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Everybody wants a website these days - but they often don't know what to do with it.  Its really not up the web designer to write your copy or figure out your marketing strategy.  And most small businesses don't know how to do those things very well and often don't see the value in it.  I am not going to answer all of those questions today.  But I would like to outline the basic elements that a small business owner should look for in a new or redesigned website.

• BRANDING - The site should reflect the mission of the company.  When someone lands on the first page they should be able to deduce what the purpose of the site is.  Ideally, it expresses how your company is going to satisfy a need or soften a pain.  And  importantly - it should express the business niche that you are in.   This is a giant topic in itself but a brand is a specialty in the marketplace.  It is why a visitor might be interested in your company. 
  
• GREAT CONTENT - There is no substitute for great content.  This is what brings visitors back to your site.  Most companies think that listing a bunch of features is what is important - its not.  Great content is compelling and interesting to a visitor.  Your content should be error free and be meaningful.
• VIDEO - Maybe everyone doesn't need video but I think its a convincing piece of evidence for your company.  It conveys trust and allows the customer to "get to know you".  Besides, not everybody takes in information the same way.  Some people are visual.  
• EMAIL CAPTURE - Your website is not just so people can get driving directions.  Its about you slowly accumulating contacts for potential customers.  This can be done with a simple form that the visitor fills out.  And its always good to offer some incentive as a free estimate, a coupon, a small book or anything that might be valuable to the customer.
• CLEAN LAYOUT AND NAVIGATION - Simple and straightforward is the way to go.   It should never be confusing for the user.    The biggest mistake I see is that there are too many choices.  
• BUSINESS DETAILS - The business details should be presented somewhere.  It can be in an "About Us" page where you can tell the visitor about your company and who runs it.   Dont forget a contact page so that someone can get a hold of you.   Recently Ive seen some websites where you actually have to hunt to find a telephone number or email address.
• SEO - Every site should be found on the internet using search.   You have to help Google out by making your site "Search Engine Friendly".    If you have a clear understanding of your niche in the market - you probably know what keywords people are using to look for you in Google.   These words need to be sprinkled into the content of your pages.   Specifically,  your keywords should be used in the "html title" text that show up at the top of the browser and the first line in a Google search page.   Your "meta description" tags should be filled out for every page.  And your content and links in your content should also use the keywords.
• DOMAIN NAME - I hate it when the domain name is unlike the name of the company.  I know its not always possible to get an exact name.  Your domain name should ideally be a ".com" domain - not .biz or .org because "dot com" is the default for right now.  Some businesses use their keywords as a domain name as "santa-cruz-carpet-cleaning.com" which can work to an advantage.   Capture a domain name that is close to your business name.
• TESTIMONIALS - Since you are a small business you will need to provide some evidence that you can deliver.  Your brand is not a promise enough like a big company brand.  People like to see that other people have used your product.  It builds trust.  I would recommend that starting out you cultivate these testimonials.
• COMPELLING HEADING - Maybe this is handled in another section but I think its worth noting. Just like great a great headline - your site should strike someone immediately.   What can you say in the 2 or 3 seconds a visitor spends to make a decision about your company?
• ANALYTICS - A good website evolves by eliminating things that don't work.  If you have some simple analytics for each page you can tell if anyone is visiting.  You can set measurable targets.  You might think this is hard but its not. You can use Google Analytics to see everything you need.  Its free and can be set up and installed in minutes.
• BLOGGING - You might think that you have nothing to say or that your site doesn't need a blog.  Blogging is important on several levels.   A good blog that delivers great content (not just a pitch for your business) is interesting to the customer.  It builds trust as the customer has a connection to you as a person.  Your blog should deliver value in terms of your customer.   Your business is not about you - its about building trust with customers and satisfying their needs.  If you are not continually gaining expertise in what you are delivering then you are not going to be in business very long.    These lessons are great topics for blog posts.  And lastly, blogging is very very important to being found on Google.  Google likes blogs because they are a source of new content.   Blogging is an easy way for you to add to your website without the help of your webmaster.  Writing a small article every week will accumulate your Google power in a very short time.  You can also Twitter every new post giving you some free marketing and traffic to your site.
• MUST BE FAST - People will leave your site if it doesn't load fast enough.  So 1.5 MB images that you are showing of your business must be prepared for display on the web.  
• LANDING PAGES - Your website should compel a visitor to do something.  So you need a "landing page" with a clear call to action.  This might be your main page - but often its another page that is dedicated to a single offer. A good landing page will encourage a visitor to do something.  There is an art of a great landing page which deserves study.  But the basic ingredients are simplicity, ease of signup,  testimonials, a statement of benefit and a clear call to action.
• BOOKMARKABILITY - A "favicon" (favorites icon) is the little image visible in the browser url area, visible on a browser tab, and in your bookmarks.  Every good site should have one.

Branding of your website is important because it contributes to the long term value of your business.  It creates a sense of customer confidence.   For a small business - your brand is the niche value you bring to the market.  Its the expectation of value in the customers mind about your product.  Part of building a brand is creating an impression in the market.   There are a number of ways you can do that with your website.

• Memorable Logo - a logo is not a brand although it represents one.  All great brands have a memorable logo.  Your website should have one too.  Its not the most important thing - but it can symbolize the value you bring consistently.
• Email List - You have to have a way to engage your customers.  Email is one of the easiest.  You can start having a small relationship by sending short emails to your customers.
• Press Releases - You should publish anything of interest about your brand as often as possible.  There are many free online press release sites.
• Free Content - Give away something of value.  This could be an small e-book or a pdf file.  The kinds I appreciate the most are things that are of real value - not just sales pitches.  Many online businesses use free content to get email addresses.  I personally lean toward just giving material away without requiring an email address.  You might try a combination if you must.
• Blogging - Having a blog is a great way to demonstrate your brand.  Google loves blogs and indexes the pages quickly for blogs that are updated regularly.  
• Twitter - Twitter is becoming a premier search site.  If you have a truly unique offering - making updates about it on Twitter can drive traffic to your website.   You can set up a Twitter account for your business.
• Compelling Content - You will have to be prepared for your visitors by having interesting pages.
• Newsletter or Ezine - Offer to your email subscribers a periodic newsletter.   Your logo and brand slogan should go out with the email if you can.  Try something like MailChimp.com
• Auto-responders - Send an email out to any one who requests it - night or day.  Most hosting companies provide this.
• Domain Name - Use your domain name everywhere.  Make sure its in your email signature and all your correspondence.

Many people around me seem to be interested in blogging. Its almost as if they feel they are missing something if they don’t blog. Beyond selecting which blogger to use to create the posts – most people I know have difficulty figuring out what to write about sustainably. The primary reason people dont know what to blog about is that they don’t know what their personal brand is. If you have a clearly defined personal brand (especially for your career) – then blogging is easy. The reason is because a personal brand is about proactively pursuing ways to find meaning and providing value to the marketplace. It is about some amount of curiousity for new material. Blogging is a way for the personal brander to clarify thoughts that occur to them during a week, satisfies the need to share ideas, and establishes the brander as a person who has opinions and ideas. They establish themselves as a thought leader.

Ok, I understand its hard to clarify what your brand is. But if you have a personal tagline – you might start just writing about that. Sometimes we come up with these taglines for ourselves without really understanding them – they just ring true – thats a good sign. If you dont have a tagline to write about you might think about getting one – to help you clarify your brand. Im still working on mine – but I received a lot of insight after writing a personal marketing plan. I heard recently from Eric Rosen that one way to discover your tagline is to take a look at the recent parts of your resume. Either way – once you are clear about where you are going – writing about it becomes a lot easier.

So what do you see when you google your name. Is it a listing for a convicted felon or porn star? If you have an unusual name (like a well differentiated keyword) you will rise to the top automatically. But if you have an ordinary name you might not even show up. What you don’t want to happen is to have a search result that doesn’t represent you.

• Your name is your brand so use it consistently. Dont dilute it by using different variations – pick one version of your name and stick with it.
• If you share a name with a famous person you might consider adding an initial to your online name. You need to be consistent with this however – also using the initial on your business cards and other correspondence.
• Capture your “branded” name in as many places as you can so that when someone else types it in – information about you appears. Be sure to customize your profile name using your “branded” name. For example, your Linkedin profile can be customized using your name – making it easy to remember and share. Its better to do this earlier than later – particularly on the fast growing social sites. I always lamented turning down the opportunity to have a gmail account when “jeffreyblake@gmail.com” was actually available. I would have preferred to own it as opposed to someone else.
• You should periodically check what other people are seeing on google about you. If you are a job hunter – rest assured that recruiters are checking you out online. So you will need to see what they see and take action if the results are unflattering. You will need to devise a campaign to add visibility.
• Another good thing to check in the google search is if good keywords are associated with your name. So you could try “Jeffrey Blake Architect” for example to find out about me. Try searching on your name a keyword associated with your profession. If nothing come up then you will need to do some work.
• You can easily automate your monitoring of your brand by setting up Google Alerts which can send you periodic reports on what is showing up on the web about your brand. I found that you need to experiment what you monitor to get the right mix of results.
• If you are invisible online there is a number of things you can do to increase your visibility and off the top of my head is to join some professional networks as Linkedin that show up well in searches. Contribute to online conversations using your well branded name.
• This should have been mentioned earlier – but go out and get a domain name using your brand name. Its OK to use something other than your name – but a using your name is most effective. Capture a .com domain if you can – because that is the most prestigious right now. Frankly I don’t get “.biz” for an individual or a company.
• You can capture a custom profile URL at a zillion sites. I like to control my name before someone else. For example you can get custom profiles at Delicious, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Twitter, HubPages, Facebook, Plaxo, and Reddit just to name a few. Follow your interests and signup can customize your profile.

1. You cant blog unless you already have a personal brand. I joke about this – but I really believe that you cant blog sustainably unless you find your voice, have an opinion, and have something valuable to say. Having a brand is like being in the groove – and when you are in a groove – things roll along.
2. Start with an attention getting title. If you dont capture an audience in the first sentence – you have lost them. The title is going to show up in a list of your blogs and that is all that will be visible. It has to stand out.
3. Make your first sentence powerful – if not controversial. I often cross post my blogs to writerspan.com in order to get more visibility and let them monetize it for me. WriterSpan.com takes its content and shoves the title and the first sentence or two out to 30,000 community websites. So the whole post isnt visible – but the first sentence is.
4. Make your Blog Readable. Nobody has the time nor inclination to read something that is so dense your brain hurts. So one technique is to judiciously use bolding. Making a keyword or concept bold draws the reader into the story.. You probably already know that bullet lists are easy to read – so I wont mention it (ha).
5. Feel free to add some multimedia. Just text can be boring. If you have a image that you have rights to publish – add it to the page – it adds visual variety. Here is a picture of young jeffrey conteplating his future as a writer.
6. Help your blog get Google Mojo. We all know that google pays attention to blogs and catalogs them regularly. You must ensure that your blog is tagged sufficiently. Tags are one way content gets classified and found on the net. So I always at least tag my articles with the word “Brand”. You can also sprinkle keywords here and there in your text to help getting found. Keyword analysis is both a science and an art but its worth knowing a little bit about it. If you use words in your title and your text that google users enter into the search field – then your article has a greater chance of rising to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). Another thing to pay attention to is the link (anchor) text. This is the underlined text as in this blog that opens another location. The best text is a keyword loaded phrase. So I might tell you that I am a forward thinking and charismatic software architect and social media evangelist to call attention to my domain or company. Having good keywords and well articulated link text is essential to be found.
7. Develop your Writing Style. I think style comes from practice. You cant belabor everything you write. So the key is to let out some of your personality in the writing. Let some of it flow. I learned a lot from reading Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. One thing I learned was to mix up the length of my sentences and paragraphs. Small is good. It adds variety and keeps the reader engaged. There is a billion other tricks – I suggest that you try some out in your writing.
8. Blogs can be Short. Dont be afraid to write a short blog. I myself have little paragraph ideas. I have friends that write essays. But I think I have been more successful at getting something written and published with the small pieces.
9. Be Personal and Tell a Story. Don’t fear revealing a bit about yourself in everything you write. Writing is not just expressing intellectual ideas – its about expressing your “full” idea – its thoughts AND emotions. Develop your ability to tell a story. Chip and Dan Heath remind us that stories are a key element to making things stick in other people’s minds – which is an essential element to personal branding.
10. Always Promote Yourself. There is always a chance to promote yourself in your blog – beyond being read or being syndicated using RSS. I always add my tagline at the bottom of the page with a link to one of my web pages. Its a simple reminder to others of my brand but also accumulates inbound links to my target site.