Archive for the ‘Small Business Ideas’ Category

I have been setting a bad example. To my clients that is.

One of the main things I stress when someone asks about SEO and how to be found by the search engines is that a blog is one of the best, and fastest tools to use when trying to improve your rankings. Some of my clients do a fantastic job, update their blog regularly and subsequently have great search rankings to show for it.

I on the other hand have great intentions but only manage a post a month if I am lucky! A new years resolution for me is going to be to practise what I preach. So, I am committing myself to a post a week in 2010. That’s just 52 posts this year.

I have a few months worth already planned out and jotted down but anyone with any ideas, things you have heard about, products you are unsure of or anything else you would like to see covered, please post your comments below. Look forward to giving you more to read in 2010!

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Recently I have worked on a number of different projects on a variety of websites. Some wanted a whole new site, ready for the opening of their new store, one company already had the website they wanted but needed a blog added, and another was looking for some search engine optimization. I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of them here.

The first is for a wonderful lady named Suzanne who just recently opened a coffee and cake shop in Lawrenceville, GA. Known as the Cheesecake lady, she found a great location in the downtown area. Walking into the building gave me all the inspiration I needed to create a website that was a reflection of her and her family, and the cozy and inviting ambiance she had created. The color of the walls were red and green, and inspirational quotes were stenciled onto the walls. Along one of the walls, she has a gallery of photos with wonderful black frames, a great contrast against the red background. I used these colors for her website, and recreated the quotes into image files, one for each page of her site. Sweets on the Square has a wonderful gallery page to showcase her work:

Click on one of the small thumbnail images, and get a full glorious photograph of one of her edible creations. Using lightbox code, the images can then be scrolled through easily and to get more information about the desert.

She also has an online contact form with an interactive Google map so visitors can easily find her and get directions. If you are local to the area, you have to stop by, she makes the best cheesecakes! Visit her site here: www.sweetsonthesquareonline.com

Next is a site that had been created by one of the owners of the company. Baby Steps Online offers classes in childbirth and all things baby and pregnancy related. Their goal is to offer mothers and fathers the information and tools they need to make the decisions that are best for their families.

They already had a WordPress blog and understood the importance of blogging and how it could improve your rank in the search engine results. One of the things that the search engines look for with regard to your site is how often they are updated. Blogs, when updated regularly are great for this, and you can inform and educate your reader at the same time! The only problem was, their blog was hosted at WordPress.com, and was not a self hosted blog on their own server. This means that it’s not going to be your main site that gets the hits but your blog, not hosted within your main domain. Another thing with WordPress’s hosted blogs are that the themes you can use are limited, meaning that you don’t have as much flexibility. WordPress also offers free code for designers to set up a database for you, and design a theme that is exactly the same as your current website. This allows you to incorporate it directly into your website. So, rather than having http://babystepsonline.wordpress.com/ for their blog they now have it within their own domain url at http://www.babystepsonline.net/blog/. This also allows them to keep the visitor within their site, rather then out to an external site and also to use their own favorite icon, rather than the WordPress one. If you have a WordPress Blog that is external and hosted by WordPress, yet you have your own domain, consider having it set up and customized to have the same look and feel, and consistent branding with the rest of your website.

Finally, I recently did some Search Engine Optimization for a wonderful new client called Two Dads Pet Services. Mike Howell, one of the owners, contacted me after hearing reviews from a fellow pet sitter, Valerie Pegg of Best Fit Pet Sit. Val is at the top of the search engines, something Mike was looking for. Not looking for a total site overhaul at the moment, he was looking for some simple things I could provide to help out with their site.

The first thing I added was a favorite icon to the site. This shows up right next to the url of the website and is great for site and brand recognition. This shows up also when someone bookmarks your website. These can be made from your company logo, or anything that you wish to keep your icon unique and eye catching.

I also made some changes to the titles of their pages. The title is what shows up at the very top of your browser. Most people tend to stick with the name of their company, and then maybe one or two words to describe the page. Do this, and you miss out considerable one what the Google search engines in particular are looking for. The titles are very important to the search engines, and use them to find key words when people do searches. It can take a few weeks for these to be scanned through and have an impact, but already if you type in Pet Sitter in Brookhaven, they are on the first page of results (remember, blogging is the biggest thing you can do to keep high on the list!). Keywords and Descriptions are also important, but not as big a deal as they used to be. With different search engines having different algorithms and calculations, best to use all that you can. I also added Google Analytics code to each page, and also submitted the site to three of the major search engines. This allows Mike to see who is visiting his site, and how they are finding him.

For more information on any of these services, please contact us at info@purplestarconsulting.com

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Not all web designers or web design firms are created equal. Do you know what to look for? Depending on the level or complexity of the site you are looking for, most designers can put together the visual side of your site. If you want an online contact form, that’s pretty simple standard stuff, want an image gallery to display your work, that shouldn’t be too difficult either. However, what else are they offering you? How are they going to help you and your website succeed long after the work is completed and the check has been written?

Here are some questions to ask (in no particular order). If you want to be sure you aren’t just paying for a standard site and are getting a site that works for you, use these questions through your selection process and pay attention to their answers:

1. How will you help me promote my site? – Promoting your site is really up to you with regard to advertising and marketing, but a good web designer may submit your url to some of the major search engines as standard course. Simply submitting your site to Google, MSN and Yahoo can help speed up the process of the web crawlers finding your nice new site! Even better if they create a sitemap.xml file for you too! These can also be submitted to the search engines. Direct from the sitemaps.org website “In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.”
2. Do you create a favicon.ico file for my site? – This file is used to create a little icon to appear next to your website url in the address bar. For example, look at the top of this page at my website address and you can see a little purple star next to it. This is my favorites icon. When someone adds this page to their favorites folder, it will also show up there. It is not a necessity but nice to have your site stand out above all of the rest of the sites they have saved and visited.
3. How will people find my site once it’s finished? - A web designer has different sections of code they can be using to help promote and index your site within the search engines. Search Engine Optimization or SEO as it is more commonly referred to is something that should be done by default. If you meet with a designer that says they don’t do this, or doesn’t know what it is, move on and find someone that does! There are META TAG sections in the code which allow you to place keywords and a description, that if carefully chosen can go along way to moving you up to page number one of search results! This is what we all want, knowing that a potential client will tend not trawl through to the 2nd, 3rd of 4th page of results. First page is key. Another item that can be used is the title of the page. For example, when visiting my home page, the title (which is at the immediate top of the browser window and exists on every page of every single website) is Web Design, Marketing, Advertising and SEO in Lawrenceville, Dacula, Snellville and Gwinnett County – Purple Star Consulting. When searching on Google, if someone types in some of these key words, the title of a page is also looked at.
4. How will I know who is visiting my site? - It’s no good having a site but not having any idea how many people are looking at it. Without some kind of statistic or traffic tracking code on your site, you won’t have any idea. A web designer should add this code when working on your site, then give you all the log in information necessary to monitor and review the information. Google Analytics is one of the easiest to read and understand. For my clients, I have a document I send them once all of the code is in place so they can log in on their own and know exactly how to use the portal. With a simple Dashboard and easy to understand traffic patterns, display of links that were clicked on and key words that were used to find you, this is one of the best ( and free) products out there.
5. What if I need something changed, can I do it myself? - This is a tricky one. The simple answer is yes, any one can change things on their own site, but only if you have a certain level of knowledge. One of the reasons you probably are looking for a web designer is because you either don’t have the time, don’t have the knowledge or want it done right and professionally the first time right? If it’s simply just word changes here and there, if you have a web hosting package that includes a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get), then you should be able to log in, open the page and then just change the text and save. If not, you would need to have Dreamweaver, Front Page, or simply use NotePad to make changes. That can be tricky and if you are not careful and/or confident in what you are doing, you could end up causing problems with your live site. So, if you ask this question, just be careful about their answer. The answer is yes, but if they are guiding you responsibly they should also give you the BUT at the end. Sometimes it’s better to work with your web designer over time and work out some kind of rate for changes you need over a months time frame.
6. How will I know if my site is working for me? - Hopefully the biggest sign is that you are making more money, getting more calls and in turn getting more clients! If you work with a large firm, the personal touch might not be there once the work is complete and you no longer need them, and perhaps they no longer need you either! At Purple Star Consulting, we want all of our clients to succeed. As part of that, every month or so after having worked with them, I will do some tests. Go out to Google and play the role of someone browsing the internet doing some research. By thinking like the average person, I come up with keywords, type them in and see where my client site comes up. Depending on the business, (and how much competition is out there) the site should start showing up in the listings. I will then send the findings on to the client, even if we are not currently doing business, wanting them to continue on in their success.
7. What can I do to continue the success of my website? - Great question! The web designer you work with cannot be held 100% responsible for the continued success of your site. Each day, more and more domains are added to the web, more companies are formed and there are more people clambering to get that top spot in the search listings. Once the initial work is complete, truly the best way to continue the success of your site is to keep it fresh and new. Think of it as a plant. If it’s in full bloom and healthy and beautiful, if you stop watering it, it’s going to shrivel up and die. Constantly updating your site means that the web crawlers will stop by and reindex your site if there is more information to see! Having a blog is the best way to update content. A blog also is an ideal way for you to make changes yourself even with very limited knowledge, and no coding needed! Your web designer should be able to suggest the best type of blog to add and integrate into your site.

So, take these questions with you, ask me these questions, or feel happy in the knowledge that you know your web designer did all of this for you already! If so, congratulations on having a great website!

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A friend of mine posted a question on Facebook, asking where she could advertise at a low cost, or even better, for Free! I have found a few sites that allow you to post your company profile, with a short bio and a listing of the services you provide. There are the old faithfuls, of Kudzu, Facebook, Google Maps, Yahoo Local of course, but sometimes it’s hard to find solutions that are quick and cost effective to use for the small business owner. I am looking for very cheap, preferably free! Below is a list of some that I have used that might help:

Local.com – There are two sides to this site. The first is to post an ad in the classified section. This runs for 30 days and is then removed. I found the categories to be a little limiting but it’s free and another way for people to find you. The other way is to add your business to the listings for people to search through. Local Promote allows you to list your services, website address, contact info and more. This is not removed and does offer an upgrade for a special offer of $49 a month at the moment. This allows you to add your logo, up to 5 photos and promises you will be found at the top of search results for some of the major search engines.

Superpages.com – This site allows for a fairly comprehensive submission of your business to their listing. However, to add your logo costs $25 a month and at a costly $22 a month per format, you can add bold, colored fonts or italics to your listing. I can target the area my business is listed (in my case it’s Dacula) but it would be an additional $77 a month to have it listed and targeted to the rest of Gwinnett County, $254 a month to the Metro Atlanta area and $384 a month for the whole of Georgia, so big differences there! You can see my profile page by clicking here.

GenieKnows.com – I hadn’t heard of this site before but it’s similar to the other two in that you can list your business at no charge. It also allows you to add quite a lot of information about your company which is good to see. I added my company but was dissappointed that I wasn’t able to then review it once complete. Instead, I received an e-mail to let me know that it could take up to two weeks for it to display. “All submissions are subject to review” which is probably a good thing!

Talk Gwinnett – Talk Gwinnett is the local site for the Gwinnett Gazette. Another free site but with a very basic listing available. Pretty much you can have your e-mail address and basic contact information. To add your website address is $10, to add a logo is $10 and to add a description is $5! You can submit your company in up to 3 categories for free, then it’s an additional $5 per additional category. It’s free, but all in all, not going to do much for my business.

Domestic Sale.com – Free again! This one allows you to add a long description, an e-mail address, link to your website, contact info and even a logo at no cost. However, I found that once I had uploaded my logo, it totally distorted all of the colors so much so that it doesn’t really look like my logo anymore. Aside from that, you can post a lot on this site at no cost.

Yahoo Local – With this one, I thought I had already created an account. When I did a search, I came up in the listing but with very little information. It seems that through searches and hits on the internet my site was then listed and I hadn’t needed to do anything. I signed up to modify the listing and add more information. Once this was done, it stated that it would take up to 5 business days for the listing to be updated. Not sure how they will verify I am who I say I am though! When I set up my business page with Google, they provide two options to verify you are the business owner. One is to call you on the business phone, the other is to snail mail you a postcard with a code on it which you enter into a website. So, we shall see if Yahoo believe me and just go with it!

urbanGwinnett – This site is local to the Gwinnett County area and allows for the submission of your business. You can select the category you wish to be listed. With not too many listed at the moment, you can actually have the monopoly of a whole category if you pick wisely! Visitors can write reviews, e-mail you and also see a visual of your website directly on the urbanGwinnett website. A well run informative site, worth posting as it is totally free!

Switchboard – This site is powered by Superpages.com. Similar in layout and content, it’s free and allows you to add basic information to this listing, before adding on cost for additional elements.

LTTA – Lawrenceville Tourism and Trade Association – If you are a member of the LTTA, you are automatically submitted into their Membership Directory. If you are a small business of 1, it is only $50 for the year, a great price. This also gives you other benefits, the ability to leave your business cards and brochures at the LTTA office, and be invited to their networking and social events. If you aren’t a member already and are local to the area, be sure to check it out!

Although there are many more, finally I will end with the best!

NEW Lawrenceville – this is a community run website. If your business is local to Lawrenceville, Georgia, simply visit the site and use the form to submit your business. With up to 200 words available for your company bio, and the ability to have your phone number, e-mail address and website listed, along with your logo, this free service is well worth taking advantage of. Even better, you can also submit articles that are of relevance to Lawrenceville and can include your business sales, promotions and events. Can’t get better than that!

If you know of any others, let us know! info@purplestarconsulting.com

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Back in May I posted about RSS feeds and what they are used for. (RSS – what’s it all about?). If you paid attention and started to use this information, hopefully you have started to subscribe to some blogs you are interested in. I use Microsoft Outlook 2007 to read blog feeds. I wanted to share a few with you that I think are worth subscribing too.

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Blog
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The New York Times best sellers The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Black Book of Connections, and The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. I first heard of Jeffrey at a Networking meeting when a new contact mentioned his Little Red Book of Selling. It was then mentioned again by my brother who actually had the book. After borrowing it from him, I subscribed to the blog. Not updated that regularly but when it is, it’s an insightful read.

Hidden Business Treasures
I stumbled across this blog through Twitter. Not sure who followed who first, but @michaelbenidt jointly updates the Hidden Business Treasures blog with Sheryl Kay. The blog provides thoughtful and provoking articles about the internet, searching online, and honing your searching skills. Unearthing some interesting views and challenging what we might typically take on face value, their investigative skills are first rate. Michael also understands what it means to build a relationship with his readers.

Seth Godins Blog
Seth Godin is author of ten books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change and work. Author of Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers, his blog is updated almost daily with thought provoking ideals that any business owner, no matter how big or how small can relate to. This might be my favorite blog!

All Geekness Great and Small
This is the blog of my younger, smarter and geekier brother, Daniel Rumney. I am constantly amazed at what he can write, create, code and design. His blog is more on the technical side and always gives me a blog post to really think about.

Better Business Blogging
I just recently came across this site and I love it! Designed to help and assist those savvy enough to realize what a blog can do for a small business (and large corporation!), each post offers ideas, and insight into how you can improve your blogging, work to get your site moved higher up the search engines, and promote your work. Great blog.

WordPress Garage
Along the lines of the Better Business Blogging site, this site focuses on WordPress Blogs. WordPress is the platform the Purple Star Consulting site is built on. It’s a great blog to learn more about great plugins, latest trends and how to get the best out of your own blog. Each post gives some great links that will really help you improve your site and optimize it fully.

Best Fit Pet Sit
Valerie Pegg is our pet sitter. She is also a friend, a client and a great writer. Each of her posts isn’t just information, it’s personal, descriptive and well written. Only blogging a few months, she already has a lot of followers and people listening to her advice and knowledge. One to check out if you are a pet lover!

NEW Lawrenceville
Finally, this is a site designed and developed to promote and enrich the City of Lawrenceville in Georgia. Blog posts include promotions from stores in the area, charity functions, family related events and information about your local government.

I hope you liked my suggested reading. Remember, an RSS feed is the easiest way to keep track of the updated blogs. We hope you subscribe to ours to keep track of all that Purple Star Consulting has to offer!

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