Web site maintenance, website management and web consulting services

Google has always been very good at giving things away to ensure the entrenchment of their brand across the Internet. While some people tend to wax lyrical about how you should boycott Google’s attempts to take over the world, I disagree.

As of this writing, there are 5 excellent (FREE) services offered by Google that are perfect for the micro business:

1. Google Analytics. Good website analytics software could cost you £50-£100. Alternatively, you can have access to excellent software for free. Google Analytics is the easiest website monitoring tool on the market, and it’s constantly improving. Setting up Google Analytics on your website is a bit tricky if you’re a beginner, but I can help you with Google Analytics installations.
2. Documents and Spreadsheets. I recently paid just over £300 for a Microsoft Office license because a client needed me to work on their network with their software. But given the option, I’d rather be using Google’s free, web based word processor and spreadsheet solutions.
3. Gmail. How big is your inbox? Mine is currently just over 7 GB. And it’s getting bigger all the time. If you work from more than one computer and you want to be able to archive your emails forever, you should definitely be using Gmail.
4. Blogger. There’s no doubt that setting up WordPress on your Website is a better blogging option, but there’s no reason not to use Blogger if you’re just getting started.
5. Calendar. The ultimate personal to-do list. I use it to run every aspect of my business, and my personal life. Without Calendar working through my mobile phone, I’d get nothing done.

Of course Google has a lot more to offer, but these 5 tools are the best of the lot. To get them all you’ll need to sign up for a Google account. To do so, follow these easy steps:

• Visit https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
• Complete the sign up form and choose your new Gmail address
• Click the ‘I accept. Create my account’ button
• That’s it.

There you go. You’ve just saved your micro business at least £400. Simple, wasn’t it?

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File Transfer Protocol, or FTP for us cool people, is a simple tool that allows people to upload and download information from the Internet. Because you unwittingly use FTP every time you download a file, a video or an mp3 from your favourite site, I thought you might want to know how to use it to backup and edit your company website. So here goes.

When you use FTP (you’re a cool person now) you Transfer files from a computer on the Internet to your computer, or vice versa. As a micro business owner, this allows you to:

• Download a backup copy of your website (a very good idea).
• Download a web page and make changes to it on your computer.
• Upload edited pages back to your web server for the world to see.

Using an FTP client to manage files

You can use FTP through a Web browser like Internet Explorer by directly accessing your website’s FTP address, but I wouldn’t recommend this for beginners, especially if you’re worried about file protection.

A much better way of transferring files is to use what is called an FTP client. An FTP client is a piece of software that does all the hard work for you, and makes you look awfully clever in front of your friends. Personally I recommend going this route, especially since there are a number of very good free FTP clients available.

I use an open source FTP client called Filezilla on my PC, my Mac and as a portable installation on a Flash drive. Every website I manage is available to me at the click of a mouse button using Filezilla, and it saves me hundreds of hours every year. To get a free copy of Filezilla, visit http://filezilla-project.org/download.php and choose the version best suited to your operating system.

What you’ll need to download a copy of your website

Later this week I’m going to be posting a step-by-step tutorial showing you how to download your website from your web server to your PC (or mac) for safekeeping. If you’d like to follow along you’ll need to have the following handy:

1. A freshly downloaded and installed copy of Filezilla. Just follow the Installation wizard that comes with the software to install it.
2. Your website’s FTP host name (usually yoursite.co.uk, ftp.yoursite.co.uk or something similar). Ask your web host if you’re not sure.
3. Your FTP username and password. Once again, if you don’t have this information at hand, ask your hosting provider.

This tutorial is important and I don’t want you to miss out, so please subscribe to my RSS feed, or use the email box in the sidebar and you’ll be among the first to know when it goes live.

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Just when I think I’m starting to get the hang of the latest Internet Marketing fad, another one replaces it. This seems to happen about once a week at the moment.

But there are a number of Internet Marketing tools that just keep on working, no matter how the Web evolves. Here are 5 goodies micro businesses can, and should be trying out:

1. Pay-per-click advertising. Not everything on the Internet is free. Then again, not everything has to be expensive either. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a simple way to manage an online advertising campaign, irrespective of the size of your budget. The best service to start you off with online advertising is Google Adwords.
2. Content. No matter how much money you spend on fancy graphics for your website, it’s the content that gets visitors to do business with you. So the next time you decide to redesign your site, hire a good copy writer first. If you have any money left over you can spend it on graphics.
3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Of course you can write all the content in the world, but if it isn’t properly optimised for search engines, you’re wasting money. SEO takes some time and patience, but it pays off in chunks once you’re at or near the top of the search engine rankings.
4. Email marketing. If you’ve been in business for a while, you should have a house list of email addresses for your clients. If you don’t have one yet, start compiling and using a house list today. And if you’re new to business, you need to concentrate on building a house list quickly. Email marketing allows you to push your message to people who are willing to hear from you. It’s a proven fact that marketing to people who already know you is far easier than trying to sell to someone who doesn’t have a clue who you are.
5. Online directories. There once was a time when adding a link to your website onto thousands of online directories would skyrocket your search engine rankings. Of course, Google is more clever than they used to be so this isn’t quite as lucritive as it once was. That said, you can’t ignore the fact that a few hundred inbound links from high ranking directories will send traffic your way. Note: Every Friday I post lists of free online directories for you to try out, and it should only take you 20-30 minutes a week.
   

So there you have it. Don’t worry about the latest social media tool or the brilliant, if somewhat questionable tactics many Internet marketers are recommending just yet. Start with these basics and you’ll have a good foundation for your website for years to come.

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