Websites

A website is a location connected to the internet that maintains one or more web pages on the World Wide Web (www) that are available to Wweb browsers.

Websites can also be a blog with its' blog pages.

Quality websites include:

1. Visibility to search engines including online PR and advertising, newsletters, social media

2. Relevance of current topics - regular content updates

3. Functional links

4. Credibility, longevity of site, reputation marketing, citation authority

Starting a Website

A small business website and/or blog should be the sun around which all online marketing is built around with objectives of:

• Generating leads

• Driving purchases

• Creating brand awareness

Foundation of a website:

1. Domain and Hosting

   • You can purchase a Domain name and Hosting through several companies including GoDaddy, HostGator, Blue Host, and Google. 

2. Theme

   • A good theme gives you the look and feel you want for your website / blog, allowing you to design your blog exactly how you want it to look. If you are just starting out use the free themes.

3. Plugins. 

   • Plugins are Third Party pieces of software that adds functionality to your website. A few examples of the kinds of plugins: 

     • Social Sharing

     • SEO optimizing

     • Contact forms and email list

4. Content. 

   • Put a picture of yourself on the header (this is important because people identify with people, not logos). Finally start writing new blog posts and posting them regularly (at least once a week).

G Suite

To manage your digital assets consider G Suite:

• Inexpensive website tool to provide

  • Finability details on 

    • Business cards

    • Marketing materials

    • Invoices

  • Reachability 

    • Website

    • Email

    • Phone - Google Voice phone / Google Hangout

  • Credibility of your brand through email from your company

  • Pointability to social media

  • Responsive

    • Desktop

    • Mobile devices

• Secure toolset

• Ease of use

• Digital asset management

  • Files, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, emails, device management and more.

Fundamentals

Website fundamentals:

• Visibility - on all major search engines.

• Relevancy - keywords, images/visuals, headers, links, news

• Popularity - links from social media, blogs.

• Analytics - metrics of your site.

Starting a Website

New to website development?

1. Define your goals & expectations.  

2. Whiteboard drafts of options A, B, C.

3. Revisit, revise based on feedback.

4. Do it yourself or hire?

   • DIY is easy today if it is a simple non-eCommerce site.

5. Publish your website to get your 24/7/52 sales tool at work.

6. Promote your website.

Hiring a professional website developer.

Tips

• Define 

  • Target audience, what do you what do you want your web presence to do?

  • What transactions you want to enable?

  • What information do you need to provide to your audience?

• Easy of use - make a easy as possible for you customers. 

  • Use headlines, sub headlines, outline, call to action.

  • Eye scans from top right.

• Vision your customer's needs.

• Voice your brand.

  • Consider images, videos to convey your brand.

  • Have stories to communicate.

• Count your words.  Shoot for ~300 words for SEO for non-home pages on your website.

• Test it with robots.  What is the reading score?

  • Readability-Score.com - https://readability-score.com/ 

  • Rapidly test your website for cross browser compatibility across 1100+ browsers - https://www.browserstack.com/screenshots

• Maintain an effective presence

  • Keep current

  • Staff and schedule maintenance

  • Collect ideas

  • Use data analytics

Necessary Elements in Your Website

1. Hours and contact information

2. Logo and company colors

3. Location and directions

4. About page with 

   • Human Contact

   • Company Story

5. Product and services details

   • Good, thorough descriptions for search engine

   • Professional images

   • Restaurants include menus

   • Pricing (if you choose)

6. Content to attract and serve customers

   • Videos, articles, whitepapers

   • Social media icons and links

   • Customer testimonials

7. Transaction

   • E-commerce store

   • Schedule appointments

   • Support ticket system

8. Calls to action

   • Subscribe box for mailing list

   • Lead generation form 

   • Buy button

Looking for a turnkey website solution to quickly get your business or content online?  

Tools

• About.me

• Bootswatch: Free themes for Bootstrap.

• Canva - for your social media image designs

• Crazy Egg heat, scroll, and confetti mapping

• Find Broken Links, Redirects & Site Crawl Tool

• Google for Work

• Hipster Logo Generator: It’s Hip, It’s Current, It’s Stylish, It’s Hipster.

• Hive: First free unlimited cloud service in the world.

• HTML5 UP: Responsive HTML5 and CSS3 site templates.

• SalesID - by Zoho - track website visitors and convert to customers

• Strikingly.com Domain: One free website for strikingly.com domains.

• Smiply - allows user to attach a call to action to every link you share (could be a link back to your site, a form, or any action you'd like your visitors to take)

• Squarespace Free Logo: You can download free low-res version for free.

• Templated: A collection of 845 free CSS & HTML5 site templates.

• The User Is My Mom.com - My mom will review your website. We'll send you a screencast. We'll send you a proper write up too, with some motherly UX advice.

• Visual Website Optimizer - VWO is an easy A/B testing tool that allows you to know what's working on your site and what's not.  Use it to test headlines, banners, cal to actions, and copies.

• Website - detailed checklist

• Website content tips

• Website Cookbook - create a WordPres website

• Wordpress.org | Wordpress.com: Create your new website for free.

• Withoomph: Beautiful logos designed instantly.

Articles / Media

• HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE An easy, step-by-step guide from a web developer

• 5 Tips for Building a Great Website for Your Business

• Infographic: 5 Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website

• 50 Features Every Small Business Website Must Have [Infographic]

• First Site Guide

  • How to Make a Website - The Beginner's Guide to Get a Small Business Online

• 7 Ways to Improve Your Website Homepage

• 1. Update content regularly

  2. Ensure you have a call to action (CTA)

  3. Prominently add contact information 

  4. Add images and/or video

  5. Periodically update design standards

  6. Improve page speed

  7. Make it mobile responsive 

• Here’s Why Your Website Is Doing Nothing to Grow Your Business

• 2016 Web Design Trends: How to Make Your Website Perfect for the New Year

• Guiding Principles of Successful Websites

• 5 Effective Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Websites

• Google Apps on You Tube

• Why You Have a Lazy Website, And What To Do About It

• 8 Growth hacks your website needs

• How to Let Your Customers Design Your Next Kick$%$ Website

• 10 Elements your business website must have

Also See

• Blogging

• Mobile Websites

• Online Marketing

• Search Engine Optimization

• Social Media Metrics