Blogging is a great way to keep in touch with current and potential customers. You can upload pictures of the “Latest Catch” or the “You’ve got to see this” sunset! Even pictures of the latest ash fallout – just to show everyone that it really isn’t THAT bad – “Come on up and visit us, we’re still here and everything is fine.” Besides seeing picture of what they could be doing or seeing, customers love to read other customers comments about your business. Often times it’s the comment of others that will bring you additional customers. Share those comments in a Customer Testimonial blog entry.

Constantly updating your Web Site will bring more spiders to your Web Site and gain you a higher rate on their Search Engines. You can pay someone to write a “Dynamic Web Site” (about $3,000- $5,000) and/or pay a Web Master up to $1000 a month to continually update your Web Site which bring those Search Engines Spiders to your Web Site OR, you can add a blog to your Web Site and update the blog yourself. With each update, you will bring the Search Engine Spiders to your Web Site looking for the new content that you have entered into your Web Site! Obviously, it’s much cheaper for you to have a Blog attached to your Web Site and update it yourself instead of paying someone to update your site regularly. Make sure you have a Web Master who is up on the latest Search Engine Optimization techniques and who is willing to help you attain inexpensive alternatives to reach as many customers and potential customers as possible.

One last great feature of a Blog is the RSS feed. You can have an RSS feed put on your home page, asking people to sign up to receive your Blog entries and you have an instant mini-newsletter. Each Blog entry will go straight to your customers In Box! It’s a great way to announce Sales, Specials or Upcoming Events. It’s a lot less work than a full Newsletter and it keeps you in the customers In Box and in their mind. The more you are on their mind, when it comes time for that vacation, guess who they will think of first? The one who has been sending all those great pictures and all those inspiring Testimonials, not to mention the Sales or Specials that you are running! It’s a win – win situation!

Times are tight right now and people are going to think twice before they place their hard earned money in your palm.  Make sure your Web Site gives an up to date, accurate description of who you really are.
  
First, you need to figure out who your target audience is.  This starts with your business – are you a service for local people or are you a vacation destination or are you somewhere in-between?  Do you need to reach across town, across the state or across the nation or maybe even reach out to the world?
 
Next, take a look at where you are right now.  How do people find you?  Are you out in the “desert” with hardly any traffic to your site or are you on the “corner of Fifth and Main” with lots of traffic.  “How do I know that?” you ask.  You – as the business owner – should be able to go to your C-Panel and look for yourself.  You can get into your own C-Panel by typing in your “web site.com/cpanel” (the verbiage may vary with different hosting servers – ask your Web Master for your exact url, user name and password for your particular Web Site)
 
Finally, does your corner of the WWW match who you really are?   We walked into a Hat Shop that was painted all red.  When we created the Web Site for that shop it was – you guessed it – all red!  Make sure your Web Site sells the same thing that people see when they see you in real life!  If you include too much Photo Shop, (touch up your pictures too much) people will be disappointed when they see the real life Cabins or Bed & Breakfast.  However, the same is true of not using Photo Shop at all … untouched up photos can make your Web Site look drab.  There’s a good chance that you will lose customers if your Web Site doesn’t have a professional look to it. 
 
If you have any questions while working through these helpful tips, please feel free to email us at Maggie@gtlenterprises.com  We would be happy to help you assess your current Web Site and talk over any changes you might want to make.