PowerCast #1: Small Business Websites

A website is a small business necessity, and a pain in the butt. The main problems with small business websites are cost and control. They cost too much to build and when they’re built you have no control over them. So they sit there, perhaps for years, unchanged.

Today is the beginning of a brand new feature on The Marketing Spot, the PowerCast Friday morning marketing briefing. Every Friday morning, I will broadcast live on UStream and then load the briefing here on The Marketing Spot blog. Today the topic is websites.

During the next week, I’m going to demonstrate how you can get your own website, in less than a week for under $100. That’s not a misprint, and it’s not a gimmick. I’m not selling you anything. I’m not making a dime from this. So watch the PowerCast and see the notes below.
Note: I’m working on improving the video quality.

(Email and feed subscribers, if you don’t see the video player, click here: Powercast #1 – Websites)

Summary Notes:

Websites can be expensive, so many small businesses will hire a friend, family member, or local web dabbler to build them a cheap site. This leads to problems.
Farming out your website development means loss of control, increased costs, and possibly a website that never gets updated.
Today’s web tools allow you to build your own website inexpensively, and keep control of it in house.
– You can get a real website for under $100 in less than a week. You should only have to pay for website hosting….if you’re willing and able to do some of the work yourself.
– I’m going to show you how to do your own website in the next week.

Some reasons to have a website for your business

  • Have a web presence so that your business is searchable by the search engines
  • Display product information
  • Give product demonstrations
  • Personalize your business and make customers feel comfortable
  • Inspire people to get excited about your product or business
  • Give detailed directions

Website Sitemap

Think about your new website this weekend.

  • Am I willing to do some of the work myself?
  • What is the purpose of my website?
  • What do I need on my website to fulfill my purpose?

Don’t want to do it yourself? Check out our new website building service for small businesses. Get a website in two weeks for $999 at JiffyBat.com

Part 2: Domain names and Hosting
Part 3: Creating Content

For more on small business websites, see these previous articles:
Websites 101 for Small Businesses
Websites: Un-Sexiness Works
Two Easy Tips to Improve Your Website Ranking

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Trackbacks

  1. […] In Part 1 I discussed the purpose of your website and encouraged you to create a basic site map for your new website. In Part 2 I showed you how to register a domain name set up a hosting account. In this final tutorial I will show you how to change the appearance of your new website and add content. […]

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