Question: How often should I update my small business website?

This is a question that I’m sure every small business owner thinks about. As a small business owner myself, I know you’re busy! So you’re really wondering how much of your already-spread-thin time do you need to spend on your website?

If you are serious about using your website as a way to gain new customers (and keep in touch with current customers), you should add new content to your website at the very least once-a-week.

You do not want your site to get ‘stale’. The search engines, and specifically Google, like websites that are current and have fresh content. Furthermore, you want to keep visitors coming back to your site. Keeping them interested could convert them into customers.

Adding to your site, if it is WordPress based, doesn’t have to take a lot of your time – maybe an hour tops. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply write about a specific topic, product or issue that is relevant to your industry and/or business.

For example, if you own a retail store, you could easily add your specials and coupons to your site on a weekly basis. You can also announce new products.

But if you’re a service provider, it can be a little harder to come up with ideas on what content to write about. Here are a few examples to help you out:

• Recent News Stories: Let’s say your the owner of an organic market. With the recent news about the massive egg recall, you should comment on the recall, provide  and mention the fact that your market carries organic, safe eggs.
• Highlight Recent Work: You are a contractor that just finished building an addition for a customer. Post pictures and details of your work. If possible, include a few (positive) comments from the customer about your work.
• Public Relations: Last weekend there was a street fair in my area that had many local small businesses participating. I would suggest to those businesses to create a post about the street fair, include pictures, and provide details of what they contributed to the event. Highlight their business as part of the community.
• Tips: Everyone loves a good tip! Suppose you’re a handy man. You could post some DIY tips on how to keep a door hinge from creaking. Or if you own a beauty salon, post tips on the best ways to apply make-up.
• Q&A: Just like this post, answer one of your customer’s questions. By creating a contact form (which is included in my design package) you can encourage visitors to ask a question. And by answering it, you are providing customer service and establishing your expertise.

Small business owners don’t need a lot of time or creativity to continually update their site. Using the 5 ideas above, it shouldn’t take long at all. But remember that it is important to add content to your site – not only for the search engines, but for your keeping your visitors interested!

How Often Should I Update My Site? is a post from: jerseygirlwebs.com

What it all boils down to is that getting listed in Google Maps is more important than ever, because now local search will be shown even for wider searches, like pizza, restaurant, and hair salon. With local search you can appear in the first page of Google organically.

This is significant because consumers are already coming online are performing local searches. Local search accounts for about 66% of online searches and in a recent study by TMP Directional Marketing, 82% of those searches lead to offline action, including in-store visits, phone calls, e-mails or purchases. Why not take advantage of a free way to attract some of that traffic?

To see how this works, simply visit Google.com and enter a search phrase for dentist. You’ll notice at the 4th or 5th result is “Local business results for dentist near…”. This could be you!

There are few businesses out there that couldn’t benefit from getting listed in Google local, even if you don’t have a website. Use Facebook or Squidoo in the time being while you sort out what you want in a website. If you don’t have plans for a website, then you and I should talk, seriously.

Local Search Gets Really Promising For Small Business Owners is a post from: jerseygirlwebs.com