Websites for Small Business

Websites have evolved significantly over the past few years. What does it take to make a site work for your business today? Content will still get visitors to your website, but in the long run, what does it take to entice return visits? The answer is that it has to allow visitor interaction.

What does this mean for the typical small business owners?

Use blog software as the engine:

Blog software, such as WordPress, is essentially content management software with SEO, community and syndication built in. Wordpress is built to run almost any type of page you can imagine building, such as contact, product and even a static looking home page.

Get feedback:

Visitors are getting used to sites that allow them to offer ratings and testimonials, which shows social reassurance to those considering your company. You can also engage visitors through polls. Adding simple polls can add an inviting layer of content and give users a reason to return.

Beef up the forms of content:

Remember, Google is the number one search engine, but YouTube is number two. Adding video and audio content has become a must, as it keeps visitors on your site much longer than sites that feature only static text. The use of video and audio is also a great way to reinforce a message and help visitors understand what to do next or what to expect.

Integrate social:

Integrating your Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts to your site is a great way to create interaction with your social profiles and create a viral effect when visitors share or like something on your social profile.

Amplify for awareness:

Also, find ways to amplify your content so that people can interact with it. This includes promoting your site such as adding your social profiles to business cards and printed brochures.

Make your advertising much more about creating awareness for your online content and ways that people can interact and less about selling.