Remarkablogger

Would you like to finally be able to understand and decide your options for starting a Web site for your business? That’s what I’m going to help you with in this article.

Trying to figure out what kind of Web site your business should have is tough. The choices are endless and the technology is confusing. Your decision is of the utmost importance for your business, because it may very well mean the difference between success and a slow burn into oblivion.

I know how important that decision is. I’ve been in this game at various levels for over ten years, and here are the most important observations I’ve made about people thinking about creating a website for their business:

• They don’t even know where to start.
• They don’t know what their choices are.
• They don’t know the terminology or the technical stuff.
• Nobody seems to be able to explain anything in plain English.

Where do you start on getting a Web site for your business?

You start by understanding about what a Web site can do for a business. Many people still think of them as online brochures. Those days are over, and good riddance, too, because a “brochureware” Web site doesn’t provide much opportunity to grow the business or generate revenue. A Web site can:

• Sell products or services to millions of people all over the world
• Provide a way for you to connect with your customers in a human voice instead of a “marketing-speak” brochure
• Give you a way to lighten your workload and costs as customers happily service themselves
• Help you build your reputation among your customers and within your industry
• Provide a global storefront or office where anybody can visit you 24/7

Those are the basics. What’s next?

You have to decide the purpose of your Web site. This is something you determine from your point of view: what you want the Web site to do for you? Sell stuff? Provide Information? Get newsletter sign-ups? The purpose of Remarkablogger is to get blog consulting clients.

Of course, the purpose of your Web site should be an extension of the purpose of your business. By the way, the purpose of your business is NOT to make money. The money is a side-effect that happens when you do the other stuff right. People don’t care about whether you make money. They only care about what their own needs are.

Then, determine who your audience is. (Hint: it’s not everybody!) When you know who your audience is, you will create content for your business Web site that will speak to their needs. If your competitor has a glaring, blingy flash site that’s built like an animated marketing brochure, and your site is a perfect match for its audience, guess who’s going to win the battle for the hearts and minds of customers? Not the flashy bling-bling, that’s for sure.

Thirdly, you find where your needs and the needs of your audience cross with each other. When you address this point, people will be practically beating your door down. Your website needs to meet the needs of its audience and help you get business at the same time.

If I were a woodworker, I’d be using a lot of local regional names and the names of the kinds of work I do in my site. Why? Because I know my customers will search for, say, a Vermont cabinet maker. On my site, I make sure prospective customers see things that makes them want to do business with me, like lots of pictures of my work and customer testimonials. People will have concerns about my reliability, my skills, my courteousness–in short, my reputation. If I had a blog, they could even get to know me a little through my writing, and come to trust me enough to make contact with me.

You’d think this shouldn’t be so difficult! After all, you probably started your business to meet a need you saw was unmet by existing choices in the marketplace. But oddly, when it comes to getting a business Web site, we forget that important point as we get seduced by slick advertising-speak. We are hobbled by our own lack of knowledge in the technical matters. If your customers are looking in one direction while your Web site is looking in another, they will never see each other and your business will fail.

Match your business goals with your customer’s needs: keep your eye focused on that target.

Next part: Choices you have when starting a Web site.

Photo by My Zadeva