This presentation provides a brief outline about why you should have a website for your business and how you should use it to develop a customer base and a reputation. It is aimed at micro and small businesses but the advice is equally applicable to anyone who wants to connect via the web. I originally designed the presentation as a collaborative and participatory workshop. I provided the first 4 points, with the group contributed further ideas. Delivered on June 26, 2012 for Women in Rural Enterprises - Ludlow, Shropshire, UK

1. Let's talk about your
most valuable asset
on the Internet
YOUR WEBSITE
Ludlow WiRE
June 26, 2012
Julie Mellors
The Truly Useful Company
07936 287 237
www.trulyusefulcompany.com
enquiries@trulyusefulcompany.com
@TrulyUsefulCo

2. Why are you here?
• Because everyone else is
• So you can be in more than one place at a time
• To leave a good first impression
• Establish a point of contact - so people can find you
• To gather research, and keep up-to-date
• To develop a reputation and establish your business as creditable
• Contact with target audience - improve visibility
• Inspire
• Increase sales target areas eg. international sales

3. What’s your message?
• What you need is a clear message about who you are and what you stand
for - make clients want to do business with you. Your message must:
• Reflect the ideas and needs of your clients so you can establish a rapport
• Let customers know where you are now and where you are going
• You need to develop appropriate content and ensure your design sets the
right tone
• Include - News, products, services, benefits,
• Highlight - Specialist knowledge
• Promote - goods and services - the excitement of the next launch, future
plans
• Explain and showcase products (Obviously!!)
• As a small business your company ethos and personality is important. Let
customers know about you - eg. Small, family run company that cares

4. How are you using
your website?
• You need to consider:
• What are you trying to achieve? Goals? Strategy?
Hodgepodge?
• Users - Who are they? - What do you want them to do? What
do they want to do?
• Does the navigation/design encourage people to click on the
right sections?
• Do you want to establish a reputation for expertise/
knowledge/service/skill?
• Different ways to use your business website can include:
• Storefront, selling product or services, info on business - sales
brochure
• Personal details - eg. writer connecting with readers
• Collect information on users
• Direct link to other sites - eg. Link to Amazon for book sales

5. How do you attract
customers?
• Good, up-to-date, relevant, professional content
• Easy navigation and clear design, overall attractive layout
• Offers
• Personality - essential for small business owners
• Use Social Media - plug in the most appropriate SM
applications and ensure you are using them consistently
and wisely
• Emphasis your unique selling point eg. use info from
research to highlight specialised services and products,
target website to specific audience

6. What attracts you to the
websites of others?
• Need
• Relevance
• Design
• Navigation - ease of use
• Friendships/shared interests
• Will they help me advertise/market/share links?
• Checking out the competition
• Compare your sites to others. Looking at how other
businesses are doing things on the Web and “borrow“ all
the good ideas
• Use humour

7. Pro and cons of life
online
• If someone complains about you, it’s there for everyone to
see
• If someone likes you, it’s there for everyone to see
• Time - Keeping your site updated may be a chore - can
take over your life
• Attracts customers you may not have connected with
otherwise
• Can be difficult keeping up with new technology

8. To sum up
• Your website is:
• an excellent marketing, communications and PR
platform
• an opportunity to connect to a wider world
• a chance to explore new technology
• a chance to explore a new world
• To Do
• write a new blog article at least once a month
• promote site through use of social media - Tweet, FB,
Google+, LinkedIn etc

9. Julie Mellors
The Truly Useful Company
07936 287 237
www.trulyusefulcompany.com
enquiries@trulyusefulcompany.com
@TrulyUsefulCo
Where else to find me on the Internet
JJ Mellors Photography
www.jjmellorsphotography.com
One I Did Earlier - daily photo
challenge
www.oneididearlier.wordpress.com
Google+, Quora, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Flickr