A Practical Guide To Websites For Small Local Businesses

Before you even begin building your website you need to think about two things: your domain name (which is another name for your web address) and your "key words" (which I will explain shortly).

The most obvious domain name would be the name of your company. If your company is called "John Doe's Landscaping" you would try to get www.johndoeslandscaping.com or, because it is more readable, www.john-does-landscaping.com. Unfortunately, if you have a common name - like Green Acres or Green Thumb or John Smith - you will probably find your name is already taken.

When choosing a domain name, keep the following points in mind:

• It should be easy to spell.
• It should be easy to remember.

Use this test: can you easily give it to someone over the telephone? You want your customers to be able to easily give your web address to their friends.

Most new customers will find you online using Google or one of the other search engines. This is where "key words" come in. Key words are the words that customers will type into the search engine to find your site.

For example, here are the landscape related key words that people search for most often:

• Landscape
• Landscape design
• Lawn maintenance
• Lawn care
• Patio
• Tree service

A landscaper should definitely include these in his or her list of key words.

To find the key words for your industry, think of the terms that customers would use to describe your business. Then go to Overture Key Word Tool located here:

Type one of the key word that you thought of into the box and click on the arrow. You will then get a list of this and related search terms and the number of times they were searched for in the last 30 days. Pick the appropriate words with highest number of searches to use as your key words.

For example, I typed in "siding" and got this list:

If I was a siding contractor I would defintely use vinyl siding as a key word because it is the one searched most often.

Do this for every key word you can think of and keep the relevant ones with the highest number of searches.

Also, customers will usually include the name of their local area to narrow their search. For example, if you type "landscape design" into Google you will get results from all over the US, Canada, England, etc. To narrow the search you need to put in "landscape design in Cleveland."

So you should include the following key words:

• The name of your town
• The name of your county, state or province

Make a list of every key word that you can think of. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and think about what he or she might be searching for.

Your list might get quite large. Whittle it down to no more than 10 words. Choose those that best describe the services you offer.

These key words will go in the META="key words" tags for your site's home page. (If you're using Site Build It you just type your keywords into the box labeled 'key words'.)

The META tags are not seen by customers who visit your website. Only the search engines see them. Here's an example:

Most of the major search engines no longer look at the keywords META tag, but having them there won't hurt. Your main goal is to take these key words and put them in the text of your home page and also in your META="description" tags. (If using Site Build It, enter this in the 'description' box.)

For example, suppose your keywords are:

• Landscape contractor
• Ephrata, PA
• Lancaster County
• Landscape design
• Tree
• Shrub
• Lawn care
• Decks
• Patios

Your description would be something like this:

"Landscape contractor serving Ephrata, PA and all of Lancaster County. Landscape design, lawn care, shrub and tree pruning and landscape installation. Decks and patios a specialty."

Some search engines will show this description for your page in the search results, so don't just make it a jumble of key words. Make it a plain English description of your company. Also be sure that your key words show up in the text of your home page. The easiest way to do this is to make your 'description' the first sentence on your page after your logo and contact information.

To please the search engines, your keywords must show up in a certain density. This means that, depending on the amount of text on your page, your key words must show up often enough but not too often. Software like Web Position Gold can check if you have the proper key word density on your pages. SiteBuildIt has its own built in software that's included in your annual fee.

Now that the preliminaries are over, it's time to decide on the information to put on your website. Let's start with the obvious:

• Contact information - address, phone & FAX numbers, email, etc.

• Services offered - for example: tree planting, shrub pruning, lawn maintenance, etc. Spell this out in detail - don't assume that your customer knows exactly what a term like "lawn maintenance" entails.

• Approximate prices - It's best to show a price range so you don't box yourself in. (Example: "Planting a tree 8'-10' tall generally costs $300.00-$500.00 depending upon variety of tree, location and planting conditions. Call or email for an appointment if you want an exact price.")

• Pictures of completed projects, if applicable. (For example, before and after pictures of landscapes or home siding projects, etc.)

• Information to establish your credibility such as a brief history of the company, a list of the professional organizations you belong to, customer testimonials - anything that establishes you as a reputable businessman. You may also want to put your picture on your site to give your company a human face. Let them know they are dealing with a real person, not a faceless corporation.

• Answers to any questions you find yourself answering repeatedly (Example: "The trees & shrubs we plant are fully guaranteed for 1 year from the date of planting.")

You will also want to include other useful information for your customers. This will make your site one that customers will come back to again and again. It also helps to establish you as an expert in their eyes. Examples:

• Landscaper - How to identify common pests on trees and shrubs. What can be done to protect plants (including professional pesticide application, of course).

• Plumber - First aid for common leaks. When you need to call your plumber and what you can fix yourself.

• Roofer - Common roofing problems. How to tell if your chimney needs repairs.

• Links to other useful websites (as long as they are not your competitors).

Now that we know what to put on your site, let's talk about how to present it.

We will start with your home page. The home page is the first page of your website, the one that will be the starting point for most customers who visit your site. The home page is where you want to put your most important information.

Studies show that most people will decide whether to stay on a website or move on within the first 10 seconds. So you need to have your critical information "above the fold" - in other words, in the first screen they see before scrolling down.

Here is a tried and true formula for a well organized website:

1. Think of the very top of the page as your letterhead. This is where you would have your logo, company name and contact information - your address, phone and FAX numbers and email address.
2. Your navigation links (links to other pages on your site) should be either down the left-hand side in a column or across the top of your page.
3. The rest of this first screen should have your most crucial sales information - the services you provide, etc. (You know your business better than anyone else, so you will have to decide what information to put here and what order to put it in. The nice thing about a website is that you can change it around quickly and easily. Experiment to see what works best. Ask customers for feedback.)

 

4. The upper left corner of the screen is the first place your eyes go. This is the best place to put your logo, picture or vitally important information that you want to be sure your customer sees.
5. Keep the first page to no more than 3 screens. Put any answers to other frequently asked questions on the first page if you have room. Otherwise have a separate Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page with a clearly visible link on your home page.

Your page needs to load quickly. As stated above, if your customer has to wait more than 10 seconds to see your site they will click away before it finishes loading. And your site is useless if no one sees it.

Fortunately, this is an easy problem to avoid. Text loads very quickly. What slows a website down are big graphics (pictures), "Flash" animations and large JavaScript programs. These last two require some technical skill to create, so they are nothing for you to be concerned about (unless you hired a web designer - this is the kind of stuff they like to play with).

Keep the graphics (pictures and drawings) on your first page to a minimum. If you keep the graphics small your page should load pretty quickly.

You will certainly want to have pictures of successful projects that you have done. Nothing can be more convincing to a customer than seeing what you have done for others.

I strongly suggest spending the money on a professional photographer. Because of screen resolution, a poor photo looks even worse online. And a bad photo can take the power away from this sales tool.

Find a photographer who can provide you with digital photos on CD (or by online download). These can be put directly onto your site without having to scan them in. It will also be helpful if he or she can provide small "thumbnail" versions of the photos.

Have only 1 or 2 small photos on your home page. Put any other photos on a separate page. Have a prominent link to that page on your home page.

Do not have one huge page full of large photos. It will take forever to load and no one will have the patience to wait for it. Instead have a page with small 'thumbnail' versions of each photo. Make each thumbnail a link to a separate page that has the full size picture on it. In other words, make each large photo a separate page and link it to the small version.

If you are using SiteBuildIt, just use the option that allows you to make your thumbnail size picture a link. Also check the box for 'Open New Window.' This allows to see your picture without losing the page they clicked from.

If you are doing your own HTML, you will have to use JavaScript to create a link that opens a new window (see the JavaScript resource mentioned in Section IV).

Don't forget to tell your visitors that they should click on the pictures to get the full size version. (You'd be surprised how many times simple information like this is forgotten.) And warn them that it may take a while for the picture to load.