Should I build my own website?

If you know how to use a search engine, you can search the World Wide Web for information. That makes us all experts at websites and e-mail marketing campaigns, right?

Actually, the answer is: "Yes, you can do it. But will it be effective?"

Many people turn to "do it yourself" website builders in the mistaken belief that visitors will find their website once the site is online. It's the World Wide Web version of the famous baseball movie, "Field of Dreams" - if you build it, they will come to the website and your business will flourish.

Most do it yourself websites end up being a lot of work and not satisfactory for the business owner. You've done a lot of work to create an online presence and it doesn't seem that anyone is buying your product or visiting your website.

Contact Kat to discuss your online presence and potential improvements.

Websites & Internet Marketing

In today's era of social networking - photos, video and audio can be shared easily - and travel all the way around the world - in mere minutes.

Marketing requirements and websites, just like people - are unique. Contact Katto talk about how to get started on your project.

In the past 10 years, the computer has become an every day tool and means of communicating. Access to the World Wide Web is as common as plugging in a toaster! We access the Internet from our laptops and from our phones. It has changed how we shop, communicate and search for information in our daily lives.

The question becomes: "How do I effectively use the Internet for my business?" Not only for the music business, but for all businesses and non-profit organizations.

We're often asked these questions:

• The Internet is a fantastic tool for promotion, but how does anyone know what to do or how much it costs?
• How do I know if my website or marketing campaign is effective?
• If I build a "gee, it's cool" wesbite, how can I increase search engine visibility?
• How do I sell my products online?
• Should I use a "do it yourself" website service?
• Can you implement online webstores and payment processing?
• How can I stream audio or video from my website?
• How do I show off the products and services that my business offers?
• Will mass e-mail marketing help my business?
• How do I protect my copyright for photos, audio and print material?
• Can you help me publish a book of photographs or text?
• How do I create custom merchandise to sell for my organization?
• How do I manage a fund raising event?

Search Engine Optimzation & e-Mail Marketing

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you really know how many visitors are coming to your website? Have you set up analytics and analyzed the website traffic? For many first time website owners, the answer is "no".
   
   
2. Are you still using your personal e-mail account or a free e-mail account to send your business marketing e-mail?
   
   
3. Do you know how to accept credit cards on your website?
   
   
4. Can you setup your online store and maintain your website shopping cart?
   
   
5. Do you know how to earn money or service credits by allowing banner advertising on your site?
   
   
6. Is it easy to find information on your website? Or do your visitors leave within the first minute because the navigation reminds them of the mystery lunch in a school cafeteria?
   
   
7. Have you ever wondered how a website gets onto the first page of a search engine's results?

Many websites don't make it into the first page of a search engine's results. Site owners don't always know what SEO or "Search Engine Optimization" is or what it can do for a website. Then there are banner ads, cross site marketing, pay per click and e-mail marketing to consider.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion.

Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence. SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for.

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses commercial e-mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience.

Attractive e-mail marketing keeps customers interested and serves as a referral to other new customers. As a business owner, you also need to evaluate the effectiveness of your e-mail and to manage your ever growing distribution list.