Your website as a virtual employee
How late are you open? Where exactly are you located?
Your small business website can answer basic customer questions like this 24 hours a day, freeing your receptionist to do more important work.
How long have you been in business? Can you service foreign cars?
Your website can highlight all of the important features that set your business apart, even while your sales and service managers are still on their way into work.
In fact, a carefully constructed website can be a powerful driver of growth.
Take the example of PhillyDentistry.com, used as an SEO (search engine optimization) case study in Andrew B. King's insightful book, Website Optimization.
In a pair of redesigns over a three-year period, Dr. Ken Cirka's site was analyzed and optimized for search engine visibility and conversion rate success.
Through these careful improvement and a minimal pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign, the website ultimately went from gaining Dr. Cirka one new client per week to an average of 47 new clients per week — allowing him to expand his practice and hire new staff.
Your small business's website is no longer a vanity frill. Deliberately crafted, it can be as valuable as a paid staff member in servicing your existing customers and acquiring new ones.
If you're not using these tools, how long will it be before your competition is?
