Natural Entrepreneur: You Have a Website: Now What?

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You Have a Website: Now What?

Consider what your visitors are thinking

-- by Marcia Passos Duffy, publicity consultant, Keene, NH

Imagine how you surf the web. Are you surfing to buy something? Rarely. You use the web to look for information, scan text. Occasionally you’ll buy something if you are absolutely certain you can trust the vendor. This is very different from reading a newspaper, magazine or brochure. It’s also different from walking into a store.

Think about how you end up buying a product on the web. For example, you are looking for information about how to cane a chair. You’d like to do it yourself, but you’re not sure what you’ll need or how difficult it will be. You Google “how to cane a chair.” You quickly go to each listing, looking for a website that gives you that information. You skip past the companies with a mile-long listing of their products on the homepage.

You finally find a website that tells you step-by-step what you need. It has a toll-free number to call for information on any questions about the text. Then it has a free newsletter for you to sign up to learn more about caning chairs. It suggests great books to get more in-depth information. You read about the founders of the company and how they became experts in chair caning. Oh, and by the way, they also sell all materials for caning chairs. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of caning a chair yourself, they will do it for you. Buying from them is easy and it’s secure.

Can you trust this company? Probably. Will you buy from them if you needed materials for caning your chair? There’s a good chance you might.

Try this with anything you’re looking for on the web. And take notes on the sites you stay on for more than a second. These are the websites you want to emulate for your own business. These websites generally have these things in common:

1. They are easy to navigate
2. They are relaxing to the eye – no flashing tacky neon letters.
3. They are written in a friendly easy-to-read style.
4. And, most importantly, THEY PROVIDE USEFUL INFORMATION.

Marcia Passos Duffy is a freelance writer and publicity consultant based in Keene, NH. She is also the publisher of her own online magazine, www.TheHeartofNewEngland.com. To contact her send an email to marciaduffy@cheshire.net or give her a call at 603-357-8761

Upcoming Events

Feb 21 (8-9:30a): NH Forum on the Future, NHHTC, CR Sparks, Bedford, NH

March 1 (6:30-8:30p): Women's Business Center and MicroCredit-NH Networking Event, Bank of America, Portsmouth, NH

March 6 (10a-noon): Growth Capital Resources in New Hampshire, City of Nashua, Office of Economic Development, Daniel Webster College, Nashua, NH

March 8: (12pm -1pm) Break the Rules and Close More Sales, Amoskeag Business Incubator, Manchester, NH

March 16: Peak Pitch (pitch your plan to invstors on the chairlift), Mt. Sunapee, NH ($)

March 22: Breaking Trends in Web Develoment, UVCIA, Hanover, NH ($)

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