You’ve got your trademark, your product, and licensed your company name. You’ve signed every dotted line required to make your company legitimate and you are open for business, but where are your customers? If you are missing the exposure you desire, there are several methods for advertising that can set you apart from competition. Some businesses prefer a grassroots form of advertising; getting listed in the local or regional print yellow pages, circulating fliers, holding open houses and going to conferences and events for networking purposes.
There is an easier way
Many of these methods are useful for making face-to-face contact with your customer base, but if there is a simpler way to connect with thousands of prospective clients. You don’t have to leave your desk to create a website for your business. Almost every successful company in today’s world has an attractive website. You might think that creating a professional website is a difficult undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be.
Get a Host
First, you will want to choose and purchase your unique domain name, then you will want to select a web host that will keep your site up and running without interruption. There are many services that specialize in this process which offer compatible packages for Linux and Windows users. Some hosting companies will even allow you to purchase your domain name through them, with easy-to-use design templates that you can choose from for a small added fee.
Design Your Site
If you don’t want to use an already-created design template for your new site, you can hire a web design artist to create a design to your specifications. You can also try designing your own site using simple HTML and CSS coding. This will give you a basic “no frills” look. Although most amateurs agree that it’s beneficial to sign on with a hosting company that offers a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor option. This option will allow you to use link creating buttons and other editing buttons, rather than using actual code for placing links and images onto a page.
Optimize your Site
Creating a simple website that doesn’t use flash, but features HTML5 and CSS3 for video is better for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes. Linking to relevant outside sites bolsters the visibility and prestige of your site. The purpose of optimization is to increase the overall ranking of your site. The rank of a site pertains to what position it is in when one searches for certain terms in a search engine, the higher it is on the list, the more people will see it.
Get Social With Your Media
Many of the templates you can work with have social media plugins. These will connect you to sites like Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, StumbleUpon, Blogger, Tumblr and Twitter. Make sure you create and establish attractive pages for each of these social media networking resources before you build the plugin that links them to your page.
Create a Mobile Site
Accessibility is key for any company that wants to grow their brand and attract clients on an ongoing basis. With the on-the-go mobility of today’s prospective customer, it makes sense to develop the mobile site first. Due to spacial limitations, the Mobile site will embody the essentials of what a client needs to see. Of course, you can always opt in for a responsive design of your website. It`s basically, the same layout but built to fit mobile screens.
Many of the steps suggested above take planning and a sizable investment, but most are worth it in the long run. Remember that regular site maintenance and updates are just as important as building a great site in the first place. Customers and visitors will want to see that you are on the ball and up-to-date. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but with research and determination, you too can have a chance at your own online empire.
