HOW TO: Make a Great Business Website For Less Than $10

I made this site in about 30 minutes on www.wix.com you can visit my example site here: SITE EXAMPLE

At GeoReach we understand that small businesses have limited resources but that is no reason not to have a great website. This post will give you all the tips you need to make a professional website without a professional.

  1. CHOOSE A GOOD SITE CREATOR- I used www.wix.com to create this site. I think Wix is a great tool it has a ton of options and if you upgrade to one of the premium plans (which is $6.60 per month) you get a $50 in Facebook advertising  and an $75 in Google ad words advertising.
  2. CHOOSE A CLEAN PROFESSIONAL TEMPLATE- Too often I see small business websites that are WAY too busy. I suggest choosing a template from the Photographer or Portfolio category. These categories always have modern clean looking templates. 
  3. CHOOSE NO MORE THAN 4 COLORS- Color schemes are one of the most important design elements. I always think its smart for non-designers to keep it simple. Choose one bright statement color in the site I made it was purple. Then choose 3 muted base colors I chose black grey and white. For help with picking colors try http://www.colourlovers.com
  4. COMPILE 10 HUGE PICTURES OF YOUR PRODUCTS AND BUSINESS- Since you are not a graphic designer don’t rely on graphics to jazz up your site instead personalize your site with great photos. You don’t need professional photos just make sure you stage them and only use big images, Small photos tend to look more amateur. 
  5. TRY USING SILHOUETTES- If you are going to use graphics/clipart on your site try silhouettes. They always look modern and professional I got these dog silhouettes from Vector Dogs Silhouettes. They have 1000’s different of silhouettes so no matter what business you are in they should have something relevant.
  6.  STICK WITH THE BASICS- This site has only four pages but it covers everything you need for a small business website. Remember that consumers come to your website to: 1) Find out about your products/services, 2) Contact your business, 3) Check out your photos, 4) Find your address. If you cover all 4 things then the rest is just extra.  
  7. KEEP YOUR SITE UPDATED- The greatest part about using a site creator rather then hiring a web designer and developer is that you can update your site yourself. There is nothing worse then a site with outdated or misleading information.
  8. ASK FOR HELP- If you are absolutely terrible with all technology ask for help. Use your friends, family and staff as a resource. 

If you want to visit my Wix site and see what I did you can find it here: SITE EXAMPLE

Other Resources:

www.wix.com  site builder

http://all-silhouettes.com/ for great silhouette graphics

http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes to help you pick a great color palette

Remember if you have questions we are always here to help

HERE ARE SOME MORE SCREEN SHOTS FROM THE SITE:

Why go mobile?

Since we launched our new product we have been hearing the same question over and over from our customers:

“Why did you add mobile marketing and why should I do it?”

We added mobile marketing for one reason: it has proven to be the most effective form of marketing with the highest open rate of any medium. Our goal at GeoReach is simple, to provide small and mid-sized businesses with the ability to market like a large corporation. When we saw the numbers associated with mobile marketing we felt that no product would be complete without it. 

Below I have posted a great article from American Express Open:

Mobile marketing has been experiencing tremendous growth the past 5 years. Text messaging and mobile phone ownership is at an all time high. People now use their cell phone to send text messages more than voice calls. People carry their cell phone with them everywhere and if you are looking to reach your customers, text message marketing provides the solution. A recent article on the American Express Open Forum breaks down the mobile marketing statistics to explain this rise in mobile marketing growth and success.
 

These days the buzz about mobile marketing is deafening. Seems like every vendor, blogger and geek next door is suggesting you take your business mobile.

They’re correct. You should.

But if you’re the type that likes cold numbers to back up these warm-blooded pitches, I’ve compiled the very latest Stat Pack from the most respected research firms and analysts to push you over the edge. Happy number crunching!

The Mobile Phone is King

Today, 87 percent of Americans have mobile phones.1 It’s their #1 most-used technology device, with 73 percent saying so vs. only 58 percent saying it’s their desktop PC. An amazing 25 percent of all U.S. households have ditched their landlines for the joys of only one bill from a carrier.

Contrary to those wonderful iPhone ads, only 17 percent have any type of smartphone. That number was 11 percent in 2009, so it’s changing quickly. Because of this growth, or perhaps driving it (or both!), unlimited data plans grew by 57 percent to 24 percent of all mobile subscribers.2

What are consumers doing with their mobile phones?

The phone stopped being used just for calls years ago, but I bet you’ll be surprised to learn that 72 percent of mobile subscribers3 send or receive 664 texts per month vs. making or receiving only 176 phone calls.4 That’s a whopping 1.8 trillion texts projected to be sent in 2010.

If you’re a parent of a teenager and want to talk to him/her, you know texting is your weapon of choice. So you probably won’t be surprised to learn that teens top all mobile users with 3,339 texts per month.5 But I bet you will be surprised to learn that even Early Boomers (45-54) are texting fiends, sending or receiving 272 per month.4 So it was inevitable that texting has taken a bite out of phone calls – adults are now making 25 percent fewer calls vs. three years ago.

Texting’s ubiquity is why, in part, I respectfully disagree with John Jantsch in his post 5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2011. Texting is by far the #1 way consumers want to receive coupons.10 Like email, it’s simple and opt-in. Indeed, it’s likely the #1 method of mobile marketing in use by small businesses today, though I can’t find a study to conclusively prove this.

And yet, phone use goes well beyond texting these days. Consumers are using their phone to:3

  • Take photos – 70%11
  • Use mobile web – 42%
  • Check email – 39%
  • Download apps – 27%
  • Use social media – 25%
  • Buy products – 15%

Unsurprisingly, age plays a big role in what you’ll do on your phone. For example,  60 percent more Gen Yers (18-28 years old) consume social media on their phones then all mobile users (41 vs. 25 percent) – and such use grew a whopping 80 percent2 in the last year. Gen Y also surfs the mobile web one third more then everyone else (55 vs 42 percent).3

The March of Mobile Marketing

The convenience of clipping and carrying a coupon on your phone is instinctively undeniable. That’s why almost 70 million mobile coupons worth $2.4 billion are expected to be redeemed in 2013, up from only 200,000 coupons in 2009.6

Whether it’s a coupon or an ad, getting value from local businesses through your phone is becoming much more accepted than even a couple of years ago. Sixty three percent of consumers saying they’re either “very comfortable” or “getting used” to seeing ads on them.7

However, all isn’t sunshine for providers of mobile marketing, since very few small businesses have tried mobile marketing. Small business owners cite lack of time to figure out a new technology (44 percent), perceived expense (30 percent), and lack of understanding of how to start (30 percent) as the primary barriers to using mobile marketing.8 Mobile marketing providers evidently need to work harder to simplify their offerings and pricing plans for the time-strapped and non-technical small business owner.

What about Location-Based Marketing?

These days, there’s a lot of noise about the growth of location-based marketing services. From practically zero dollars in 2009, location-based marketing is projected to grow to $6 billion by 2015.9 Mike Boland makes an interesting observation that with all the growth, it will still be a mere1.4 percent sliver of the over $145 billion spent on local advertising in 2014.

Despite this noise, I think it’s too early to hop on this bandwagon because so few consumers are using these services. While this will change rapidly over the next few years, panelists at the recent Location-Based Marketing Summit would seem to agree, noting that 80 percent of consumers haven’t even heard of the term “Location-Based Service”.

That’s not to say there’s no bright spots worth paying attention to. Some fast food joints are seeing 65 percent redemption rates from new “geo-fencing” services that mark a business’ territory and push ads when a user crosses that boundary (with the user’s permission).

Google just enhanced an existing feature in its AdWords product, enabling searching consumers to see how far away a local business is from their location. And Facebook’s new Places Pagesjumped into the game, allowing consumers to check-in to their favorite places – a sure bet to win mainstream adoption given its 150 million U.S. users.

The ubiquity and amazing usefulness of mobile phones is hard to ignore. If you’re not thinking of the phone as a way to grow your business, you should start now.

What’s your thoughts on the growth of mobile and mobile marketing? Want to see other statistics not in above? Let me know.

1 Experian, American Mobile Consumer Report. March, 2010.

2 MobiLens. Three month average ending March 2010

3 Deloitte: State of the Media Democracy, Fourth Edition

4 Nielsen Messaging Report, Q1, 2010

5 U.S. Teen Mobile Report. Nielsen, October, 2010

6 Yankee Group, “Mobile Commerce for the Holidays” Nov 17, 2009

7 comscore, InMobi, A Global Consumer View of Advertising, U.S. Market Highlights. August, 2010.

8 Fanminder Mobile Marketing Survey. August, 2010.

9 Borrell Associates

10 Insight Express, Digital Consumer Portrait. Q2, 2010.

Source: openforum.com

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