Tips for Establishing a Web Presence

Many small business owners who feel they lack the technical knowledge to build a website for their company do not realize how simple it can be with business software. As e-commerce continues to grow as a way to buy and sell products and services on the internet, small businesses need to learn a few simple steps to online success.

The first step may be the hardest to assess—what are your customers' needs and what can you offer potential customers with a website? The answer to that question can go a long way toward creating an effective website that builds your customer base, brings in revenue through online sales and amplifies your brand in the marketplace.

Step 1: Purchase a website domain

Obtaining a website requires having a web address—a physical location on the internet to help your customers find you. The web address is actually a series of numbers called an Internet Protocol (IP) address. However, the world wide web uses a domain name system (or DNS) to make web navigation easier.

The website Google has the domain name google.com, which directs users to the Google website when the domain name is entered into the address bar of a web browser. Other websites have a different extension to their domain name, such as .net, .org or .us.

Business owners can acquire a domain name by purchasing one from a web hosting company or by building a website at a free website hosting platform.

Step 2: Build your website

Building a website does not have to be a complicated or expensive affair. Many small business owners start out with a website hosted on free software platforms that can provide ready templates for building a site with a content management system.

The content management system allows users to write blog articles or upload content such as photos, videos and attachments. These are the basic building blocks for a website. More sophisticated business software can provide a back-end for building an e-commerce portal for selling products at an online store.

Step 2: Keep your website up to date

Keeping your website current is the most important factor in driving new people and repeat customers to your website. By keeping a regular blog, uploading new videos or podcasts and responding to news events or customer queries, a website owner can keep site visitors engaged.

If a small business is running a promotion, holding a contest or marketing a new product, the company website is a quick and easy way to share this information with customers.

Step 3: Reach out to customers

Reaching out to customers on a website is a good way to build a positive reputation and relationship with customers through constant communication. But a website must attract traffic to have the most impact.

Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other online communities are especially relevant for drawing increased traffic to your website. Social networks enhance marketing by allowing businesses to make contact with a community of followers or customers who join the company's network.

Businesses can attract customers to their website by posting links, sending direct messages or sharing content linked to the company website at the social networking site.

You can also reach out to customers by gathering email addresses from site visitors when they register to the site to add comments. Comments provide feedback from customers and email addresses and names for list building.

Step 4: Build links to your website

Small businesses can also connect to other potential customers through partners and their websites. Linking your website to another company or association's website—while encouraging the other website owner to link to you—is an effective way to increase traffic and spread the word about your company.

Websites with more links create a positive feedback loop, as more traffic from other sites increases linking between websites, which generates more traffic and more linking. Sites with higher numbers of links can also gain higher rankings in search engines.

Step 5: Back up your files for safe-keeping

One of the major responsibilities of owning a website is maintaining the site so that it is always available for customers searching for information. Keeping a website up and running can be problematic due to a few problems that may crop up: a web server hosting the site suffers an outage or a cyber attacker compromises your website.

When the web server hosting the website receives too much traffic, a website may be slow to load or may be unavailable. Websites hosted on duplicate or back up servers can stay functional when one web server is overloaded.

Business owners should also be proactive in responding to internet security threats from hackers who may try to redirect web visitors from their site to another site, or with programs that infect a website with malicious code that can infect a site visitor's computer. Using the latest business software, it is possible to maintain a secure and effective website.