Is Your Website Ready for Business and No One Visits?

Tip: Build it and they will come works in the movies, but you need to do some work for them to come in real life         

Dear Fred and Lyna

I have just set up a website. I did it myself and am not sure it is professional or not. I really can’t afford to pay someone to design it for me.  Is there any software or even free information on how to design a professional looking website? A second question I have is how do I get people to come to my website? How do they find it?

Fred: Great question - we are asked this a lot.

Lyna: There are millions of websites out there and if yours does not look professional people won't take you seriously and more important people won’t stay on your website.

Fred: You can find lots of web designers who will set up your website and make it look great, but this could cost you hundreds of dollars.

Lyna: Fortunately there tons of resources available to help you design, set up and even market your website.

Fred: We have reviewed a lot of these sites as well as some of the software that is out there. You may want to check out sites such as www.godaddy.com or simply do a Google search on website design.

Lyna: One of the best guides we have found on web design and marketing your site is The Home Business Success Kit - available on our website.

Fred: This kit and others are excellent ways to learn how to design and get more exposure to your site.

Lyna: having a good looking website and having no one find it is like having a retail store in a bad location, with no advertising. What good is it if no one knows where you are?

Fred: this is why it is important to have a high ranking on your site. This can be accomplished with banner ads, links to your website, Google Ads and Pay-Per-Click, Meta-Tags, as well as other methods.

Lyna: Just because you have a website doesn’t mean people are going to find you. You must market your site in every way possible.

Fred:  Print your web address on everything from your business cards, the side of your car, and your signature line in your emails. Anywhere you can think of — place your website.

Lyna:  Create partnerships with other businesses so you can link to each others websites. This will expose you to all their customers.

Fred: To keep people coming back to your website, update it with articles, blogs or other information.

Lyna. You might even consider writing a story that continues every week. This will keep them interested in seeing where the story is going. You can also create a contest or something fun to keep them coming back to your site each week.

Fred: Gone are the days when you can just stick up a website and hope someone shows up. You have to let people know your door is open for business.