Let’s face it. You can’t be taken seriously as a business owner in today’s marketplace without having a strong presence online. (this is not true, many businesses do NOT have an online presence. You need to clarify this and narrow it down to your audience. Perhaps say, “You cannot be taken seriously as a virtual business owner without…”)
Whether you want to admit it or not, prospective clients ARE going to look for you online and you need to be in control of what they find.
The foundation of your online presence is, of course, your website.
If you don’t have a polished, professional, client focused site now, or your current site is out of date, you likely have wondered how to go about go about creating a quick and easy, money making website.
I am all for having a custom designed site that reflects your brand and has all the “bells and whistles” needed to make it an effective marketing tool.
But, I also recognize that for some folks, creating THAT kind of website seems completely overwhelming.
If that sounds familiar, you’ll appreciate these two resources I recently discovered that can help:
In both cases, you can setup a polished, professional (albeit somewhat minimalist) website in just a few hours. You won’t necessarily have all the extra cool features you could have, but it is a place to get started.
NOTE: I have not personally used either of these sites, but if I was starting from scratch I would strongly consider using either resource as a place to get started. Just make sure you maintain control of your hosting account by using a company such as HostGator or Bluehost.
If you are feeling really ambitious, you might check out my friend Christina Hill’s Website Creation Workshop, where she’ll walk you through creating your own customized WordPress website. WordPress is THE platform to use if you are serious about leveraging the Internet to increase your income.
You can learn more about Christina’s workshop at:
http://smartsimplemarketing.com/recommends/wordpress-workshop
The bottom line is this: There is NO, I mean NO excuse for you to NOT have a polished presence for your busines online. I know you are a serious business owner. I know you are committed to your work. Please don’t undermine that by not paying attention to your online “digital business card”.
My grandmother used to say (actually, she still says it), “better to let them think you’re stupid than to open your mouth and confirm it”. The same princple applies here. Better to control what your prospective clients are finding about you and your business online, than to have them wondering if you are really a serious entrepreneur.
‘Nuff said.
