Web site maintenance, website management and web consulting services

This rather short post isn’t directly related to website management, but it might just get you thinking about the opportunities your online business is missing out on.

In the past 6 months I’ve used my website to:

1. Build a client base. 6 months ago I started from scratch with a new direction and a new target market. I’m making money, even when I’m on holiday.
2. Help people grow their own businesses. I don’t take this lightly. People put their trust in me and I do my best to make sure I don’t let them down.
3. Build a database of subscribers. It’s not huge, but I now have the ear of some good people who actually care about what I have to say.
4. Prove to 2 web design companies that I can manage their client websites on their behalf. This brings me some additional income without any marketing costs.
5. Get a couple of Google #1 rankings. Which in turn bring me more traffic. Which in turn cuts my marketing costs even further.
6. Meet some really interesting people. You know who you are.
7. Get back in touch with some old friends. This hasn’t helped my business directly, but I suspect something interesting is about to happen.
8. Hire a professional to help me manage client websites (and I only posted the job application yesterday).
9. Learn a lot about what I do for a living, all while getting paid.

Obviously my business goals are different from yours, but without this website I’d be spending a lot of time cold-calling and a lot of money on advertising.

So ask yourself, what has your website done for you in the past 6 months? If you can’t list any important achievements, it may be time to hire a professional.

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This is a guest post by Steven Chappell.

No one can deny that the Internet has radically changed the way we do business in this technological era, and practically every business today from the small company to the huge enterprise recognize and utilize this powerful medium to sell their products and services.

The influence that the world wide web has had on economy in recent years is incredible. According to The IMRG Capgemini E-retail Sales Index, over £46 billion was spent online in 2007, with around £15 billion of that amount during the holiday season alone (Nov 1 to Dec 31), marking a 19% increase over the previous year.

This growth of online spending makes it crucial for you to choose the right e-commerce platform for your business in order to have a competitive site for your customers. There are many different platforms available at varying prices, but the choice can be a little bit overwhelming for the inexperienced.

Some of the most important features of any platform that have to be considered are, security, scalability, reliability, and support. When choosing an e-commerce platform it is vital that you take these aspects into account as you not only want to make it as easy as possible to accept payments from your customers, but you want them to feel assured in the knowledge that their transactions are completely secure. It is also important to evaluate the different costs associated with each platform.

Let’s consider three e-commerce platforms that are well established, and how you might decide which one is best for your business.

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Online marketing doesn’t have to be complicated, and as far as I know there aren’t any rules to say you can’t have fun doing it.

Everything your microbusiness needs to be an online success is contained within the next 4 points. Granted, it’s a bit simplified, but the basic idea is bang on. So read carefully and take these ideas to heart:

Step 1: Get WordPress

Forget about what anyone else tells you about websites, the Internet and search engines. Content is what drives search engine results and there’s no better content management tool than WordPress. Of course it does cost £0.00 so that may be a sticking point for some of you corporate types.

If the world wasn’t on the brink of destruction, WordPress would go down in history as one of the most important inventions of the 21st century. You can download a copy of WordPress from www.wordpress.org.

If you don’t like the default theme that ships with WordPress, you might want to spruce up your design. You can either download a free theme from themes.wordpress.net (or do a Google search for ‘free wordpress themes’), or you can buy a premium theme from diythemes, woothemes or from Brian Gardner’s Revolution Theme store (there are plenty more, but these are the cream of the crop). Alternatively you could hire me to design a custom theme for you. That’s a subtle hint that I’m for hire, in case you didn’t notice.

Step 2: Install some plugins

To get the most out of WordPress, you’ll need a few plugins. A WordPress plugin is a little piece of add-on software that helps your WordPress driven website achieve more, and act more like a Website than a blog. For most microbusinesses wanting to run a small website with a blog, consider activating Akismet to protect you from spam, and download cForms II, Sociable, Related posts and the All-in-one SEO pack. That’ll do for the time being.

Step 3: Learn SEO

It doesn’t matter if you know absolutely nothing about Search Engine Optimisation. You should still sign up to Aaron Wall’s SEObook training program. There’s never been a more comprehensive guide to understanding SEO. For those of you who don’t have the time to do the whole course, I suggest Aaron’s guide to Blog Optimisation (it’s shorter, and it’s free).

Step 4: Communicate

Now that you’ve got a website that can do backflips, you know all about SEO and your site looks pretty, you need to start blogging. If you still don’t know what a blog is, or how it can help your business, I recommend reading Problogger or Chris Garrett’s blog. Blogging is probably the most important marketing activity your microbusiness should be doing regularly. There’s never been a faster, more organic way to grow a business while still having fun.

Well, that’s it. Four simple steps to online success. Other than Aaron’s SEObook and a decent hosting account, you don’t need to spend a penny. You’ve still got a bit of time until CERN’s LHC makes the world disappear into a black hole, so unless you want to spend that time with friends and family you can achieve almost everything on this list. Good luck!

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