Slides from a talk given for PSU Business Outreach Program with Amber Decelle and Warren Zimmerman.

1. Website Design
& Development
for
Small Businesses
We’re going to open our book of secrets!
Alicia Nagel Warren Zimmerman Amber Decelle
Graphic Design & Branding Web Development Social Media

2. 1. Before
A. Business Listings
B. Research
C. Administration
Website D. DIY
• During
Design & A. Developing Content
Development B. Choosing a Web
Developer
Basics C. Pricing
D. Managing the process
• After
A. SEO
B. Social Media

3. Submit your business to
search engines
Google
– Free to be listed.
1. Before Bing
A. Business Listings – Free to be listed.
Yahoo
– $299?! - not exactly.

4. i. Website Goals –
Know your website’s
purpose
What are people looking
for if they visit your
1. Before website? Answering this
B. Research question will inform you
what you need to include
on your website besides
your contact information.

5. • Are they looking for
directions to your store or
What are people office?
looking for if they • Do they need customer
service?
visit your website?
• Do they want to learn more
about who you are and what
you stand for?
• Do they want to purchase
your product?
• Are they seeking reassurance
that you’re a trustworthy,
legitimate business?

6. • Are my customers male or
Who is your target female?
audience?
Who is your target • What level of education do
audience? they have?
Design your site for • What age group do they fall
them. into?
• What are their hobbies?
Interests?
• What do they read?
• Do they have children?
• What is their level of income?
• What are their biggest
problems and concerns?

7. Who is your target audience?
• List your top 5 competitors.
Who is your
• Are they local, regional,
competition? national, global competitors?
• What sort of content is on
their site?
• How can your site be better or
different?

8. • Domain names and
Hosting with Internet
Service Providers
(ISPs)
1. Before • Hosting Services
C. Administration • Domain Names –
checking availability
• Setting up an email
account

9. • You might end up creating
your own website if it is not
something you can afford at
the moment. Here are some
alternatives which are free
and easy to use.
•
1. Before •
Card.ly
Blogger
D. DIY • Etsy
• Carbonmade
• WordPress
• GoDaddy Website in a
Night
• Microsoft Small Business
– Office Live

10. • Words
• Writing voice should
reflect the personality of
your company
2. During • Images
• Get logo file from
A. Developing designer
Content • Quality images leave a
quality impression
• Image rights & stock
photography
• Image resolution, size,
format

11. • Finding Designers and
Developers
• Word of mouth
• Google location search
• Networking events –
SCHMOOZEpdx.com
2. During • Look at design/developer
credits at the bottom of
B. Choosing a Team websites that you like.
• Choosing the Right One(s)
• Look at past work
• Synergy
• Added Value – what in
included in their price?

12. • List any jobs you need your
website to perform such as
• Image gallery
• Shopping cart
• Online quote generator
• These will affect the price
2. During • Maintenance
• We advise you to have a
C. Pricing
developer set up your
website so that you can
add content as needed
without them. This is
called a Content
Management System or
CMS. Wordpress
operates on a CMS.

13. • Multimedia elements and
But how shopping carts will add to that
cost
much will a • Template Sites that include an
online store, an ability to
website cost? expand pages, and the ability
to add products/images/etc.,
BASIC websites should cost between $700 and
• A "business card" site $2000. Custom websites that
with a small amount of have typical pages for a store
information on the website (Home, About Us,
company plus contact Contact Us, Privacy Policy,
info runs anywhere from Shipping Policy, Store, etc.)
$500 to $1500. should generally cost between
$1500 and $4000.
• Additional pages cost
around $500 each, for • Big website projects can cost
many developers. upwards of $20,000-$50,000!

14. • Scheduling
• Any major events coming
up that the site should be
live for? Inform your
team.
2. During • Ask your team what the
major milestones are in
D. Managing the process and when you
the Process can expect to reach them.
• Periodically (maybe
every 2 weeks) ask them
if you are still on
schedule.
• Keep momentum.

15. Managing
• Ask your team to check in • Have them explain how and
with you with status on a when you will be billed.
weekly basis. It is a good idea • Be aware that certain things
to setup a weekly call at the such as stock photography,
same time each week. fancy fonts usage rights,
• It’s great if someone on the music rights, etc. might incur
team follows up on calls with additional costs. Ask these to
a to-do list of action items for be identified as soon as they
the next week. are introduced into a design –
your designer/developer may
be able to suggest a lower-
cost option if asked.

16. Communicating
• If the team is using terms you • Engage Developer &
do not understand, ask them to Designer on a Strategic
explain it or use layman’s Level
terms. Share your website goals,
• Be sure to give them as much purpose, and target market
detail as possible at the with your developer and
beginning of the process. designer. The more they
Changes once design & understand these the better
development are underway they will help you reach them.
are often outside the original
scope and will cost you extra.

17. • What is it?
• S = Search
• E = Engine
• O = Optimization
• SEO is a process that
3. After optimizes your website so
that you receive the best
A. SEO possible search engine
rankings, as indicated by
your site coming up at the
top of the list when
someone does a Google
search on certain
keywords.

18. Why are search engine Can I do SEO by
rankings important? myself?
• Can increase awareness and • 3 simple things you can do to
generate new business increase your SEO
• Person searches for • Useful and quality text
coffee shops in Portland, • Social Media
and they discover you’re
• Get other pages to link to
right around the corner
your website, such as
• Can establish you as an expert
• Affiliates & Partners
• Person searches for tax
• Picassa & Flickr
help Portland and articles
written by your • Blogs
accounting firm comes up • You might want to hire an
first SEO specialist if rankings will
be vital to your business

19. 3. After • Overview of Your
B. Social Media Company’s Online
Presence
o Why it’s important
o The major Social Media
sites
o Maintenance

20. Representing your Twitter
Company • Overview
• Be professional • How to Interact
• Be on-brand • Strengths
• How to Interact • Weaknesses
o Offer quality content • Special
o Contribute dependably
Fun flowchart for deciding
what to post.
http://constantlycomplaining.com/
blog/files/imagepicker/r/ryanol/sm
o%20flowchart%20copy.jpg

21. Facebook Linked in
• Overview • Overview
• How to Interact • How to Interact
• Strengths • Strengths
• Weaknesses • Weaknesses
• Special Projects

22. ... & Daily -SCHEDULE
John Jantsch's
Write a blog post – RSS subs get it,
Twice-Daily -SCHEDULE twitter tools sends to twitter, Facebook gets it,
FriendFeed updates
Scan twitter followers for relevant conversations
Check twitter via Tweetdeck – preset to join
searches for@ducttape, john jantsch, Scan Google Reader subscriptions to read and
& duct tape marketing – respond as I stimulate ideas
Share Google Reader favs – these publish to
see fit, follow @replies that seem Facebook and you can subscribe
appropriate. Link to any blog pages from my subscriptions
Scan mybloglog – I obsess over that I love – this goes to twitter
Bookmark any blog pages from my
traffic, but this reveals trending links subscriptions that I love –delicious using
and stumble surges in real time so I Firefox plugin for right click posting – this goes
can react if appropriate. to FriendFeed
Stumble any blog pages from my subscriptions
Respond to comments on my blog that I love – this goes to Facebook and
FriendFeed
Scan Google Alerts for my name, brand and
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/b products – in Google Reader as RSS feed –
log/2009/01/22/my-social-media- respond as appropriate
system/ Add comments to blogs as appropriate – mostly
response types – Google Reader and BackType

23. John Jantsch's
Twice-Daily -SCHEDULE ANALYTICS
• Check twitter via Tweetdeck –
preset searches for@ducttape, • Is all this having any
john jantsch, & duct tape effect?
marketing – respond as I see • GoogleAnalytics.com
fit, follow @replies that seem • SWIXHQ.com --> $9/mo
appropriate.
• Scan mybloglog – I obsess
over traffic, but this reveals
trending links and stumble
surges in real time so I can
react if appropriate.
• Respond to comments on my
blog

24. Contact Us Alicia Nagel
Alicia@alicianagel.com
twitter: @alicianagelcrtv
www.alicianagel.com
Warren Zimmerman
warren@warrenz.com
warrenz.com
Amber Decelle
amberdecelle@gmail.com
twitter: @adecelle