Small business owners understand the importance of a strong web-presence to market their products and services, and build a solid reputation. They also understand that their website is often their first point of contact with a new customer and can be a determining factor as to whether or not that customer decides to work with you or the competition. However what they often find difficult is to know where to start and build that online presence. 

With a lack of time, knowledge or funds, staying up to date on the latest online trends can be a challenge. We have therefore gathered together some of the affordable tools out there which are available to help small business owners build, maintain and manage a business website, and help new customers find you online.

WordPress

Getting a modern website that you can update on your own can be done easily and cost effectively using WordPress.

WordPress began as a blogging platform, but has since evolved into a powerful content management system that is widely used to build powerful and professional looking websites. 

Content management systems such as WordPress give you with the ability to easily update and manage the content of your website, meaning that you can constantly keep your website up-to-date. WordPress also provides you with access to thousands of plug-ins that have been created to enhance your website, including: calendars, galleries and ecommerce. An added incentive of the system is that it has been created to be liked by search engines, which will help your business get found online.

Search Engine Optimization 

There’s no point in having a website if nobody can find it.  With the ability to find anything and everything we want simply by doing a search, it’s crucial that your business stands out. Think about the last time you needed a plumber or a printer for your business cards; you probably used a search engine to find them. Using the keywords that your target audience will search for on your website’s homepage will go a long way in helping people find you, but there are so many other useful tools out there. One of which is video. 

Using Video on Your Website

Why is video so important on a website?  According to comScore, YouTube is now the second most popular search engine behind Google, which means that video is fast becoming the best marketing tool you can use grow your market. Think about the last time you did a search on Google, which results were shown on that first page?  The top results were probably pay per click advertising and video. With Google and the other search engines continuing to evolve how they rank the content or websites they think visitors would like to see, video is becoming increasingly popular. 

According to RealSEO, video search results now have a 41% higher click through rate over plain text search results. And with more and more people accessing those videos through a mobile device or smartphone, an audience which grew 40% in 2010 alone, that market cannot be ignored. In fact according to Forrester Research, videos were 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive an organic first-page ranking.

Creating a corporate promotional video can have additional benefits for the company and its employees too. At Webnames.ca what started out as a corporate promotional video to attract customers, actually resulted in becoming a great team building experience for the entire staff and management team. Having the whole office gather together to talk about and showcase what they thought the core values of the business are, was extremely powerful. 

Win a WordPress Website or 30 Second Professional Video during Small Business Month

In support of Small Business Month, Small Business BC has partnered with Webnames.ca to offer a great contest which will run for the entire month of October. 

Prizes include either:

• FastTrack WordPress Website –including one year free web hosting, email, domain name and training on how to use WordPress.

  OR

• 30 Second Professional Video – including one professionally produced and edited video created by BBN3. 

So visit the Webnames.ca contest page today and nominate your small business.