• By 2010 Generation Y will outnumber Baby Boomers. 96% of Generation Y have joined a social network. Source: Grunwald Associates National Study
• Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube has overtaken porn as the top activity on the web. Source: Huffington Post
• The percentage of companies using LinkedIn as their primary source for finding new employees is 80%. Source: Jobvite Social Recruitment Survey

Video source: Socialnomics.net |  Vimeo

Read more: Part one: Social media and web marketing techniques

This article will help:

1. Business owners understand the benefits of purchasing an established website
2. Signs to identify bad investments in ready-made websites (or web businesses)
3. Where to buy an established website or web business

Why would I want to buy an existing website rather than just build my own?
Some business owners might prefer to start from scratch and build a new website by hiring a web design company or freelance web designer. However, there can be a few draw backs to building a website from scratch. One is cost. Depending on the type of website that you want to build and the quality of coding and design, it can turn into a relatively costly process. Granted the cost of building a website will vary between companies, quality, timeframe, experience of the designer, and reputation. In many cases, a lower cost website may not be better for your small business–as a website can be one of the most important marketing devices a small business owns and uses. Another downside of creating a brand new website is timing.  It can take quite a bit of time to build a quality website. For example, it took one of our members about three weeks to build a static website, because they decided to purchase extra time to refine their design (look and feel) and get the messaging right. Most web design companies will charge for extra rounds of revisions during the design process.

Purchasing a ready made website can be a quick way to enter the market.
Purchasing a ready-made website or web business can allow you to speed up the process of “going to market.” Granted, you may need to clean up a few things or add new content to the purchased website. Also, you will need to ensure that the website that you are purchasing is quality. (See below for quality assurance testing of ready made websites).  In many cases, when you purchase a website, you will have a chance to view the design of the site, wade through the site content and get some facts about it. In this way, you will know what you are buying and can select a site or web business that will give you a head start. Many companies struggle with starting a new website because writing content can take a lot of time–and content production can cause web projects to miss their deadlines. The editing process can be tough, at times. Also, some websites that are for sale may already have traffic, search engine prominence or even revenue… which will give you a leg up from other start-ups.

What are some common signs that a website is poor quality or a bad investment?

• Double check to see if the website is committing gross copyright violations
• Too many links? Make sure the website isn’t over linking, which can cause penalties in Google and other search engines.
• Make sure the site has quality content!
• Click through the site and look for broken pages, elements and links
• Make sure the website accurately reflects the market you wish to enter

Background checks and quality assurance for purchasing a website
Hiring a web strategy company can help you identify whether a website is quality by doing an SEO and website audit before finalizing the purchase. Spending a few hundred dollars to hire a web strategy company can save you a lot of time and money down the road.

What are some factors that may demonstrate high quality within a for sale website?

• Content, content, content: Good content goes a long way!
• Page ranking: Google uses a ranking system to measure the strength of a page within search engines. You may not need a ready high page rank, but it certainly can help.
• Good design: clear and interesting (or just simple) design can really make or break a website. Bad design can certainly contribute to a website’s failure.

Where can I purchase a ready made website?

• eBay: search for “websites for sale”
• flippa.com – an online marketplace for buying and selling websites
• marketplace.sitepoint.com/ — a marketplace for established websites and existing web businesses.

Cost
The cost for the Google Apps service is 50 dollars per user per year. This gives that user access to more than just email. The whole enterprise package ( as configured by the administrator ) can be accessible by each user, including Calendar, Chat, Sites, and more. We found this to be an excellent alternative to Microsoft business services, and it works great for both small businesses and large organizations.

One way to grow your business online is to offer updated content on a regular basis– not only for your visitors – but also for the search engines. With a content management system in place you do not have to know HTML and you do not have to hire a full-time, in-house web programmer.

Content Management Makes Publishing Content Simple

Content management allows you to manage content creation, modify, and remove content from your Web site, without knowing HTML coding.  It also allows you gather information and updates it to your site with ease. Content management system features include:

• Format management
• Revision control
• Indexing
• Search
• Retrieval
• Web-based publishing

The information that you offer your visitors is one of your greatest asset. So, it should be managed on a regular basis.  Those without a content management system tend to struggle gaining new prospects.

Make Your Web Site More Search-Engine Friendly

A content management system also allows templates to be created and re-used. This also promotes consistency of your web pages and it makes it easier to employ cost effective information to be presented in a professional manner.

In order for the search engines to be able to find your content, they require websites to be consistent as far as finding relevant content on a site quickly and efficiently. In other words, having a content management system makes your site more visible and more search-engine friendly because your content is database driven.

With a content management system, you can create content and it can be re-used several times. This system allows you to post the same content to more than one location in a variety of presentation formats and in numerous languages. Please keep in mind that exact/duplicate content used on numerous websites will NOT help with SEO ranking–it will in fact hurt ranking. However, publishing snippets of an article and then linking to the full article, can greatly help user experience by providing users a “preview” of the page and allowing them to determine beforehand if they are interested in the full article.

The internet is a key resource for advertisers and for public relations. Cost and the ability to measure Return On Investment are key reasons for moving towards the web with both advertising and PR. When combined with off-line efforts, online marketing with social media engagement can be extremely effective at winning new relationships, strengthening reputation, and expanding visibility.

Dos and Donts Guidelines
Social media strategies should take into consideration various dos and don’ts for how employees should conduct themselves online. We feel it is not productive to discourage employees from joining and participating in social media. In fact, there may be a lot to lose from have employees disconnected from social online engagement. One strategy is to keep private accounts personal. Don’t allow employees to speak on behalf of the company. Give them clear guidelines on how to handle questions or comments directed at their company. Provide employees with a point person in the PR department. Also give them links to the company website for reference, rather than allowing them to make the mistake of answering a question wrong and causing damage to a company reputation. If the employee is blogging on a topic related to their work, provide them topical guidelines and require them to post a clear disclaimer that 1.) the employee is NOT blogging on behalf of the company and 2.) the opinions do NOT reflect the opinions and beliefs held by the company.

Employees can be great ambassadors of a brand. Enthusiasm and excitement from employees can reflect well upon the company. In certain cases, companies may want to consider maintaining social media accounts a requirement for certain types of employees, and requiring such online engagement a job requirement. This may help companies become more in tune with their customer base and with their industry.

Social Media Accounts
Some employees will have personal social media accounts from a range of service providers such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning or Delicious. For this reason, we advise companies that they should create some ground rules for social engagement. Don’t drive your employees underground by banning their accounts altogether, which just creates an air of distrust and bitterness. Simply provide them with rules for how they can acknowledge and not acknowledge their professional lives.

Blogging
Blogging is perhaps one of the oldest forms of social media engagement. Many people own personal blogs and use these blogs as a central hub for all their social media engagement. We suggest business managers become aware of such blogs, but do not discourage them. Try to imbue good stewardship guidelines for personal blogs with your employees. It is important to honor copyright laws with images and text for example and showing respect towards piers. However treading too heavily into an employee’s personal affairs can be demoralizing and can hurt valuable relationships. This is why unified guidelines are our recommendation.

Encourage quality
It may be beneficial to provide some employees with a basic how-to guide for social media engagement. Give them some reference points. For example, explain how “hard selling” a product or service is generally frowned upon in the online community. Encourage them to be participants rather than snake-oil sales people. The online social universe is all about dialogue and conversation–not forcing products down each others throats. If you, as a business manager, do not feel qualified to write a persuasive how-to guide for social media then simply link to the many, good quality references sources on the web. Education is a two way street.

Legalities
It is always best to consult your legal team when drafting these guidelines. Legal advice can save time and money. Remember, keep the language clear and readable, so that employees have a good understanding of what is possible and what is discouraged.

Web Analytics

Whos.Amung.Us

http://whos.amung.us/

About this tool: Real-time stats for your website or blog. This tool is free and no registration is required.

Histats

http://www.histats.com/

Real time stats and online user count/list and search engine trends. No limit on log file size.

Site Meter

http://www.sitemeter.com/

Comprehensive real time website tracking and counter tools that gives you instant access to vital information and data about your sites audience.

Web Site Communication Gadgets

Woopra

http://www.woopra.com/

Woopra is the world’s most comprehensive, information rich, easy to use, real-time Web tracking and analysis application. And it’s free!

A trend for advertising to move online

It costs thousands of dollars for a business to advertise offline whether you place advertisements in local Newspapers, Magazines or mailing marketing materials to your customers.  Many small business owners in Kentucky have focused more attention to advertising on the Internet because they realize they can save thousands of dollars on advertising cost.

On the Internet there are many ways to advertise your business from $0 to $500+.  You can actually advertise your website for free on sites like Craigslist and article marketing on sites like EzineArticles.com.  You can even advertise your website for a sponsorship fee on high-ranking websites like ABCNews.com or social media sites like Facebook.

24/7 showcase of your products/services

Imagine being able to showcase your products and services 24 hours per day and 7 days per week? That’s one of the primary benefits of having a website. Depending upon the type of business you’re in, your customers can make purchases through your website while you sleep. For instance, if you own an online auto parts store or clothing store, your customers can purchase your products through your website at anytime of the day without having to call or wait until normal business hours.

More people are researching purchases/services online before buying

People are using the Internet to research before they buy a product or service. This is why it is so important to have a strong online presence so that your customers can actually find you on the Internet.  For example, a person searching for a good accountant in Kentucky is more likely to search on websites that offer a lot of valuable information about their accounting services. The consumer is more likely to choose the company with the best web presence.

For some a website is a primary selling tool

There are many companies that use their website as their primary selling tool.  There are a couple of factors that are important to possess when it comes to selling effectively on the Internet. First, you must have a well designed website that is “clutter-free”. In other words, keep it simple.

Avoid having a website that has too many ads. When a visitor enters your site, they are searching for only one thing and that is “what’s in it for me”. You will lose potential customers if your website screams “Buy Me Now!”

To truly gain your customer’s attention, you of course want to have a great product or service to offer your customers but you will want to also make sure that you’re offering a good amount of quality content about how your product or service will benefit them.  This may include offering articles on your website, a blog or a video clip about your company.

Static website vs. CMS editable website

The difference between a static website and a CMS editable website is simple. A CMS editable website shows different text or content during your customer’s interaction. This type of website is complex and recommended for those who are constantly updating their website with fresh content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

A static website is good if you’re not planning on updating your content on a regular basis. You can actually use Microsoft Word to update and edit your website on an as needed basis.

How Much Does a Website Cost?

It all depends on the kind of website you need for your business. Prices vary and can start as low as $500 to $20,000+.  The important thing is to find a reputable web designer or web development firm to build your website. You will also want to work with a company that will build a site that is search engine friendly.

There are basically four types of websites:

Corporate Brochure Style Website

This is type of website offers your visitors basic information about your products and services. Think of it as an online advertisement. Prices start at around $500 or more.

E-Commerce Website

This type of website can vary from simple to complex. An ecommerce website normally starts off at around $5,000 or more.  This type of website is perfect for an online retail store where customers have access to purchase your products.

Where can I set up an account to begin Pay Per Click ads for my business?

The most popular pay per click advertising venues would be the top search engines. Google is by far the most popular and success advertising venue for this model. But we will list a few of the best sources below:

Google AdWords

Yahoo Search Marketing

Microsoft Adcenter

Ask Sponsored Listings

What do pay per click ads look like?

Pay per click ads can vary in the way that they look from advertiser to advertiser. Placement options also vary between advertisers. Each advertiser will establish their own rules that govern the ways ads can look, what you the buyer can say, and where the ad can be placed. Google Adwords has perhaps the most rigid control over language, and for this reason users have responded due to the clarity and quality of the ads matching the service or term that they are seeking. Below is a screen view of the two primary placement options for paying advertisers (marked in green outlines).

Can I Manage A Pay Per Click Campaign Without Professional Help?

This is a yes and no answer, but I will give you reasons for each.
Yes:
Google AdWords for example was set up so that business owners could easily create an account and begin an ad campaign in a very short amount of time. In about 30 minutes you would be able to read some of the instructions and set up an account to initiate your paid advertising campaign. Google has built in tools to help with your transition into pay per click marketing, such as keyword finder tools and popular keywords. If you have a good understanding of your business and perhaps a Google Web Analytics account ( or traffic analyzer) installed, you will be able to make a basically informed decision as to choosing keywords and preferences.
No:
Even though Google has made it easy to create an account and set up and track your ad campaign, simply reading instructions and having a clear understanding of your business does not mean that you will get results from your pay per click campaign. Often times businesses will set up a campaign only to see their daily budgets used up and their visitors spend next to no time on their website. In addition, sometimes businesses will go months and see few results from their paid ads (except for the clicks to their site). Professionals can build more successful campaigns because of their depth of online marketing, user behavior, SEO and Landing Page Optimization understanding and marketing insight and experience. The reason for hiring professionals is because they can target the right users, under the right keywords, at the right time, with the right tools and can help you gear your marketing program to yield better results. Note:
Please keep in mind, this does not mean that laymen or business owners (non-professionals) can’t run successful campaigns. They can…it just takes work, study, research, and practice.

Learn about how to measure traffic to your website or web promotional: Website analytics and traffic

Analytics: Simple to install and inexpensive

The financial investment can be very minimal. Google has an excellent product called “Google Analytics” – google.com/analytics – which is free to any visitor with a valid email address. Google Analytics can be simple to install on your site. Simply insert the Google Analytics tracking code just above the </body> tag on each web page or once on a template web page. Google provides very simple and clear instructions onine for the installation and FAQs for its Analytics program. The image below shows a screen view of the Google Analytics interface: Dashboard page.

Above: Google Analytics Interface: screen view

Above: Tracking visitors by location

Web Analytics Helps Me Count Visits To My Site…..But What Else?

Analytics tool help a business or website owner understand where their visitors come from, how they reached the website, which pages they viewed, how long the visitor stayed on a page or on the site and which page they exited from. Some analytics tools allow you to view a heat map screen over your website interface that shows the hotest and coldest links and areas of a particular page. Other tools will give you the ability to see how many clicks each internal link has generated, along with a percentage of usage for that link. Such information will allow business and website owners to make better informed decisions about content, site performance and give them a guide for future growth.

Analytics and Measurement Tools

Here are a few suggestions for website measurement tools and analytics:

Google Analytics: google.com/analytics

Core Metrics: www.coremetrics.com

Stat Counter: www.statcounter.com

Visitat: visistat.com

Omniture: www.omniture.com/en/

Note:
Web servers normally already produce logfiles ( traffic log ), which is a record of activity on your site visitors in raw data form. Analytics tools help by re-presenting that data (or by collecting their own) so the business or website owner can conceptualize the data and information.