We like to think that anything important in our business is press release-worthy. Ask yourself “what am I trying to convey?” Is it something that you would see in a newspaper? Is it even news? If you can tell your news to someone in person, thinking they’d find it interesting and informative, there’s a good chance you’re leaning towards needing a press release written. If you think that your information may just be a little flat and lacking, you’re better just putting it out in a message to your email list.

Press releases generally need to fill one complete page. The page cannot be filled with fluff; you need to have an interesting story that takes up about 4 paragraphs. If you don’t have enough information to do this, odds are you don’t need a press release. Writing a press release also takes time to execute properly. Do you have enough time to write one, or to hire a writer to create one for you?

I Definitely Need a Press Release
Now that you’ve determined that you do in fact, need a press release for your small business, there are a few “musts” that have to be part of the construction.

A Solid Headline- Don’t give away all your information in the headline and sub-headline. Think of a good heading that will make your press release sound interesting.

A Bad Headline for a Press Release:
Company Sells Waterproof Oven Mitts to Housewives (it doesn’t even sound interesting, though the product may be valuable and of interest).

A Good Headline for a Press Release:
Company Offers New Product to Reduce Risk of Kitchen Burns (it looks professional and will gain the interest of the reader).

List Your Lead- many people like to put valuable or key information at the bottom of articles. This entices your viewers to keep reading. Press release writing is not like article writing. You must put your news in the first paragraph.

Straight Facts- there is no room in a one page press release for junk. Every word you write must be about the story or news you want to convey.

Speak in the Third Person- even if you’re writing the press release about your company and you’re the CEO, you have to refer to your business as the business.

Press release writing, in general, is fairly simply. It’s knowing when you need a press release as part of your small business design that’s the tricky part. Just remember: if it’s not news, no press release is needed.

Content is the food that feeds the search engine robots. They scan your website and look for those keywords and phrases that help get you good pagerank. Those who comment on your blog often will use keywords in their writings, making your website stronger. The more a keyword is realistically mentioned on your website or blog, the more likely web surfers will find you. We use the word “realistically” because just pasting a keyword over and over again is not a good SEO practice. It should be well-written and flow with the content.

Should I Monitor My Comments?
You should welcome comments by legitimate website visitors or patrons of your small business with open arms. Their keyword and key phrase usage in their posts will only help the SEO of your small business design. However, you should monitor your blog comments. Blog comments can increase SEO ratings to a certain extent, but there are some comments that are just spam. Their job is to post multiple times on blogs with a link to their website in an effort to use your blog comment section to drive traffic to their website, which is more than likely an unsafe or illegitimate website. You will see a lot of these posts on blogs where the comments are not monitored. They often suggest you follow their link for “free software” or online pharmacies. These will do nothing for your rank, but will show legit visitors that your blog is in desperate need of housework. In your comment settings, make it so that you have to approve any post before making it visible for other viewers to see.

What is Nofollow?
Nofollow is a code that is placed within a link. If you saw the code by itself, it would look like this:

rel=”nofollow”
The more commonly known blogging websites will already have nofollow code placed into comment links. Its main purpose is a spam repellent. Spammers will [hopefully] leave your website alone if nofollow is present. Their links won’t work to gain them rankings. When the search engines robots climb through your website or small business blog, they are looking for links. They use links to help determine pageranking. When the nofollow code is in place, the bots will skip over the links, so no spammer can gain good pageranking by placing their link on your comment section. They won’t gain anything from your hard work, thanks to the nofollow code.

The big question for the not-so-web design-savvy: What are meta tags? The phrase itself sounds confusing and intimidating. However, meta tags are fairly simple to understand, but have been misinterpreted a lot since their debut to the world wide web in the 1990s.

Meta Tag Description
A meta tag is a way to get information into the head of your website. You may be familiar with title tags or headline tags, and meta tags are doing something similar to what your links within your written content do. Meta tags are not visible. They relate information that may not be of interest to your small business website visitors, but still important. You can incorporate a list of keywords that you wouldn’t necessarily want to just slap onto your webpage. Search engines will read it appropriately; clients won’t have to see random words on your website in an attempt to get traffic.

Below is an example of an HTML Meta Tag for a hypothetical website selling flower bouquets:

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Flowers 4 You</TITLE>

<Meta name= “description” content= “Flowers for every occasion.”>

<Meta name= “keywords” content= “flowers, floral bouquets,

flower arrangements, online flower shop”>

</HEAD>

Important Meta Tags you must use:
The Title meta tag is the most important one to help you improve your SEO rankings. This is what people and search engines will see first after they performed a search for what they’re looking for. Make sure to use your keywords when writing a Title tag. Also be sure to work on your description meta tag and write a compelling description that will make people want to click through to see your website.

Not All Meta Tags are Created Equal
There are a lot of “other” meta tag types floating around out there, but know that not all of them are good for the SEO of your small business design. The role of meta tags in search engines are to boost your chances of getting better rankings. Know that using the wrong types of meta tags can do just the opposite, causing search engine bots to skip your website entirely. Stay away from meta tags that deal with scripts or cookies. They’ve been known to do more harm than good.

Remember that meta tags are not the final solution for increasing small business website traffic. Combine them with other reputable SEO techniques to get better webpage ranking and better search engine results.

Timely promotions as part of your small business design is essential growing your clientele. Want an easy way to endorse your business? Consider the simple art of newsletter design to let those on your email list know what specials your company will have for Mother’s Day shoppers, or any holiday. They are not difficult to create and it’s really efficient at getting your information across to interested parties. What’s the difference between constructing a newsletter as opposed to just creating a newspaper ad or a social networking ad? It’s not that those are bad ideas either, but when you present a newsletter, you can share a lot more information than you can cram into a small, pricey ad space.

Electronic newsletters are great because if you make them yourself, it’s free! You can include everything you want your customers to know about: your promotional deals, your contact information, website link and even coupon codes. There’s no postage needed and no paper wasted. It’s a very smart way to promote small business success.

It cannot be stressed enough that when holidays or events roll around that can bring in revenue, you need to be well-prepared, ahead of time. This doesn’t mean a week before Mother’s Day; if your small business newsletter hits inboxes promoting free shipping, you would probably be too late. Try shooting for the 3-4 week mark. Finding that sweet spot that isn’t too early or late to contact customers can be discouraging, but the payoff is worth it.

Now, just because your newsletter or ad is out there for potential customers to see doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. You need to make sure your website is ready as well. Do this by making sure the promotional material or deals are listed on your homepage. Why else is this important? It not only reassures your newsletter readers that the promotion is valid, if they pass your website information on to other potential clients who didn’t get the newsletter, they’ll want to make sure they’re at the right place.

Every holiday is a reason to celebrate your small business and promote your products or services. Stay on top of upcoming promotions and let your clients know about your specials in a timely manner. If you’re interesting in learning more about newsletter writing, check out a helpful article on how to properly write newsletters for your business without having them sent to SPAM folders.

Link Exchanging
“Hey, put my link on your webpage and I’ll put your link on mine!” This practice of link exchanging was popular for quite a long time, but search engines are wising up. There is nothing wrong with relevant links on your website to lead visitors to other great products and services, but when you make a career out of getting reciprocal link deals, it can mean the end of your small business URL. Search engines know when link exchanging is going on and they are not a fan. This is one of the biggest SEO techniques gone bad; black hat SEO all the way. Yet, some SEO businesses are still trying to sell this tactic to business owners, promising higher page ranks and more business. Don’t fall for it. You don’t need pointless link exchanging with websites. Don’t pay for pointless links to wreck your small business website design; just say no!

Hidden Text
Once again, this trick worked back in the day, but search engines are aware of this black hat SEO practice. This is when you hide links and keywords on your website by having them be the same color as your website’s background. You can also type the list of links and written content in super small font, so it’s not “hidden,” it’s just not readable. It is still considered hidden text and is caught by the search engine bots that crawl around your website. Improve your SEO for your small business website with professional, relevant written content that contain a few keywords in each paragraph. Boost your SEO some more with a well-written blog that contains helpful and interesting content that you can also add a keyword here and there. Those are the text/link practices you want to be using.

The list of Black Hat SEO techniques goes on for miles, but just remember that a legitimate website with fresh content and realistic key wording (not key word ‘stuffing’) will get your website where it needs to go. Black hat practices almost always get you nowhere these days, and in some cases, they will get your website completely banned from search engine results.

These techniques are still being used; some “legitimate” SEO companies are trying to sell these packages to uneducated business folk. Don’t be fooled by these companies promising to help you increase your website traffic, you are throwing your hard earned money away. Remember, to have a successful website, you need fresh, well-written content with relevant keywords placed comfortably within the text. If you have trouble with writing, or simply do not have the time, hire a writer to help you out!

The most important webpage a small business needs to tend to is the homepage. This is the first thing potential customers see. It needs to be fresh, fast-loading and it needs to be relevant. Slow graphic downloads will send people back to the search engines. If content on the home page is dated and is a few years old, it’s time to add some something new. Make a webpage for archiving if you want to keep old news on your website, but don’t have it showcased on the homepage. Out with the old and in with the new. How often should you be putting fresh content on your website? There really isn’t one right answer. If the year on the article doesn’t match the current year, pitch it.

Blinking, flashy graphics all over your homepage as part of your small business website design is also a bad idea. You would see this type of design a decade ago, but like white eye-liner and slap bracelets, it was a fad. It’s distracting to have little blinking gadgets all over your website, enticing visitors to “click here.” Now, more than ever, clean should be the theme of your website. Clean-looking websites are not only going to be well-organized, they also appear safer than the glitzy, disheveled websites of the past. Website bling (if overused) can give a sort of feel to the website that makes it seem unsafe, juvenile or selling a poor product. If the product or service is good, there is no need to bombard your website with flash, jazz and glitter. Less is more.

When your small business website design is complete, it should easily take your customers to what is important: the product. It should do it quickly, effortlessly and cleanly. It can sometimes be difficult when you’re selling a product that might not be very unique and you want that niche that makes your small business website stand out from the rest. You won’t get first place for adding banners, tickets and animations all over your website; find another way to stomp out your competition. Make sure your website is organized and ready for the 2011 business year.

There is an unusual acronym to remember some great ways to keep your customers in mind while constructing/updating your small business website: CRAP

Consistency: Common flow/feel as visitors browse your website

Repetition: Use appropriate repetition of imagery and text throughout

Alignment: A place for everything, and everything in its place. Don’t stick anything on the website for the reason of just “having it on there.”

Proximity: Make sure you group appropriate parts of your website together. Can your clients find what they need, easily?

Color is an important aspect of your small business design. Although consistency is important, choosing the right colors are a must to help you get the sale. Customers shop with their eyes; use colors that complement each other. You want them to be agreeable with the nature of the website, but not overwhelmingly bright or annoying to look at. You also don’t want a bland color palate. Try to pick one bold color, keeping the contrasting colors more neutral.

Advertising

Many small business websites have advertising space they can control. You really want to make sure that any advertising you have on your website is relevant to your small business. If you sell handbags, your best advertising would also be in accessories, clothing, cosmetics and so on. If you have a family member who has a tree stump removal business, they have no purpose on your website, family or not.

Finally, your patrons want to know what’s in it for them. Save a webpage to talk about you and your business; leave the rest to cater to the shopper. Talk about what they’re going to get when they do business with you. Make sure to mention everything from a detailed description of the product or service, right down to your mission statement, guarantees and return policies.

As much as we may pride ourselves on the time and love we spend on our small businesses, we have to remember that the consumer tends to be a bit more “selfish.” Their concern is a getting a great deal on a product or service on a website that’s easy to use and good-looking. Remember: If you don’t take care of your customers…someone else will.

Affordable
Your basic Facebook account is FREE. That makes the price right for small businesses. Not only is it cheap to use, it’s very simple to maintain. You can make a page that simply has a picture, contact information and status updates informing your friends and fans about upcoming specials. Stop by your Page once a week or so to add new friends, answer any messages and handle general Facebook account housekeeping. Take your Facebook account to the next level by incorporating your small business website blog for viewers to read. Update as much or as little as you like. You can allow visitors to post on your Facebook small business website, or turn off the wall function and only post information from the business’s end. You can pay to have your business show up on the side panel of Facebook. The cost varies however, but you can read more here: www.facebook.com/advertising. There is a minimum charge of $5.

Low Maintenance
As mentioned before, using Facebook as an advertising tool for your small business design is great because it takes very little time and money to maintain your page. You could realistically update it once a day or once a month. You’ll get back what you put into it. Another reason Facebook is so great to use to promote small businesses: people will find you! That’s right; you can search for friends and family to add as friends to your page, but others in your area or network will find you on their own. Your time spent on lead generating will be greatly reduced with Facebook.

Remember: Facebook is a great tool to advertise your small business website, but don’t over post. When you’re putting status updates on there more than once a day, people begin to get turned off by over-advertising and will hit the “hide feed” button associated with your content, meaning they will never see updates posted by your business page. You don’t want this, so posting often should mean just a few posts per week. Also, keep your Facebook page dedicated towards your small business, not your personal opinions. A quick way to lose your fans is to post something that has nothing to do with your business. Don’t argue politics or get into debates on your Facebook page, you’ll make yourself and your business look bad; plus you’ll never convince the other party to see your side, so don’t bother.

Use Facebook wisely to promote your small business by incorporating your website blogs, videos and upcoming events related to your business. Enjoy the fruits of this social-networking wonder and benefit from the business a well-maintained Facebook small business Page can bring.

If you’re selling something that targets women, don’t forget a very important day: International Women’s Day is March 8th and a lot of communities will hold vendor fairs. If you stay current with the event news in your area, you can sign up and be prepared to meet and greet your audience. Of course, you always need to ask yourself when meeting potential clients in this type of atmosphere: what’s in it for them? A colorful banner and a friendly smile is a good start to a vendor fair booth, but we all know the goodies are what get attention.

Try to find something even better than the standard business card to hand out. Find something that you can easily take to the event that not only has your contact info, but people are likely to hang on to it because it serves another purpose. For example: a massage therapist has a booth at a women’s fair to advertise her services. She hands out a stress ball with her name and salon number to her targeted audience; it’s relevant. What are other cheap products? Magnets, key chains, pens, notepads and more. They don’t have to be useful AND related to your business, but useful to the target audience means less likely to be forgotten or pitched.

How much can you prepare ahead of time if you’re going to be at a certain event or function? Well, you can never be too prepared! If you’ve signed up to be a speaker or rent a booth at an event, don’t sit by and let the event organizers do all your advertising for you; take matters into your own hands. Perhaps you’re doing newsletters on a regular basis and have an email list built of both clients and potentials; send an announcement out to let them know when and where. Also, toss in some promotional deal that makes the event stick in their mind. Something like: the first 50 to stop by the booth get a coupon for 25% off. If someone was on the fence about your product, a coupon could sway them into giving it a try.

Remember: it’s an important part of your small business design to know your target audience. When you can’t speak to them in person, be online looking at forums and blogs relevant to your business. Listen to what people say. Take the time to get to know them and you’ll be able to provide a better service or product.

Consider sending out surveys via e-mail or snail mail and request that your previous customers write a little bit about their experience with your company. Let them know that their words may be published on your website for others to read. Also, let them chose whether or not to include their name and location. Then, it’s your choice which testimonials to use on your website, but know that both good and bad testimonials can be highly effective marketing tools for your business.

Superb customer testimonials look great on a website, but what happens when you get a response that was less than satisfactory? It’s ok! You can implement the negative feedback onto your website; it will make your business look more realistic. We all know that not every customer can have an exceptional experience, but it’s how your business handles the experience that will prove valuable to potential clients. Go ahead and feel free to post that negative feedback, along with what you did to try and resolve the issue. Then, allow that customer to reply to the resolution. Hopefully, you’ll have solved a problem that will help your business in the future and change an unhappy customer into a potential repeat. No room on your website for customer testimonials? Consider expanding your website, but in the meantime, use social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Invite friends and fans of your page to comment on their experience with your small business. The great thing is, you can easily reply to their responses.

Customer testimonials are one of the best and easiest marketing strategies’ to implement into your small business design. You’ll learn exactly how clients feel about your services and you may even learn some problem solving techniques in the process.