An introduction for business owners with an existing websites. There are many points to consider if you are to attract visitors. This presentation helps you ask the right questions.

1. Business Websites
Business Owners With Websites

2. The modern business
• Modern businesses need a great website
to function in the world of commerce
today.
• A functional site is an investment in time,
money, management and promotion that
serves as perhaps the most important
asset a company may possess.

3. Professional Web Design
• Business owners might commission
website design and maintenance from a
professional web design agency, a
marketing company, a freelance designer
or even from friends and family.
• Understanding the functions and
performance benchmarks of a good
website is essential in order to justify the
capital expended on the website.

4. Web Design company
• Select the best quality web design
company and webmaster your business
can afford.
• Interview several and look at the work they
have produced. A quality web designer or
webmaster should be able to provide
answers to these questions.

5. Questions to ask
1. How does the web design/webmaster
ensure your site will rank near the top of
search results?
• Our article, “How to Search,” explains
some basics about how Internet searches
function. Your website success depends
on the design, functionality, performance
and optimization of all facets of the page.

6. Questions to ask
2. Can the web designer ensure your site
functions equally well in multiple web
browsers?
• View websites with Internet Explorer, Firefox
and Google Chrome from a computer
outside the company to get an idea of the
functionality of a site. Business owners with
a website can also request a Website Audit
or even a Mystery Shopper visit if the site is
for eCommerce.

7. Questions to ask
• Does the home page load fast? Less than 3
seconds is considered ideal loading time. Get a
free, useful load time report from Pingdom.
• Does the main focus of the business appear
“above the fold” on the website where it can be
seen without the user employing the scroll-down
bar?
• Do all graphics, photos and videos load quickly
and correctly?

8. Questions to ask
• When was the Home Page last updated? Is
the content “fresh?”
• Each page within the site should have a
unique page name and title.
• Each page should have three appropriate
keywords, a description and a minimum of
300 words of text plus at least one graphic.

9. Is this done?
• Page names, titles, keywords, descriptions,
fresh content and graphics are indexed by
search engines, which then catalogue the
pages according to the search engine’s
algorithms.

10. Search Engine
Optimisation
• When someone performs an Internet search
this is the information used by the search
engine to suggest pages in the search
results.
• Without proper preparation of every page, a
business may struggle to appear in the top 40
search results.

11. Is there a Sitemap?
3. Once a web designer has been selected and
a web site created, the designer should
create website sitemaps.
• These list the pages within the site and the
location of information on the site. Without
sitemaps, websites are unlikely to rank well in
search results.

12. Sitemaps are important
• Google and Bing search engines use the .xml
version of sitemaps, whereas others may use
the html version.
• Sitemaps should be updated at least weekly
and every time pages are added or changes
made to the site.

13. Visitor Demographics
4. Business owners need to know
information about visitors to their website,
including who they are and their
locations.
• Sites built with WordPress, for instance, have
access to plug-ins that provides this
information.

14. Website Analytics
• Google Analytics can provide site owners
with detailed insight into the nature and
habits of visitors to a website.
• Knowing how a site is used and by whom
provides managers with valuable
marketing information.

15. 5. Do not launch a website and then forget
it. Sitemap generation, site maintenance
and promotion need to be integrated with
the creation of the site itself.
• Owners should be aware of and involved in
these decisions and updates in order to
maintain the benefits of a
well-designed site.
Website Maintenance

16. Building external links
6. Site owners should invest in the use of
highly-rated external sources that send
visitors and potential customers to the
website.
• The company blog on the site may be
such a resource.
• Micro Landing Pages work

17. Company Blog
• Keep the blog active with a continuous
stream of company information and fresh
content.
• Some companies create YouTube videos
about the company, products and services
as features for their blogs.
• PDF articles are a good idea

18. Publishing Articles
• Articles and instructions placed on the
blog can be another good source of
inbound site traffic.
• These items should be included into the
sitemap, as well.

19. Facebook, Twitter Etc.
7. Company information may be distributed
as PowerPoint documents, Twitter or
Facebook posts or even Press Releases
on the company website.
• It is a key part of website promotion to
keep updated the company news and
announcements before the eyes of site
visitors.

20. Best of Class
8. E-commerce customers as well as bricks-
and-mortar store shoppers do a
significant amount of online research
before committing to a purchase.
• Your company needs to be seen on the
Internet as the “Best of Class.” Your
business may only get once chance to be
seen and chosen by your next buyer.

21. Multiple Platforms
9. Of course, many customers use their
SmartPhones or Tablets to access the
Internet and do their research.
• Your business needs to have a web
presence that works equally well on any
platform or device.

22. In conclusion
• Use the information above to keep abreast
of developments with your website team.
• If you understand how your business
website performs, meets customer
expectations and produces results, you
will be better positioned for online
success.

23. Contact Point
• Feel free to contact us if you still have
questions or need more information than
your in-house resources can provide.
• We provide Webmaster Services and are
here to help from the very first step.
Contact Point

24. Thank You!