In a DOWN economy ~ ramp it UP online

eCommerce is the bright spot in the retail world today.  It works for Brick &
Mortar businesses to draw traffic to their stores and for Online Sites to sell
through shopping carts.

 

BRICK & MORTAR STORES ~ In a down economy, setting up a website and optimizing it for local search is a great way to not only survive in the poor economy, but to thrive in a great economy.

One of the mistakes many businesses make in a down economy is to simply cut their current marketing mix.  But, using the same tactics and channels with less investment leads to predictable results - fewer sales leads and lower brand recognition.

Instead of simply spending less money, spend it smarter by ramping up online marketing activities.  It is estimated that 81% of Web users go online to research products or services before they buy. Those are your prospects. Get in front of them with more aggressive search and online advertising campaigns. In fact, now is the perfect time to dive into local search to attract online users right in your backyard.

You can replace your Yellow Book ad.  A website is less expensive and can be updated when needed, while your hard-copy Yellow Pages’ ad can be changed only once a year.  Providing an up-to-date, easy to navigate website for your customers is essential to growing your business.  You can provide more info in a one- page website than in an entire Yellow Page ad.  Provide your location, store hours, services, products, contact information, weekly specials, and more.  As an example, you move just when the book is printed.  You wouldn’t be able to tell prospective customers for a YEAR.  With a website, you can tell them TODAY!

However, as you move more online, don’t forget branding initiatives. Many organizations, especially small and midsize businesses, do away with brand-building activities such as print advertising, online banner ads, direct marketing, and broadcast media simply because that is what their competitors are doing.  Instead, use that follow the herd mentality to differentiate your business. Step up brand awareness by filling those channels just as your competitors are leaving them. You can often score media buys at a discount, and even modest investment can reap big rewards: Once the economy brightens and competitors rush back, customers will already be familiar with you. 

Contact me at www.lease-a-website.biz/blog and you will be directed to a Contact Form.  After you comment or ask your question, you will come right back here.

October 14th, 2008

ONLINE SITES & SHOPPING CARTS ~ Since money is tight, is it really a good time to start an online business?  Absolutely!  To begine with, Internet startups have a low overhead.  You can have a shopping cart site for under $100 a month!

 

What’s more, the business can be set up in a home office and attended to at night and on weekends, allowing entrpreneurs to keep their day jobs.  In addition, many online businesses can be set up in less than a week.

 

Another reason an Internet startup could be lucrative even in a down economy is that online shopping is growing.  In the first quarter of 2008, revenues generated by online-based businesses were up 13.4 percent from the third quarter of 2007.  If you look at total retail sales with annual growth in the low single digits, the online channel has been growing in the low to mid-twenty percentile.  Although the economic downturn is slowing eCommerce sales, online sales are still growing at triple the rate of brick and mortar store sales.

 

More and more shoppers are turning to the Internet instead of paying for gas to go to a store.

 

Whether or not the economy is bad, there are some best practices to keep in mind when starting an online business.

 

1) Have a niche or focus on a specialty category – since you are competing with ‘box retailers’ when you enter the online retail market, be sure you have something niche-oriented such as Dog Gift Baskets or Therapy Devices for Animal.  Or focus on a single category such as a Planting Guide calendar, but that’s all you do.

2) Offer an innovative marketing technology – like a great referral service offering a discount if your customer refers somebody else to the company.  For examople, at Lease-A-Websites.biz, we give our customer’s a lowered month’s lease for referring a new business.

3) Keep pricing in mind – even if you are selling a nich product, always keep pricing your priority.   

 

A unique product, an innovative marketing strategy, and promotion to help customers deflect prices are important business practices during a recession because people have less discretionary money to spend.  You need to focus on strategies that keep customers coming back.

 

IMPORTANCE OF KEYWORDS & SEO ~ Now that you have a website, what should you do with it?

 

Some small businesses seem to want a website just so they can tell their friends and customers they have a website and feel part of the Internet business world.  It may give a warm toasty feeling, but it doesn’t do much for their business. 

 

I recently visited a small business while on vacation and talked with the owner about his website.  The business had some impressive merchandise in the store.  Their website had some interesting merchandise, but was missing much of the newer merchandise. The site had some interesting points, but was missing important design information and could be a much better site if designed by a website professional.  Also, the website did not address search engine optimization at all.

 

Designing a website consists of much more that just putting products and images on a page.   A critical point for any website is the selection of keywords.  What will potential customers search for when they log onto the Internet?  Once keywords are selected, your website must be optimized for those keywords keeping in mind that the different search engines each have different algorithms used to rank websites.  The words must appear in the page text as well as in the meta  tag source code (the part that only the search engines see).

 

So, do you want a website just to show your  friends and customers or do you want a professionally designed website that is easy to navigate, that has been optimized for your key words, and that brings the potential of new customers to you business?

 

A website in a downturn economy is not a toy.  It is a necessary tool that gives your business that extra exposure to move your business forward. But, for the website to function as a tool, it must be designed around your keywords and optimized so search engines will find and rank your website.

 

* SEO is form of online marketing.  Search engine optimization (or search engine marketing) is the process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. Successful search marketing helps increase the amount of visitors to a web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that site will be visited by a user.

Contact me at www.lease-a-website.biz/blog and you will be directed to a Contact Form.  After you comment or ask your question, you will come right back here.  

eCommerce is the bright spot in the retail world today. It works for Brick & Mortar businesses to draw traffic to their stores and for Online Sites to sell through shopping carts.  Leasing the website allows businesses to ramp it up in this down economy.

The concept of leasing a website is very similar to that of a business leasing a car.  Because quality websites can be expensive, spreading the cost over time is attractive to businesses that would otherwise opt for an inferior product or contend with the one that they already have.

So, why lease a website?  Website leasing may seem like a strange new concept, but actually it is the next logical step in website design and search engine optimization.  Web leasing means a business can have the benefits of a professionally designed and fully optimized site without worrying about finding a safe server, writers, SEO programmers, or spending many hours designing, monitoring, and updating a site.

The main objective is to provide companies that have in the past relied on marketing methods other than the Internet with a website that is managed, designed, and most importantly well search engine optimised. The website will be created specifically to the needs of the company with the type of business information it requires. By leasing a website, companies have a risk-free way to get their business online.

There are numerous financial benefits to leasing a website. Here are just a few:

·      Less initial capital outlay (start-up costs) - usually 15% of normal up-front expenses

·      Lower monthly expense - frequently less than most companies charge for maintenance

·      Potential tax advantages*

·      Flexibility of design, for less overall cost

·      Easy to update and keep fresh for minimal or no expense

A website is something that should always have fresh new content because search engines favor sites that are updated frequently. Business credibility and image also benefit from regular content updates.  Leasing a website allows a business to have a website and establish regular maintenance with minimal upfront investment. A lease provides for long-term payments allowing a business to conserve valuable capital by spreading the costs over time. 

 

At Lease-A-Website.biz we offer our customers truly professional website lease packages. Websites designed by us are of the very highest standard, but that does not mean they are the highest priced. We are able to offer our customers state-of-the-art website construction together with the most cost effective solutions. We update without additional cost or hassle. You can lease a totally maintained website for as little as many companies charge just to do the maintenance – frequently as low as $25 a month!

With a customized Template Package, in a matter of a few days, you could have a fully functional Internet presence for your business. All lease agreements are packaged with hosting, SEO, and maintenance plans. Domain registration is included.  We make it simple, functional, easy, affordable, and fun.

All of this applies to both customized templates and custom design sites.

Contact me at www.Lease-A-Website.biz/blog and you will be directed to a Contact Form.  After you comment or ask your question, you will come right back here.

Visit my other blog www.degeerbox.com 

 

 

 

*We recommend that you consult a CPA about tax advantages.