Maximizing Your Internet Presence

By Frank D'Ascenzo

Why You Need A Website: A Website is your Internet communications connection. It’s one more way people can find you. It’s a convenient and inexpensive way to stay in touch with prospects and customers.

Establishing an Internet presence means more than simply putting up a Website. Establishing an Internet presence entails several important elements that together elevate a Website into an Internet presence. Unless you want to take the time to learn how to build and manage a Website yourself, you should enlist the advice and services of an organization that specializes in cost-effective Website implementation to help you establish your Internet presence. A complete Internet presence package should include the following basic services:

Domain name selection and registration

Website design

Website hosting

Search engine registration

Website management

While each one is important in and of itself, the combination taken together is what helps create your Internet presence. Let’s take a closer look at each to better understand the part they play in the total picture.

Domain Name Selection: Your domain name, or universal resource locator (URL), is how your business is identified on the Web. It’s the Web address you’ll add to all your business materials. Your domain name is one of your business assets. It can be as important as your business name or your logo.

Once you have your domain name and your Website is online, make sure you actively promote your new Web address. Publish it every where. Add it to your business cards. Print it on your letterhead, invoices, and brochures. Include it in your yellow pages ad. In short, make sure it appears anywhere and everywhere. It’s not enough to simply have it available on the Internet.

Website Design: Website design can become very complex; however, the old “keep it simple” adage applies here in spades. Don’t be swayed by exploding graphics and multi-media effects. Beyond all else, a well designed Website needs to:

Look professional

Be filled with meaningful information about your company and services

Be properly managed and kept up-to-date

Here are some basic elements of Website design:

The actual design or look of the site

The content on the site

Keywords and other Meta tag descriptors

Links within the site and to other sites

The graphic design is the most subjective element, and because it is, the cost of Website design can run into thousands of dollars. A good Website does not need to be burdened with expensive graphic design. A good Website, especially for a smaller company, should present a professional uncluttered look coupled with good site content.

While you might think a graphic-intense Website is important to capture and retain viewer interest, the fact is most people visit your site to learn something about your company and services, not to be entertained. There is nothing worse than waiting for a Website to load. In fact, many viewers won’t wait. The complexity of any graphics on your site, therefore, must be weighed against the purpose of your site.

As they say, “content is king.” The text on your Website that tells the visitor who you are, what you do and how you do it, is probably more important than the actual graphic design. Keep the design simple, but provide interesting content for the viewer. Tell them about yourself and what you can do for them. What you say on your Website and how you say it, is the more critical aspect of your overall Website design.

Meta tags are Website HTML code elements that are not visible to viewers, but are to search engines. Meta tags are used to identify special information or characteristics about the Website and include things like keywords, character set identification, and background color.

Keywords are one of the more important Meta tag elements. Keywords help search engines find and list your Website. Choosing keywords that best define your business, your services, and perhaps your business location, and using these keywords in your site content, will help assure the proper and better listing of your site by search engines. Links are Website elements that assist navigation throughout your Website. Links help a visitor move rapidly to information within the site, to another page, or even to another Website.

Website Hosting: Website hosting is a separate and necessary part of Website implementation. A Website host is a business that provides space on a Web server for your Website. The Web server is, of course, connected to the Internet for access by search engines and individuals. Your Website does not exist on the Internet unless it’s hosted somewhere.

Search Engine Registration: Once your new Website is on-line it’s necessary to let the world know it’s there. Simply installing your Website on a Web server is not sufficient. Your new Website must be submitted or registered with the various search engines. Otherwise, your Website has very little chance of being located by a visitor - unless they know your exact domain name. You mostly hear about the larger search engines like Goggle, Yahoo, and MSN. However, there are hundreds more and while inclusion in the major search engines is important, it does not hurt to be listed in some of the less known engines as well. Search engine registration is an absolute requirement for your new Website. Once the Website is designed and hosted, proper registration helps assure that a prospective visitor has a chance of being directed to your site by a search engine.

Remember the keywords discussed earlier? A search engine looks for Websites based on the keywords entered by a visitor. If your keywords are a close match to those entered by the viewer, then your site will get a higher listing by the search engine, which means a better chance your site might be selected for a visit.

Website Management: Publishing your site on the net and getting it hosted and registered does not mean you are finished. It’s important to keep your Website content updated. It’s important to periodically resubmit your site to search engines.

Plus, periodic updates will need to be made to the information on your Website to keep it current. There is nothing worse that a Website with out-of-date or incorrect information. It’s like an incorrect Yellow Pages ad, or a brochure misprint. Website management is the process of maintaining the accuracy and viability of your site, and is an absolute requirement.

Traffic: The process of traffic generation is a separate issue to address, once you have your Internet presence established. The process of attracting visitors to your Website is mainly a matter of marketing, or promotion. Earlier, we mentioned the importance of publishing your Website address “everywhere.” In addition to having it printed on all your business materials, you can:

Make sure all your present customers know about your Website.

Give your customers a reason to visit your site.

Give them a reason to return.

Let local newspapers know about your site.

Promote your Website through business groups, your church, and local chamber.

You can venture beyond these avenues through direct mail and email, and local and national advertising, if appropriate. How much you spend on promotion, of course, must be cost effective.