Web Site Design and Management

MoneyWatch for September 2007
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If you run a small business, the Internet is an excellent tool that can improve your productivity and increase your profits. Having a web site allows owners to sell products and services and is a great way to provide customer service. This applies to all businesses whether your site allows customers to place orders or even if you are just using it to provide company information. There are three steps to getting on the web:

First select your domain name, also known as your web address. This may cost only a few dollars and you can register at various sites to make sure the name is available.

Choose a web hosting service. According to the Small Business Administration, the monthly hosting fee for a basic web site account should cost between $25 and $50 a month. These costs though can be quickly recovered by generating new leads, improving customer service, and also by reducing other marketing and advertising expenses. There are also many places on the internet that offer hosting fees at no charge. However, in many cases, these free hosting sites will monitor the activities of your visitors and sell their information to marketing services.

Finally you can design your web site. You can often get design templates from your hosting service or there are free templates available online.

After you design a web site, learning the best way to maintain it is the next step. Many small businesses either hire someone to do this or outsource it. If this is not the case, there are a number of things a business owner can do to get the most from a web site.

Most experts agree that relevant content on your web site is very important. Search engines like Google scan pages this way and the more content your site has the more likely it will get selected.
Make sure your information is current. We have all been on a web site where the information is so old that we wonder if the business is still in existence. You want customers to know that you are efficient and having an updated web site reflects this.
Organize your web site in a way that is user friendly. Adding a search feature is helpful especially on web sites that contain a lot of information.

Click on the links below for more information.

Small Business Administration: Getting On the Web
SmallBusiness.com: Business Web Site Basics
Process Specialist: How to Gain Web Traffic through 9 Simple Steps
Top Ten Small Business Web Site Marketing Tips
10 Rules for Your Small Business Home Page

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Research assistance for MoneyWatch is from Cleveland State University Nance College of Business Administration. Information on the Nance MBD program is available here.