My little town is not immune to the bad economy and I’ve seen so many small “ma and pa” stores closing their doors, it’s just so sad. When I see or hear this happening I just want to go knock on every door and tell the owner “No, wait! You don’t have to give up your dreams of owning and running your own business” instead “run to the internet!”
I’m not sure what the final reason for closing their businesses were, but I’m a firm believer that nearly every business can benefit by having an online presence as long as you take the right steps in the right order. When I’m learning something new, I try to create a picture in my mind (an illustration of sorts). So I will be comparing an online business needs to a jigsaw puzzle. My opinion is creating an online presence is very similar to a jigsaw puzzle…let me explain why.
*for my illustration my puzzle is going to have 5 puzzle pieces*
Box Lid=Business Plan: Lets look at the jigsaw puzzles lid, we rely on that picture to tell us if we are on track, have all the pieces and helps us chart our progress.
Picture= Your Dream. Do you dream of keeping (or starting) your own business? By taking your business plan and weaving your dream into that plan, you will have a great foundation.
Puzzle Pieces=Building Your Website. You’ve laid out all of your puzzle pieces but right now you can’t tell what piece goes in which part of the puzzle. It can be very confusing to have a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces look the same…such as having the same color on every piece!
That’s why its so important to know what you need to get your business of that paper and into the internet. Let’s put some distinguishing shapes and colors to each puzzle piece, ok?
Piece 1: You’ll need a domain name (preferably a .com extension). Does your business name have a keyword in it (if you are wanting your own cookie business will your potential client type in “wedding cookies” or “birthday cookies” or “dark chocolate cookie”?) you’re going to need to know this so you can find the best keyword domain name.
Piece 2: Do you have a hosting company that includes how-to videos and has a good customer service area? Do they have a way for you to upload a WordPress blog? Can you access your CPanel anytime you want to?
Piece 3: Have you decided if you are going to outsource any business related tasks that you don’t want to deal with? (such as web design, autoresponder, social networking, customer service, etc?)
Ok so you have your business plan, your dreams, your domain name and your virtual assistant (who should be able to help you with this entire business building process) Now, lets move on….
Piece 4: Staying in contact with your customers is a must-do! You can do this by way of an ezine/newsletter, RSS feed, blogging and/or social networking.
Piece 5: Let’s not forget about web design! You’ll want to pick a web template (or outsource this to a professional website designer) because first impressions are lasting impressions! This saying is true in life and also online. Does you website look out-dated? Does it contain too much flash or load to slow? Does it contain fresh, new content?
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Whether you’ve been in business a long time or are just starting out and need a helping hand, please contact me Stephanie Fish, today or visit my service pages today!
