This is a guest post by Tracey Smith, owner of Just Relax massage studio.
I know better than the women in the image of course! However, I don’t know squat about setting up a website for my small business. I don’t know a domain name from a widget. I am a massage therapist for crying out loud.
What I do know is finding your trapezious or piriformis, locating the knots therein, tracing them back to their origin and releasing you from a tension headache or sciatic nerve pain. And I know your eyes glazed over when you read that…just like my eyes glaze over when someone starts talking about HTML and nested tags, CSS selectors, and other things that relate to small business websites.
The only other thing I do know is that every…I repeat…every single small business owner needs a website if they are serious about creating a thriving business.
I am talking everyone …from the Grandpa who tumbles rocks in his basement and sells them at arts and crafts fairs, to the painter offering custom murals and the chic providing medical massage therapy in her converted garage.
Each and every single one of them, no matter how unique their business, needs a website in order to bring them out of the shadows of obscurity and into the bright shiny light of success. And that includes you!
First things First
What is the first thing you do when you need to find a product or service fast? If you are like me, you whip out your smartphone or power up the computer and do an online search to find what you need. It’s is “too bad so sad” for the small business that didn’t bother creating a website because you went with the first business who had what you needed and could tell you that in a clear and concise way. And the pretty pictures didn’t hurt either.
That my friend is the main reason why you need a website…because folks aren’t using a phonebook or driving around looking at store front signs anymore. As a matter of fact, studies show that Americans lead the way in Internet usage, spending an average of 28 hours per month on line just surfing.
Why would you want to miss that kind of advertising potential?
It gives you an edge over the competition. Statistics provided by Adology state that “46% of small business owners do NOT have a webpage.” Just think, you could eliminate almost HALF of your competition with one small move! Another study by Vistaprint shows that of the small business owners who bother creating a website only half of them are using the website to track their marketing efforts.
In other words, only about 25% of small business owners are bothering to see what marketing efforts are working.
That’s Insane!
Imagine what kind of business you could build, if you not only created a website but also used it to determine which marketing work best for your business. You’d be unstoppable!
Now what?
I gather that you are now of the belief that your business is in desperate need of a website. And I also gather that you are asking “Now what? What do I do next to secure myself one of these new-fangled contraptions?”
The next thing on your to do list is to pat your self on the back. Congratulations! You have come to a conclusion that will propel your business forward.
After that you will need to take several steps towards the actual creation and implementation of your website. I have outlined them below. Happy Creating!
- Determine what kind of site you will need.
- Find a Domain name
- Get Hosting
- Determine if you want someone to build the website or if you want to do it yourself
- Create Content
- Get Listed
- Market your page
This is what I’ve been learning and what I am putting into practice for my own small business website, Just Relax Massage.
Editor’s Note: Tracey’s site will be listed soon;)
