Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Inkwire ~

You don`t need to spend a fortune on advertising your website unless you want to.

I find that discreet marketing and word of mouth work for me best.  By discreet I mean adding the link to your site in all your e-mails, posts outside the forums, etc.

You can have the best website in the world but people like to know who you are and they need to feel they can trust you.  Joining online networks and becoming involved in discussions works well.  Over time, people will either like you or they won`t.

ROI comes in all shapes and forms. [IMO]

 

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Word of mouth has always been one of the best, if not the best form of advertising, no?  I even found that car dealer through a recommendation from a neighbor.

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arp laszlo | www.inkwire.net | web design, development, marketing

As a web designer, I understand my client`s (and potential client`s) budgetary constraints. There are both successful and not so successful websites created with the DIY approach.

Should you DIY? The one question to consider is - what is the best use of your time? Learning and creating a website or planning, marketing, operating my business? It is not an easy choice especially when there is no money in the budget to hire a web designer.

The choices you make can affect you later on. You may be stuck with a proprietary solution that limits your capabilities. You may even faces higher web design costs later on to "fix" or rework a web site to make it work effectively for your business needs.

Word of mouth advertising is absolutely great! Today, with the multitude of social networking websites, word of mouth is word of mouse. So, a good website is maybe more important today than in the past.

Having your site "reviewed" (like here at SUN) can provide some good suggestions for improving a DIY website.

Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

.........and on the seventh day......... LOL

I work every day of the week [most of the time] but one of those days is always reserved for learning and creating.

If I didn`t do this, I couldn`t move forward and I would never realize, understand, or appreciate what designers do.

Before I took on this DIY project, I thought $750 - $1,200 was extremely high.  Not anymore.

Kudos to those who know what they`re doing!

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If you are researching the net branch or are looking into opening your own mortgage net branch, we have an alternative to net branch opportunities. Ask us about mortgage branch opportunities, we love to talk and write about this.

That`s always a good point - what IS the best use of your time?  It is good to evaluate what you do well and what is better being done someone else.

Of course, I also like to use this argument to avoid mowing the lawn


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arp laszlo | www.inkwire.net | web design, development, marketing

There are some companies out there who have had great success at doing their own bookkeeping.

Those that don`t will often turn to an outsource resource such as my business to relieve them of the stress and time-consuming tasks of keeping it all together.

Once you learn where your DIY deficiences are, you will know who to turn to ~ as in the case of web design ~ but you can plug in any professional into the analogy and it works out the same.

 

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If you are researching the net branch or are looking into opening your own mortgage net branch, we have an alternative to net branch opportunities. Ask us about mortgage branch opportunities, we love to talk and write about this.

A lot of people think a Web site sells things and does things. Actually, a Web site is only a distribution channel. The Web site itself does nothing, other than acting as a way to distribute your information to a wider geographic area.

Web sites aren`t a business, in and of themselves, unless you`re a Web site developer. If the entire planet suddenly ran out of electricity, people with products would still sell those products. They`d do it door-to-door, in town, through brick and mortar stores, and so forth.

People look at "Web site" and get overwhelmed with all the questions a developer asks. Or they get overwhelmed by the terminology, the money, the time, and in particular, when they`re asked to actually *write* the content for the site.

Then they look at the money, day after day, week after week, where it`s always changing. They hear about new content every few days, different techniques, visibility, SEO writing, and rankings, and it becomes a huge mess in their mind.

It`s like asking anyone why they aren`t doing something. Bottom line is they`re not in the mood. :-) Lots of people can make arguments to change that mood, and that`s what sales is all about. But ultimately it comes down to "I`m not in the mood to mess with it right now," for most people who don`t have a Web site.

Ask people, "How come you don`t have a broadband connection?" Or "Why don`t you have an email account?" Same reason.

You have some good points.  I am looking for some specific reasons why someone has chosen not to have a website.  Imagining answers isn`t that hard - it`s too complex, it`s too expensive, I don`t think it`s worth it, etc., but it is helpful getting a slightly more in-depth answer from someone who has made the choice.  I`ve got some ideas on how to alleviate some of these concerns and I`m finding this discussion to be helpful.

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arp laszlo | www.inkwire.net | web design, development, marketing

if I can add my two cents here.....many people also think that they dont need a website as they dont want to actually `sell` anything online.  I`ve told any & everyone that the website gives you professional presence in the business world...says you`re serious - and even tho most times working from your kitchen table - are equal to the `big boys`.  While our company sells a product for retail - our site was actually not setup for the consumer - out target customer is `the Retailer`. We can direct them to our site which sums up our products, pricing, etc and then our sale is much easier.  The website takes care of `the pitch`. We bought a really inexpensive template that was an absolute breeze to use. We had absolutely NO experience in building websites. We had tried SBC & another really popular one, but they were waaayy over our little heads. We use a free shopping cart and only pay 12.95/mo for hosting that offers unbelievable support. It has brought us WUNderful results and we`ve only been in business 4 months. I`ll say this as well - we snagged a tremendous opportunity with the biggest candy company in the nation - our website really `sold` them as entrepenuers who operate at a level they respect. A SUPER kudo.

take a look:  www.justsayitwithcake.com

Your two cents are worth their weight in gold .  One great thing a website does is provide an image and a presence that can compare favorably to other bigger or more established competitors.  That`s quite a boon to all the people running home-based businesses in addition to those just starting out.

Another good thing you touched on was the `free shopping cart,` which would probably be an open source application provided by your host.  There`s are many options out there for people but wading through the options can be daunting.


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arp laszlo | www.inkwire.net | web design, development, marketing