subject: Robert Fulghum and Building Your Online Network - Solutions From Simple Wisdom [print this page] Robert Fulghum and Building Your Online Network - Solutions From Simple Wisdom
Google, online resources, and SEO marketing experts have made it pretty easy to get online, using simple website builders and offering free website hosting. But once you open Pandora's Box of online opportunity, it can get quite overwhelming. You'll find articles touting the great benefits of social media and you may feel the urgency to start a blog or create a Facebook Fan page. Some sites will tell you to formulate your content one way, then another may propose the complete opposite.
What is the small business owner to do? You have some pretty simple goals for now, like to make a free website, and perhaps some more lofty ones for the future, like email marketing and blogging. One way to get a grip on the basics of building and marketing your website can be found in some nuggets of wisdom found in Robert Fulghum's All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, published in 1990, long before many were even considering the online market as a prime venue for their business.
Share everything.
People online will want to know who you are and why they should explore your site. Creating a great home page and offering a little insight on your About Us page will go a long way in building trust between you and your visitors. If you sell items online, they want to know that a real person is behind the scenes, concerned about customer satisfaction. If you have a website that is intended to inform or draw people to a local establishment, they want to know just who they are considering patronizing.
Find other outlets for sharing. Consider posting a comment on an industry blog or hosting your own forum. Write an article and submit it to an article directory. Just write about what you know using your own voice. It's easier than you think-give it a try.
Play fair. Don't hit people.
People in general like a positive attitude. When you write the content for your site or create articles, post comments, or post anything in cyberspace make sure you remain professional and represent yourself in the best possible light. Don't waste time and energy bad-mouthing, name-calling or anything else-its not worth it (even if it's true) and your words will most likely come back to haunt you.
You will also want to be sure that your current clientele and potential new customers can see that you are a fair person and that they can count on your integrity. In addition to dedicating several Web pages to showing your value, you should also give back. You can do this by contributing articles that are truly helpful to your customers, not just marketing pieces. You can also add tools and promotions on your site to make for a better user experience.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
If there is one point to drive home, it is to always use original content. Take the time to craft new product descriptions rather than copying from the manufacturer's site or catalogue. Write the main pages of your site from scratch-even if another site has beautifully drafted pages that will work perfectly. Duplicate content online is a no-win prospect for you. Search engines won't index your material because it has seen it before.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Keep the balance on your site. Going back to some previous points, give a little to get a little, have some creative elements, but make sure the visitor is clear on your purpose. What constitutes a balanced website is up to you. It may be dictated by the type of business you run or the kind of site you've created. But in general, balance can be discerned more easily if you look at your site with the eyes of a potential customer.
For example, an accounting firm will want a site that is attractive but will offer detailed information and accreditation to convey trust, while an artist's website will be just the opposite-lots of glitz with less focus on details.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
It's all about the traffic-traffic to your site means more chances for conversions. More conversions mean more revenue. And links (holding hands) is one of the best ways to get this traffic.
You can get these links in a number of ways: by submitting your site to industry directories, writing articles and submitting them to well-known article directory websites and online industry journals, and adding a "Link to Me" page on your website. You can search the term "link building" to get going on it once you have your main site ready for increased traffic.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
The goal is to get people to look at your site, which means it has to get found and appeal to visitors when they find it. If you can get enough people to look and provide the right stuff when they do, you'll find more success online.
So, get that website builder fired up, find some free website hosting, and use these kindergarten tips to get yourself out there. Then just take it step by step, little by little to embark on other online marketing escapades.
Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned
Now Pay Close Attention --
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