I just finished making a web site for a client. He was able to get everything he needed, including an online application, for under a $1,000. This option is available to everyone. I live in Sarasota, Florida and I have to tell you that this town is having a very hard time financially. I have 5 new realtors as clients because they cannot afford the advertising methods they used before. Some have web sites, but there is no optimization and/or marketing plan. Some are looking for additional ways to advertise and they are smart for doing so!
It Is a Rough Economic Time For Everyone- DO NOT Forgot That! This is Very Important to All Businesses Right Now
Everyone I know does the same thing. They search the net for the services they need at prices they can afford! Why is this important to you? Well, you need to give your potential clients/customers what they are looking for! If they find the information they need on your site you may have a new client/customer. Right now businesses need every client they can get…I am including myself here :-). If potential clients cannot find you on the net and/or they can’t find what they need on your site you lose.
So, What Do You Need?
- You need an ATTRACTIVE web site
- You need a site that is easy to navigate
- You need an optimized web site
- You need to find creative and effective ways to advertise!!!!!!
I have been really sick for the last month. Really sick. About a week ago I decided to check out all of the ways I can provide extremely affordable web sites to my clients. Guess what? There are a lot of ways to obtain a web site you can afford for your company. There are effective free and cheap ways to advertise and in in today’s world your business will not reach its full potential without a web site.
ALL BUSINESSES NEED AND CAN HAVE A WEB SITE!
I don’t care who you are- a mom that sells candy gift baskets you make at home, a lawn company, a carpet store, an insurance consultant or family-owned furniture store. You need a web site and you can have one! You can have an online store, you can have newsletter software, you can take payments…you can have it all! Please just save your money and quit using advertising methods that don’t work. Invest in what does!
One of my clients has two restaurants and she was paying Verizon over $100 a month for the worst web sites I have ever seen! She had no optimization and her sites didn’t offer her clients what they needed. Within a week her new web site was all over Google, Yahoo and MSN for every search phrase she wanted.
Please, consider your options. Take the time and a small amount of money and invest in a functional, effective web site that will enhance your business and please potential clients.
Good Luck and contact me if you have any questions. I would love to hear from you.
Melissa- SEOAware.com
Hey Melissa, don’t underestimate local search for local businesses – look at http://www.google.com/search?q=restaurant+sarasota , what’s on top? A local search one-box. It doesn’t take much to leverage that, local search is great to attract in-store traffic.
One thing we often find at my company THAT Agency are business owners that have been led to believe that simply by throwing up a site amazing sales will happen. Obviously false. Like any business, the internet needs marketing. The great thing is that the internet offers the most cost effective marketing we may have ever seen, with the ability to capture an amazingly targeted audience for pennies on the marketing dollar.
One thing I would say when business build a website, they need to realize it is their virtual storefront. Do you want your storefront to be like the flea market or an upscale shopping plaza? Saving a few bucks on design and development can really hurt any future business you strive to do.