Home-based business owners don’t have an inordinate amount of time or money to dedicate to hosting, building or maintaining a website. But you should note that
internet plays a part in daily routine of 88% of Americans, and of those, 92% indicate that it’s a good place for information. As a home-based business owner, you know that majority of decision-makers regarding your product or service are women, and a March 2004 Nielson/NetRanking & Washintonpost.com survey found that “60% of working women using internet at work do so because they feel that there is not enough time for personal activities and issues in their lives. 63% of those women would definitely include internet in a marketing campaign geared toward their demographic.”
On-line usage is not just for city-dwellers either, 52% of residents of rural areas are on-line too! (PewInternet, American Life Project, February 2004).
As a home-based business owner, you must not overlook power of your web-page as a key part of your marketing plan.
You can build your web-site yourself (there are lots of ‘turn-key’ options available by searching internet) or hire a professional (again, searching web will provide thousands of options for high-quality and cost-attractive designers).
No matter what you decide to do, here are 17 rules for making sure your home-based business web-site stands out, provides your customers what they need to know and makes it easy for them to do business with you.
1.Define and target your particular audience. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Write each page for your ‘perfect reader’ and don’t sway from that target.
2.Forget bells and whistles. Internet users have all kinds of browsers and many are not impressed by fancy animations and sounds you may think are cute. Keep to facts and pertinent information about particular service you provide. 3.Use one page for one topic. Don’t try to cram everything you know about your industry on same page as your rates and billing policies.
4.On web, remember mantra, “Less is More.” Ask yourself constantly can you say what you need to with fewer words and pictures?
5.Check your spelling and grammar. If this is not your strong suit, hire someone to provide this service. If your spelling and grammar are not up-to-par, visitors to your site will either think your business is a ‘fake’ or they will believe that you do not pay attention to detail.
