It’s the question that teeters on the tip of every business owner’s tongue when they consider leaping into the digital space for the first time: how can the internet help me generate more leads?

Typically, the thing to do is to build a website. Having an online base where customers can make purchases or receive services is logical for any business wishing to grow digitally.

But what if you don’t have a website yet? What if you don’t have the budget? What if you’re still skeptical about online? What if you don’t trust the internet?

There are plenty of small business owners that think along these lines and us simply telling you that you need a website might not necessarily be the way to break you into the digital landscape if you’re hesitant or uncomfortable with it. There’s a plethora of opportunities out there that’ll let you dip your big toe into the ocean of the internet without having to go through the expenditure of creating a website straight away. You can warm yourself up by trying some of the following:

Register to Google My Business¹

When you register with Google My Business, you’ll give your business a great chance of being found online through:

• Being featured on Google Maps, so potential customers will see your business location when browsing the map
• Showing up in Local searches - If you have a restaurant in Seattle and a user searches for ‘restaurants in Seattle’, you’ll give yourself a good chance of being in the right place at the right time on the Google search results pages
• Having a presence on Google Plus, Google’s social network with over 300 million users², will help your business tap into new markets through engaging with users there

Create a Facebook Page

Facebook now has over 1 billion monthly active users³ so, chances are, there’s an untapped market for your small business there somewhere. To generate leads on Facebook, there are a few tools at your disposal, including:

Brand Pages. Through creating a brand page, you’ll have your very own space on Facebook. From here, you can post pictures and videos, write articles or updates, share product deals and special offers, service enhancements or changes and engage with potential leads

Advertising. You can use Facebook advertising to reach a wider audience for your page. In theory, the more people that discover your page, the more potential you have to turn those followers into leads

Get a Twitter Handle

Twitter is a great place to generate leads through:

• Engaging with users in real time. People respond quickly on Twitter. Five minutes is a lifetime. That’s great because you can have a natural conversion with people and build relationships in real time.
• Handling customer complaints and queries. Repair relationships and show potential leads you care
• Share photos and articles that you enjoy and show potential leads some of your brand personality
• Share company news and updates to keep current and potential customers in the loop, bringing them closer to your brand

Plus, you can also use Twitter to conduct competition research. Find out what your competitors are up to: What are they doing? How are people engaging? Can you learn something from them? Can you do better? This will help you stay on top of your game and develop your Twitter marketing approach.

Yelp for Business

Yelp is predominantly used by hospitality businesses such as pubs, bars and restaurants and is a place where user’s can leave reviews of your business and upload photos. Yelp is a great way to encourage word of mouth and generate leads through:

• Responding to customer reviews and strengthening relationships with current or past customers. This is a great way to show potential customers that you value your customers and don’t take them for granted⁴
• Uploading photos of your business to show potential customers what to expect and show off your facilities, food, venue etc.⁴

Plus, similar to Twitter, Yelp is a great place to conduct some competitor research based on actual user feedback.

Join Trip Advisor

Similar to Yelp, but broader, Trip Advisor caters for the hotel, hospitality and tourism industry⁵ and again allows customers to leave reviews, upload photos and rate your business. Potential customers can search for or stumble across your business and these peer reviews can help you generate enquiries.

Again, as with Yelp, be sure to respond to customer reviews and ratings, as it shows potential customers that you’re attentive and that you care. It also gives you a chance to repair negative reviews and relationships.

Locate Foursquare

Foursquare is location-based app that allows your customers to ‘check in’ to your business and share their location with their friends across Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. On Foursquare, you have the potential to connect with 20 million people⁶, each of who may have hundreds of friends, fans and followers who could help amplify your reach further still.

More or less any business with a physical location can join Foursquare, providing you fit into one of the following categories⁶:

• Arts & Entertainment
• College & University
• Food
• Nightlife Spot
• Outdoors & Recreation
• Professional & Other Places
• Residence
• Shop & Service
• Travel & Transport

Once you’re on Foursquare, you can offer discounts, promotions and special offers to customers who check in, which will also help encourage potential customers to check you out.

Scratching the Surface

These services are only a drop in the ocean compared to everything that’s available online to help your small business succeed without having a website. Of course, a website would pull all of the above together, integrate your entire digital strategy and provide the hub for all of the above activity to center around, but you don’t have to have one straight away in order to benefit from the services that are out there at the moment.

However, if you want to jump straight in with the creation of a website or if you’re familiar or use all of the above and want to pull everything together in one place, then give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.

^References

^{1 http://www.fasttrackteam.com/a-simple-tip-thatll-help-your-sme-generate-more-leads.aspx}

^{2 http://marketingland.com/google-hits-300-million-active-monthly-in-stream-users-540-million-across-google-63354}

^{3 http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2014/01/29/facebook-passes-1-23-billion-monthly-active-users-945-million-mobile-users-757-million-daily-users/}

^{4 http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/yelp/}

^{5 http://www.reviewtrackers.com/8-terrific-tripadvisor-tips-businesses/}

^{6 http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/foursquare-marketing-tips/}

Having effective and reliable website security helps to build trust and confidence between you and your customers. It is important to protect your site from outside attacks and to keep customer information confidential and secured.

Security is a measure of how safe your website and its data are from hackers.

A secure website is of paramount importance to your business. Websites are under continual attack by hackers, looking to steal funds or personal information of your clients or, in some cases, take control of the website and change it for their purposes. Even a single security breach can be disastrous to your company, both financially and in terms of the trust you have built with your clients in safeguarding their personal information.

Ultimately, higher customer confidence means higher sales through repeat orders and customer loyalty.

Typically, there are key pages in your site where it is important to reinforce security, namely:

• Log-in page
• Using the shopping cart
• Creating an account

You can maximize your site security by limiting administrative access to your site. Device a difficult password which cannot be easily decoded. Change your site password regularly.

If your website platform doesn’t offer these services, check our Power Site. Fast Track’s fully customizable website solution that includes all of the latest features including a CMS, eCommerce, SEO and more.

A 404 Not Found page is the eye-saw that’s shown to users when your web server can’t find the page that the user is searching for. The default 404 Not Found page is about as much help as a drunken tour guide and effectively tells users that you’re not open for business. Every person that hits a default 404 Not Found page is, without a shadow of a doubt, a lost lead¹.

However, it doesn't have to be this way. What if you could take all of those users, and turn them into leads, or better yet, sales? Well, you can and it's actually not that difficult.

Before we delve into the specifics of how to turn your 404 Not Found traffic into leads, let’s take a look at what might cause this dreaded beast to rear its ugly head in the first place.

Why Do 404 Not Found Pages Exist?

404 Not Found pages exist to tell users that the web page they are searching for can’t be found on the server. Users will come across a 404 Not Found page when one of the following happens:

• You've deleted or moved the page in question²  

• You forgot to redirect an old link³

• A user misspells a URL³

• A user follows a broken or dead link

A default 404 Not Found page tells your user that they've hit a dead end. It's a locked door. It's a barrier preventing them from finding what they came there to find. They can scare casual and non-technical users and lead to a higher bounce rate¹, which means lost leads.

Most of the time, when an unsuspecting user lands on a 404 Not Found page, it’s your fault as the website owner for not taking care of your site when you redesign it or make changes. So instead of slamming the door in your potential customers face and presenting them with a problem, you should instead try offering them a solution. That's where customized 404 Not Found pages come in.

Capture Leads With a Custom 404 Not Found Page

Through the use of a custom 404 Not Found page, you can provide alternatives that put the user back on the right track. Instead of showing them the problem, you can provide a solution.

What Makes a Good Custom 404 Not Found Page?

Keep it simple, don’t try and be too flashy. It is still a page that’s sole purpose is to let the user know that what they are searching for isn’t there and that they might be able to find it elsewhere. 

Here’s a few examples of some good 404 Not Found pages:

http://www.hardrock.com/error404 

http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/error404 

http://southpark.cc.com/error404 

http://www.tinsanity.net/404.shtml 

http://rbardini.com/p/404/ 

http://www.rollingstones.com/404 

http://www.darkpony.com/404 

http://www.cobalt.com/404 

The Fast Track 404 Not Found page⁴ is also a great example of a simple, straight to the point page that firstly apologizes for what’s happened (remember, it's mostly our fault) and then offers an alternative route for the user to try and find what they were looking for via the site map. This way, we don't loose the user’s attention and we instead tempt them into our site, rather than waving goodbye

.

There are plenty of techniques that the examples above have used to optimize their 404 Not Found pages and turn locked doors into potential leads.

404 Not Found Page Design Dos and Don'ts

DO:

• Apologize. It's probably your fault one way or another 

Explain what might have happened and how the user can correct it: 'the website you're coming from has an outdated link', 'this page might have been deleted’¹, 'check the URL for misspellings’⁵

• Provide a solution: include a site map, search facility and/or links to your most popular products or posts⁵. This will help users get back on track and will act as bait to attract potential leads
• Use images or video to provide some positive entertainment 
• Make sure the design and tone of voice is the same as the rest of your site¹
• Use a distinct, minimalist look6 - it’s still a 404 page after all  
• Have fun - it's OK to have a laugh with it and show some personality as long as you're providing a solution

DON'T

• Blame the user, it's not their fault⁷
• Just link to your home page. The user was looking for something specific, not your generic home page. 
• Use all the tabs and sidebars on your normal website
• Redirect users to a ‘related' page⁸. There’ll be a disjoint in their journey. If I ask for an apple and you give me an orange, it doesn't make a difference if they're both round, you still haven't given me what I asked for. 
• Provide a contact us option. Chances are, they haven't hit a 404 while they were looking for your contact details
• Be too clever or crazy⁹ unless your brand personality allows 
• Force-feed products and services - I know we're trying to increase leads, and forcing things down people's throats might have been how brands of the 90s did things, but it's not how to sell these days.

Show Respect and You’ll Gain Leads

A custom 404 Not Found page shows your users the respect that they deserve. It allows you to offer an invitation and a get out clause from the blockage that they’ve unwillingly found. It’s a chance to repair the relationship before it breaks down and an opportunity to earn your user’s trust. By following these guidelines, you’ll do just that and give yourself the best opportunity to turn strangers into friends.

References

1 http://perishablepress.com/pimp-your-404/

2 https://yoast.com/thoughts-404-not-found/

3 http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2293339/404-Page-Best-Practices

4 http://www.fasttrackteam.com/pagenotfound

5 https://yoast.com/404-error-pages-wordpress/

6 http://alistapart.com/article/perfect404

7 http://www.blogussion.com/design/404-error-page-exist/

8 http://www.rimmkaufman.com/blog/seo-and-404-pages/01022013/

9 http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/5-tips-to-make-your-404-page-more-usable/

Google Instant, the feature that pre-empts your search terms and shows the results of your predicted search as you type¹, has started including branded business suggestions in the Autocomplete drop down menu. These stand out above all of the other suggested search terms and could be a huge pull for traffic to your website if you’re lucky enough to make it onto that fabled drop down.

What Is Google Instant?

You’ll have seen it before; when you search for something on the Google website and, when you start searching, it predicts what you’re searching for by using Autocomplete² and shows you the results as you type, like this:

Google claims that by showing you search results as you type, you’ll wind up making better searches because you can adjust your terms accordingly during your search³. How many people actually do this is debatable and there are retorts of this actually slowing searchers down⁴. The Autocomplete feature that it uses to predict your search also has a built in spell checker so sloppy or quick searches aren’t penalized. 

Google says that it doesn’t necessarily prioritize the most popular searches with Google Instant⁵, as it tries to keep things personalized. A personalized search is more valuable than a popular one, according to Google⁵. So depending on what country, state or town you live in¹; whether you’re logged into a Google account or if your previous searches are stored in a cookie⁶, you’ll be seeing personalized searches unique to your location and browsing history. This means that what I see when I search won’t be the same as what you see when you do.

Google Instant’s Relevance for Businesses

Google Instant and Autocomplete work hand in hand and are valuable for businesses on a national and local level. If you’re included in the suggested searches, users can find you quicker. Plus, if you’re SEO strategy is strong, then you’re targeted keywords may feature in there, too. This all helps tempt traffic and potential customers to your website.

However, typically, Google won’t do you any favors and include your business in Google Instant unless it’s sure that you’re the best match for the user’s search. And, even then, you’ll be one of four other suggestions in Autocomplete and many more on the search engine results page. Each one looking identical in terms of the way they're presented with only the physical hierarchy of the list to infer priority or relevance. However, things might be about to change.

New Google Instant for Business

Imagine my surprise to find that, when I searched “Fast Track” this morning, I noticed that Google have done us a bit of a favor. Our logo, address and Google Plus URL are featured in the drop down suggested search terms in Autocomplete. It’s in the style of a mini search result and looks more attractive than a 6 foot cupcake:

Is Google now prioritizing relevant businesses who are registered with My Business⁷ or Google Plus in favor of those that aren’t?

There’s no question that our suggested search term certainly looks more attractive and tempting than the others on the list. It makes us stand out. It looks clean and professional and almost like a Google endorsement, as opposed to a simple suggested term. Although the other results aren’t related or our direct competition, will this feature stay when those suggested terms are filled with our competition?

Where Will They Go With This?

The potential for business growth as a result of this is huge. What if, instead of our address and zip code, Autocomplete showed quick synopsis of what we do and a phone number? Or a link to a contact form or our Twitter handle or even our most popular services or customer ratings and testimonials? What if the white space beside our address had a banner, a gif or even a video of a product tutorial? What if these enhanced branded suggestions were presented in a similar fashion to search results pages, so that when users search for “web design Seattle”, the Autocomplete and Google Instant suggest Fast Track in this fashion? 

The possibilities and opportunities that Google could unfurl here are endless. They could even replace the entire search engine results page with an even smarter Autocomplete and Instant fusion where all search results are shown in this fashion in the drop down. And, they could charge businesses for more interactive features, too. 

Whether all that is planned or not, I’m sure we’ll eventually find out. But, if you’re not currently registered to Google My Business⁷, you should do it now, get in early.

References

^{1 http://searchengineland.com/google-instant-complete-users-guide-50136}

^{2 https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230?hl=en}

^{3 http://www.google.co.uk/instant/}

^{4 https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/106230}

^{5 http://searchengineland.com/how-google-instant-autocomplete-suggestions-work-62592}

^{6 http://boingboing.net/2010/09/09/the-google-instant-a.html}

^{7 http://www.google.com/business/}

There have been an explosion of DIY website builders¹ over the past ten years. They promise to be easy to set up and simple to maintain, but are they really as good as they claim to be?

If you’re a small business owner, finding the time to work on your website can be a challenge, especially when you’re working 12 hour days already. The claimed convenience and alleged affordability can make these DIY website builders start to sound pretty attractive. However, when you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll soon discover that they aren’t all what they’re packaged up to be.

The Truth Behind DIY Website Builders

They do a good job of selling themselves with the 'quick and easy' set-up slogans and the 'cheap to run' tag lines. So if you genuinely don't know what your looking for and just want 'a website', it's pretty easy to see how they’d sound tempting.

The thing is, nobody really only just wants ‘a website’. You want a shop window for your business, an online method of generating leads; to grow sales; a digital marketing strategy; to attract new customers; to increase your customer loyalty and countless other things. You see, your website is there to serve your business objectives, whatever they may be.

When you pause to consider why you want a website in the first place, and what you need it to do, you'll quickly realize that your needs are specific. And if you want your website to perform as best as it can and market your business effectively, then you need it to do exactly what you and your potential customers want it to do. This is where DIY website builders start to falter.

The Problems

To help you make an informed decision and put those DIY website builder sales pitches into perspective, we've put together some of the top reasons why DIY website builders honestly aren't likely to meet your needs.

Standardized Sites = No Originality

DIY website builders often have a limited number of templates (or designs) to choose from. This means that there’s a large chance of many other websites using the same design as you. If thousands of websites look exactly the same as yours, you’ll struggle to stand out, which will hurt your online brand, especially if you’re running an e-commerce store².

2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Implications

Getting to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) when your potential customers search for something related to your business on Google, Bing, Yahoo and so on, is one of the best ways to find new customers online. With DIY website builders, the help on hand to achieve this is limited and the effect of built-in SEO capability is often below par³.

3. Domain Name Restrictions

It’s important to have an easy to remember web address (or domain name) for your website. It’s what people will see in search engines and on your marketing materials. Most website builders don’t allow you to create your own domain name³, so instead of www.MyCateringBusiness.com, you’ll have WebSiteBuilder.MyCateringBusiness.org or something just as hideous.

4. Unintuitive Content Management Systems (CMS)

When you make changes, create new pages or edit your web content, you’ll use a CMS. Some of these website builders have a difficult to use CMS, which makes it hard to create new pages, edit content and make changes on your website⁴ quickly and simply. Some only let you build one page websites too, which is more restrictive than gardening in a straight jacket.

5. Inefficient Support

If you’re new to the internet or you’re creating your first business website, having support on hand when things go wrong is important. Some DIY web builders can take a while to respond to service requests, sometimes taking longer than a day to get back to you⁴. How many sales might you lose in 24 hours?

6. Poor e-Commerce Facilities

Few website builders come with e-commerce facilities either as standard or as an added extra, and those that do tend to be poorly executed. You might be able to get your online store up and running, but making any customized additions and specific changes is virtually impossible⁵, and expanding is also a challenge⁶. 

7. Hard Blogging

When it comes to online marketing, blogging keeps your website fresh and is often the cornerstone of your user engagement. DIY website builders often make blogs difficult to customize, hard to maintain and they usually have less flexibility over RSS feeds⁷and social sharing. Some might not even help your SEO⁸, which is one of the primary reasons for blogging in the first place!

8. Sub-Standard Website Analytics

To make your website better and increase sales and leads, you need to know what’s happening on it; what your users are doing and why they’re leaving. You can use website analytics to do this, but many DIY website builders use old tracking scripts⁹, which lack accuracy, or only offer limited features¹⁰, which won’t help you make informed decisions.

Making the Right Choice

DIY website builders are well intended and mean no harm. As comparably cheap and easy to set up as they may, in some cases be, they almost certainly won’t meet your business needs and you’ll outgrow them quicker than a toddler does its shoes.

I’m yet to find a DIY website builder that can address each of the above points, like you would if you went to a proper development company. So don’t fall for the sales pitch; take your time, do your research, understand what you want, then speak to people (link to http://www.fasttrackteam.com/connect.aspx) who can help you achieve your goals properly.

This way, you’ll have a future proof, professional, unique and purpose-built website that will grow with your business and constantly meet your needs. And isn’t that what a website is supposed to do in the first place.

References

^{1 http://www.top10bestwebsitebuilders.co.uk/?kw=easy%20to%20build%20websites&c=42443432077&t=search&p=&m=e&adpos=1t2&dev=c&devmod=&mobval=0&a=2021&gclid=CjwKEAjw9qafBRCRiYrL4-fpuFkSJACvocQ1zc6qaxRoQgRCTZCXcH63h27cYiIgpofmZAAcOruS1RoC1MLw_wcB}  

^{2 http://www.techradar.com/news/software/best-e-commerce-website-builder-8-reviewed-1029591}

^{3 http://cyberjunkeez.org/2013/08/does-free-website-builder-affect-site-page-rank.html}

^{4 http://superbwebsitebuilders.com/moonfruit-review/}

^{5 http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/best-ecommerce-software/}

^{6 http://shopping-cart-review.toptenreviews.com}

^{7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS}

^{8 http://www.websitetooltester.com/en/reviews/wix-review/}

^{9 http://superpixel.co/21-reasons-shouldnt-use-wix-site-builder/}

^{10 http://website.1and1.co.uk/web-analytics-mobile-app}