Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Montgomery Coffee -

Many apologies for the delayed response, but I have just become a member, here, and just now saw your post.

First and foremost, CONGRATS!  It is a bold step we take in starting a venture from the ground-up and I am pleased to see that you went with the first natural step for small businesses today - creating a Website.  Now that you have it, whether you need to make changes to it or not, you are ready to start driving traffic to it.

I have a few suggestions, if you are not already implementing them:

• Everywhere you are is where your site should be....be sure that every single piece of paper, business card, note, e-mail, etc. has that URL displayed prominently.
• Take advantage of the free advertising and networking that comes with Online business profiles in the following - LinkedIn, MerchantCircle (you can even create a coupon for visitors who find you via this site), Yahoo Local, Google Business, Facebook (create a personal profile, first, then a business page), and Craigslist.
  I have seen great results and much increased traffic to my site from the same.  Furthermore, you can track these visitors by installing a small application on your home page from SiteMeter (www.sitemeter.com).  This will tell you how many visitors you have had, what URL referred them, and how long they stayed on your site.  Again, it is FREE! Once this is up and running, you can see what is working and what is not...focus more on where most of your leads are coming from and let the rest go.
• A lead capture form somewhere on your site, ideally on a page where visitors might find the need for more information, would be a great addition.  If you use an eMail marketing provider (such as Vertical Response), they will generate an opt-in form and provide the code that you simply paste into the back end of your site.  When visitors sign up for updates or request additional information, they are automatically added to a database that you can now use to send updates, promotions, new product announcement and sale information to easily and professionally via email!

Before I end up writing a thesis on the subject, try those on for size and see if they help you to garner more exposure.  Again, they are free, but worth their weight in gold!!!!

Hope this helps.  Feel free to contact me with any questions you have.  I am glad to offer some additional suggestions!

Susan
completeREsources, Chicago

P.S. Please consider voting for me as one of America`s top mom-owned business!  Click to vote now or copy and paste the following link into your browser - http://www.startupnation.com/leading-moms-2009/contestant/4453/index.php

Everyone has been very nice here, and while I agree that there is some charm to simple sites, this is beyond simple to the point of looking too "cheap." If you are going to sell $16 coffee, you need a site that looks as expensive as your prices. Do you really want "Cheap Web Hosting" at the bottom of your site?