need to solicit customer reviews to jumpstart your listings. Positive reviews attract customers. Populated reviews can also raise your display ranking on these directory sites. Once you have sites capable of reviews, you’ll have to start monitoring your reputation. Setting up notices about new reviews is important part of this process. Technivise can help you solicit, monitor, and maintain your reviews as needed by your business; however, if you have a strong relationship with your customers, you should be involved. Negative reviews should be managed and responded to as soon as possible. Why this order? You can’t put up reviews unless you already have a directory listing. If you need to “capture” an existing listing of your business, existing reviews should be identified and managed.

[9] Blogs

Another set of Internet Jungle civilizations are Blogs. You can create your own Blog as regularly (or perhaps infrequently) updated website content that is usually provided in a conversational or tutorial style. It might encourage a dialog with your customers. This content is indexed by search engines which lead to your customers finding your website. It is best if you put out new blog material regularly to stay current and increase your search rankings. How regularly is up to you and may depend on the type of business you have. Blogs can exist on your website, or you can have your blog on a service like blog.com, blogger.com, etc. Having a blog service makes a lot of sense if you will have a lot of interaction with readers and customers and don’t want your own website software that supports complex blogs. You can always link back to your website. Many SEO specialists will argue your blog should be integrated into your website, but this isn’t always important. Another set of Blogs that may be important to you are created by dedicated individual bloggers or communities on the Internet. Being favorably mentioned here may bring much traffic to your website and customers to your doorstep. Why this order? Blogs are like advertising flypaper. They help catch search engines and readers and convert them into customers. They can help you service your customers and create a community of happy customers. You probably should focus on this only after establishing the fundamentals of your Internet presence. Some small businesses may want to start with a blog service if they have a lot of advice or interaction with their customer community.

[10] Analytics – Measure what’s

happening.

Don’t be blind in the Jungle. You need Internet Jungle Vision. Before you go much further, early in the stage of setting up a website or blog, it would be good to start measuring how your Internet presence is working for you through “Internet analytics.” At least obtain a baseline and watch your traffic grow to understand why it grows or declines. Website and certain business directory analytics can help track how well your website is being used. Technivise can help you establish various types of analytics to measure how well your business’ Internet presence is working for you. Why this order? Once your online Presence is established and maturing, it is useful to start measuring how well you’re doing. Without this information it would be very difficult to know if investments in blogs, website updates, advertising, coupons, and other techniques were having impact. Before you invest in advertising, you should have analytics to make sure your money is being well-spent.

[11] Add or Increase Dynamic Content and

Presence

Be agile in the Internet Jungle. Dynamic content is something that changes or is added to your Internet presence. It refreshes the content and can increase search ranking. It is essential for social media because on those sites static information draws no attention. Dynamic content can include posting news releases, special offers, coupons, or notices about events. It can include posting items on social media such as twitter, Facebook and Google+. Blog entries are another form of dynamic content. Coupons may help introduce a new product or service or bring more work during traditionally slow periods. Note that popular coupon web sites may charge for listing your coupon; however, you can also place the coupon on your website and certain directories. Why this order? Having analytics in place is important for dynamic content so you can measure the return on investment and adjust your approach. If one thing doesn’t work to bring more customers to your website or doorstep, then try something else.

[12] Online Internet Advertising

Advertising might include paying to be included on a search engine (Google, Bing, etc), a business directory, or having a more favorable placement. Directories that work to be highly placed on Google searches or are frequent stops for your customers may be good investments. For lawyers, an example would be a legal website such as Avvo or FindLaw. Paying for directories that have low ranking and little traffic is a poor investment, but how do you know if a directory has little traffic? Direct search engine advertising includes Google Ad Words where your advertisement is placed based upon a person’s search. Such advertising can be paid for per impression (each time it is shown) or per click (each time a potential customer clicks on your ad). Beware. If you proceed incorrectly Internet advertising is a bottomless money pit in the Jungle. Technivise can provide advice about which business directories are worth paying for advertising and how direct per-click advertising can benefit your business. If you’re very serious about high-volume sales through the Internet, a dedicated and reputable Internet advertising company may be the best approach. Why this order? Paid advertising should be one of the last efforts you undertake. Without having an established Internet presence and the analytics to measure the change due to advertising, you could be throwing away your money.

Summary

You’re journey through the Internet Jungle has just begun. While this list of initial steps and approaches are not complete, they cover a majority of initial considerations to establish or improve your Internet presence. After this, to become a master of the Internet Jungle, you’ll need to stay alert and improve over time. Contact Technivise to consider your “big picture,” how Technivise can help, what activity you want to control, how to avoid being eaten alive or held hostage in the Internet Jungle!More about Website Design and SEO