Web Marketing 101

Many businesses setup a web site thinking this will automatically get them more customers. One of the most common questions we get is 'How do I get my site to appear near the top when someone does a Google, Yahoo, or MSN search?' They are assuming that having a web site will bring in a floodgate web customers who find their web site. Well there's a little more to it than that.

First, each search engine that the various sites use, works a little differently. For instance, the Google process is a very guarded secret with only a few hints on how it works. Reality is that it takes money to move to the top, and the more you spend the higher up the list. So don't plan on setting up a web site to bring in all those customers.

Second, a web site has to be really impressive to compete with all the other sites available worldwide. Somewhere else in the world, there is a business like yours. Probably lots of them. So keep your target market in line with your current customer base and work from there.

So let's step back and look at what you really need your web site for.

Providing information to your current and future customers. That simple. Your business should already have a message about what you do and how come it's better than your competitors. This should be on the site. You should have customers that rave about your products or services. That should be on the site. You strive to make sure your employees take care of the customers by doing x. That should be on the site. I think you see that your web site is the best way to give the viewer as much information as possible about your business and why they should come to you for their needs. And it's totally flexible. Unlike traditional fancy printed flyers that you mail out, you can change content on your web site, make updates or corrections at any time with hardly any cost. With traditional paper flyers you throw out the old ones and pay to print up new ones if you need to make changes. Once you have a web site with good content, you can hand out or mail small inexpensive postcards with the basics, and say "For more information go visit our web site www.ourbusiness.com" Every promotional item you hand out only has to have the web site address. Two years later, those items still point to the latest information about your business. I'm sure you see in print, radio and TV advertisements, a constant reference to the business's web site. People may not remember any more than, "I'll have to go check out that web site and see if they have what I need."
So get into the latest for marketing and get your business web site started today.
Sol Web Services is here to help you with every step in getting started or sprucing up your existing site. And you'll be pleasantly surprised on how little it costs compared to traditional marketing tools.

Community Web Sites

What is a community site? A community web site is generally a site dedicated to a specific area such as a town, county, or metro region. In the Indianapolis metropolitan area there are plenty of regional sites, many for just a certain type of viewer with specific interests. At Sol Web Services we found there wasn't really a comprehensive site dedicated to Hendricks County. So last year we launched www.YourHendricksCounty.com. A site that gives Hendricks County residents a place to visit and find out as much as they can about Hendricks County from the Internet. In order to really be a true community site, we want to have input from the community on what they want to see on the site. We've gotten positive feedback and people do use the interactive areas such as the Hendricks County Political Forum and the Community Calendar. Our Free Classifieds doesn't seem to compete well with eBay but we offer it as another service for our visitors. Please be sure to visit and if you have a web site you want listed look under the Linking options for more information on how we set that up (for free!).

Animal Lovers
We do love our animals at Sol Web Services (several provide inspirational support for the business). So to help the local community, we have begun working with the Hendricks County Humane Society to help them provide their assistance to Hendricks County residents. We've donated the hosting services and content development labor to create www.HendricksCountyHumaneSociety.org.
If you are an animal lover or like to support good causes, we encourage you to visit the web site to find out more about them and what you can do. We are proud to use the Internet to support this great cause for our local community and enjoy every minute we put into it.