eBusiness

Your Business on the Web



Note: Links on this page are not endorsed by or recommend by the Contra Costa SBDC or any of the sponsors or partners of ContraCostaMeansBusiness.com. These links are by no means extensive - omissions are not by intent. Please contact us to recommend additional links or resources.

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Getting Started on the Web


1. Define your business goals for being on the Web including expected ROI from your website

2. Create a performance-based marketing plan. Your website is a part of your overall marketing and branding strategy - how will you use your site for:

- Direct Sales (see e-Commerce below)
- Lead Generation (for your sales reps)
- Offline Sales (e.g. driving customers to your store)
- Customer Support
- Referring visitors to partner sites
- Gathering data
- Branding

3. Research other sites - see what you like, what you don't like and, most important, what you think works from a business perspective.

4. Write up your content, gather photos, etc. Get a foundation of this material together before you contact a designer.

5. Determine your key performance indicators (KPIs) and be prepared to measure them. KPI's include data such as the number of closed sales/number of visitors, average sales amount, number of unique visitors, etc. Analyze the data on a regular basis to guide ongoing design decisions. See Web Analytics below.

6. Build your site. Take a look at free or inexpensive web templates that can be modified to meet your needs (check out TemplateMonster.com or search for free web templates) - saves money on custom site development. Don't build a site that just "looks great" - build one that looks great AND makes money! Don't rely on opinions (yours or anyone else's). If your budget is low or you're looking for a complete e-commerce solution, check out subscription services such as Homestead.com.

7. Select a web hosting service. Check out reviews of the top services at Web Hosting Geeks

8. Invest in the right web analytics system or service that matches your business goals (see below).

9. Get creative to engage your visitors! Add a blog, survey, etc. Sign up with Blogger.com or Wordpress for free blogging

10. Post, test, revise, repeat.

Web Advertising


About Google AdWords and AdSense

How Web Advertising Works

How Affiliate Programs Work

How Search Engine Marketing Works

e-Marketing Tips


Here are a number of useful articles along the lines of improving your web presence and sales effectiveness:

Search engine marketing

Conversion optimization

Developing an e-marketing plan

E-mail marketing

e-Marketing testing Tips

Tips for Marketing your Blog

Getting on Search Engines


Post your site on Google

Post your site on Yahoo

Search Optimization


Read these article about Search Engine Optimization:

Search Engine Guide - Optimization

Wikipedia - About search optimization

SEO Chat - About search optimization

Marketing Today - About search engine optimization

Search engine keyword tool

Read this article about Search Engine Optimizers

e-Commerce


Shopping Carts

Need to be able to handle on-line sales? Try one of the many on-line shopping cart services. Do a search for "shopping cart". Check these reviews of top shopping cart services: Reviews

If you need assistance selecting the right on-line shopping cart solution for your business, contact the Contra Costa Small Business Development Center

On-line Payment Processing

In order to process on-line transactions, you'll need either a merchant account and a credit card gateway OR an account with PayPal.com

Web Analytics


All about Web Analytics

Web metrics

Google Analytics - Basic web analytics - Free

Sitemeter.com - Web site tracking service - Free

Local Web Design Firms


Directory: Local Technical Services and Web Design Firms


Also see Getting Started on this page



Created by: admin last modification: Thursday 29 of May, 2008 [18:17:52 UTC] by admin

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