Working aquatic-elephants like Rajan used to be a regular sight in the Andaman Islands, south of India, but this 60-year-old five tonne Asian elephant is the last of his kind. Thanks to the introduction of motor boats and other energy-saving technology, Rajan no longer needs to swim miles between islands to work for his masters, but can now enjoy swimming purely for pleasure. Rajan still swims for ten minutes twice a day, completing about 500 yards before heading back to shore. Brazilian Photographer, Daniel Botelho, 30, travelled to the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean after hearing stories of islanders swimming with the giant beasts. He said: “I almost got killed by the elephant during one photo shoot. Suddenly a swell came and took me and the elephant by surprise. I was stuck in the sand because of the crash of the wave. He did his best not to kill me - I felt him rolling on top and away from me.” Picture: Daniel Botelho / Barcroft Media
Making your website work for you.
Lately I have engaged in a couple conversations with clients both of my own and other developers regarding how their websites are working for them, and how they want it to work. A lot of the business owners I talked to mentioned that they have not gotten many inquiries through their website, and they are not sure if it is working for them they way they want it to.
It is pretty easy to explain that without marketing their website as part of their business, that they will tend to not see many leads coming from this source. The hard part is convincing them to take action toward gaining a reputation for their website rather than just scrapping it all together. They do not realize that websites are meant to be an extension of their business, designed to help get information across to potential clients or other visitors to generate leads and sales.
I have devised a few steps for the common small to large business owner to begin to generate a bit of traffic toward their website.
Step 1. - Business cards and other print mediums
This is pretty self explanatory. But ideally, people cannot find you on the web if you do not advertise your address anywhere. You should be adding your website address on any print media that you run. Business cards, flyers, letter heads, vehicle wraps, etc. This will help you to get the knowledge that you exist out into the world for all to see! This is good, because I cannot tell you the amount of times I have come across a website address and was curious enough to look into it.
Step 2. - Email Signatures
Emails are a large part of communication today. Snail mail is old, outdated, and takes too long to get to the recipient which tends to bog down communication efforts so we tend to use more email to communicate to others. You want to add a signature to your emails letting the recipient know who it is from and a bit of information about yourself.
For example, my email signature says the following -
“Nick Burd - Web Professional
C: 705.313.2893
E: burdnick@gmail.com
http://nickburd.com
http://twitter.com/nick_burd
http://66thieves.com”
This allows the recipient to see that more information on my business is available in different areas which might get them to move forward to one of these outlets and generate some buzz about my online profiles.
Every email client (thunderbird, outlook, gmail, hotmail, yahoo, apple mail, etc) has an option to input a signature of some sort. Wether it be a custom signature or built on a template, you have the option and my suggestion would be to use it to your advantage.
Step 3. - Blogging, Social Networking
Blogging and social networking are becoming a very large epidemic in our world, and are a STRONG form of advertising and marketing for any business or even a personal venture such as artists.
Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Myspace, etc. Will get you exposure to all sorts of people from next door to millions of miles away. This is the great advantage of the internet and why you should take the time to set up some social media profiles properly and use them frequently. Make sure to add any links to your website in your profiles, as well as a good description of who you are and what you do.
Use blogging to give more information on what you do as yet another extension of your website. The more content and the more places you can be found on the internet, the better chance you have at succeeding on a larger scale than your possible current situation.
Conclusion -
Websites are a powerful tool for marketing. They have the ability to generate a great deal of awareness for your business and help you establish a growth as a company. Harnessing these “powers” efficiently can mean a great deal of success for you, as well as a larger feeling of accomplishment. Remember, nothing happens over night, but if you work toward a set goal, you have greater chances of reaching it.
There are many other ways of marketing your website and extending your business profile online. If you have any questions, would like a free estimate, or would just like to talk; contact me. I am here to help.
