How to pick a domain name for your small business

How to pick a domain name for your small business

What is a domain name? 

A domain name are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For an example, the domain name Microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLS to identify particular web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.
 Examples:

          .gov-Government agencies                               

          .com-Commercial business

          .org-organizations  (nonprofit)

          .edu-educational institutions

Because the internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses. 

Choosing a domain name for your business is just as important as naming your business. Just remember your website is the identity of your online business. It can be overwhelming when choosing a domain name, so let me give you some helpful tips to make the process easier. 

First tip, you need to find what kind of domain name is available. The reason why its so important because if you can't use the domain name you wanted, you have to decide on another name, especially when you really like the name you picked out for your business. So being very specific about the domain name you chose becuase it can help increase your chances of finding the best domain name.

For an example, let say your an electrician in the San Mateo area of San Francisco California and the name of your company is Astro's Electric. Now, let's take this general name and make it more specific and find a good domain name.

• Electrician.com or Electric.com: too general
• CaliforniaElectric.com: getting there but still to general
• SanFranciscoElectrician.com: this is better but San Francisco is a big city and county, so its still too general.
• SanMateoElectric.com: San Francisco has many surrounding towns and one is called San Mateo. If you were an electrician that worked in this city, this domain name might work good for you. It really depends on your area but you would get a boost when customers search  online for an "electrician in San Mateo" since those words are in your domain name. So the more specific we get with our domain name, the better the chances that it is available. 

Next tip is to build a memorable domain name for others to remember so they can keep coming back to visit your business or brand. If your website address isn't memorable it can also make it harder for customers to recommend to others about your business. Especially for small businesses, we get most of our business through word of mouth, so recommending our business to others with an easy domain name to remember can be helpful to the business. So let's go over what a memorable domain looks like and compare it to a less memorable domain name. 

Less Memorable:

• AstrosElectricServicesLLC.com: this is too long for to remember.
• AtsrosElectric5642.com: numbers are also hard to remember, especially the random numbers.
• Astros-Electric-ServicesLLC.com: this would also be hard to remember too because of the dashes and remembering where the dashes are placed.

More Memorable:

• AstrosElectric.com: using your company name is a great way to refer customers to your website.
• SanMateoElectric.com: using the name of the area where the company services.
• 650Electric.com: using the area code where you serve your company is also a great domain name to use and it is very memorable.

The shorter the better, I always say! Plus, it just looks better and easy to remember. But when you choose between two domain names with similarities, go for the one that's shorter. 

Last tip is about which domain IP address should you use? Researching the internet about this, it says the best choice would be the .com because it is the most common. If you buy a .com also try to buy the .net and .org version if they are available. This will give you a lot more traffic and you can redirect them to your website on the .com. Another thing is if you can't find an available .com, use the .net and .org as your next choice. But your first choice would be .com if you can because sometimes customers can accidently tpe in .com instead of .net or .org or what ever other domain address your are using. Buying the domain name should cost you an average of ten dollars. Also remember to auto renew your domain name because many business forget to renew it and they end up loosing their domain name.

In conclusion, picking a domain name tend to be a hard choice at times because it seems likes the good domain are usually taken. But you have to remember that every business is unique in every way so you have to be specific to get a good  match for your business. So look into the points I made and it will help to choose the best domain name for your business.

By: Alison Beyale


workcites:
https://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/domainname.shtml
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231331
https://firstsiteguide.com/choose-domain/

Instagram For your Small Business

Why your Business Should Have an Instagram Account 

By: Lori Sanchez 

   As there are several social media platforms, Instagram is one of the new popular social media apps that is being downloaded by 40% of the US. Instagram is simply to share visual content or a short video. 

   With Instagram you are able to connect all of the other platforms your Business is on like Facebook and Twitter so you can become published on Instagram. On your Instagram page you will also be able to share the Business webpage link and a short Bio about the Business.
   As you will share visual content with your customers and consumers you want to make sure and sell the lifestyles behind your product. You always want to make sure and relate your photos with your Business.
   Things to consider before you upload be imaginative, stay relevant, and don't bombard your consumers with a photo every second once a day or even once a week would be fine. You are going to want to use Instagram stories to show things like behind the scenes or new things that the Business is coming out with.
   Another advantage you will have while using the social media platform is monitor what is working and what is not working to your benefit. You will be able to see what content is getting more views and shares so you will learn what your viewers enjoy instead of again bombarded them with stuff they have no interest in.
   Make sure to interact with your customers on the comments. You may also want to include giveaways to show the compassion you have for your consumers. Another great idea is Hashtag games where you have consumers post relevant pictures with your hashtag and you pick the best picture and send them a discount code, coupon, or a free item. Then you will also be able to show that person love by posting their photo on your Instagram. Hashtags are great because potentially consumers can learn and see how much people love your product. As an Instagram user you can also consider hiring social Media Influencer  which are a lot more affordable than someone famous. Before you consider hiring you want to research the top influencers in your field of business and research each of there engagements and how many likes and comments they get, and you want to have a plan for that person of what you want from them.
   One thing you want to make sure and do is like other business and influencers post so you get your name out there and you want to share there stuff as well so you can build an audience.
   Last thing I want to advise is to be patient, like anything you are new to. It is going to take time but you will grow as Instagram users are very active and love to engage, and there is a total of 500 million users on the platform.





Reference:
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-for-small-business/
https://blogs.constantcontact.com/5-reasons-your-small-business-should-be-using-instagram-uk/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280964#

   

Why your small business should have a podcast?

Podcast 

   First thing you must know,what is a Podcast? A podcast is known as the "Internet Radio" on Demand where you are able to listen on your computer, phone, and even download to listen at a later time.What makes podcast so unique is its a way for anyone to share and communicate with the world. Another unique factor to having a podcast is how quickly it is distributed to several podcast distributors and able to be heard by millions with a push of a button. 

Why should your small business have a Podcast? 

   In today's society it is almost a necessity to consider a podcast as all markets are competitive and a podcast is a great way to market your business. The number one reason a small business owner today should consider a podcast for their business is due to the popularity of what they have become and what they are becoming, and people love podcast. 

   Another major reason to consider a podcast for your business is not all your consumers have time to read what you are posting or blogging, so this gives your consumers the option to listen to and learn even while they are on the go.

    Podcast build stronger relationships between the listeners and the one who is talking for your business; this helps your business for the simple reason that they feel part of your business and trust who you are and what you are doing with the business. With a strong relationship being built between you and the consumer there is a chance the consumer goes on to listen to all your past podcast and all future as i'm sure you have tons of content to be share with your consumers. Further if consumers opt out of you podcast that is fine because you want to be engaged with those who are interested in your product and content. Ultimately a podcast gives your company a voice. 

    They are easier to produce as we all know not all of us like to write and with writing comes reading and we all don't have time for that especially while you are running and operating a business, and with pod casting it's more like a sit down conversation you would have with family and friends its less formal then writing. To produce the podcast you  need very little equipment a good microphone and headphones, which are both reasonably priced and easy to find. The advantage of producing a podcast is the editing software is free so that won't cost you a thing. The only place you may need to invest is promoting the podcast and make available on several distribution channels.  

   One last great benefit to whoever is recording the podcast will gain confidence in themselves and will not only be able to speak on your podcast but may also be able to go out and promote your business else where. 

   

 

 Reference:

https://internationalpodcastday.com/what-is-podcast/

https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/01/benefits-of-podcasting.html

http://www.chrisducker.com/starting-a-podcast/

https://internationalpodcastday.com/what-is-podcast/

Email Marketing for Small Businesses

Creating an informative and welcoming email will set the tone of the relationship between your

business and your customer. So making a good first impression will tell a lot about the kind of business you have and the trust you can give them when they purchase your product. Email content should always be authentic, sincere, and empathetic. By putting the needs of your customer before your desired outcome, your customers will be more receptive to your campaigns. 

What is an email marketing service?

An email marketing service helps businesses manage and use email effectively as a marketing tool. Email marketing is also an effective way to send a commercial message to a group of people that you target for your service or product. When you're reviewing email marketing service, pay close attention to all the features that they provide, you also want great customer support, analytical tools and last user-friendly sites for your customers. 

The benefits of email marketing

There are many benefits in email marketing for your business. One example is using the basic email marketing services which are always free. But there is always a price to build your list of customers and it is well worth it, especially when you start to have consumers follow you and they connect directly with you about your product or service. Another excellent benefit is the ability to track everything like how your bounce rate looks like, who is seeing or opening your emails and who forwards them to share and last how many have unsubscribed. Basically, email marketing is an easy and fast way to reach out to customers. 

Examples of email marketing

I found some examples of email that other business send out to promote their product and many have discounts. There are also many holiday emails going out for the black Friday and Christmas coupons and there are many more out there to help you get an idea of how email marketing service can be very responsive. 

Choosing an email marketing service

The first criteria you should look at is the value of a monthly subscription or if its a pay by click advertising. There are some different features each of these marketing service has so it really depends on what kind of budget you have for your marketing plan. I would really recommend these two content that the email marketing should have in their package. First, navigating needs to be easy for you to set up your promotion and customizing your template with different designs should also be easy to set up. Second, tracking the emails to let you know who's opening the email, who is sharing with others and how long the customer had the email open. Here are two email marketing service that is most popular on the internet.

Constant contact and MailChimp have both in business for many years and they are the most popular for email marketing. There are still many other service out there that you can look into, it really depends on what you prefer and how much your willing to spend. Another big thing to look out for is great customer support because when your just starting out, you will have many questions about how to put your advertising together and how to just use the software. Others have a free 60 day trial and that's another good way to learn if the service is recognizing your business and if your getting comments and followers to your website. With the holidays around the corner this maybe a great opportunity to try out the email marketing to teach them about your product and services. 

Alison Beyale

Worksites:

http://www.toptenreviews.com/business/marketing/best-email-marketing-software/
http://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/best-email-marketing-services/
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEV7kc.f1ZATwAftYPxQt.?p=mailchimp&fr=yhs-arh-001&fr2=piv-web&hspart=arh&hsimp=yhs-001&type=zxy_172570b11f00b89048#id=64&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biz4hipsters.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F08%2Fmailchimp.jpg&action=click
https://www.reviews.com/email-marketing-services/

Top Five Reasons Why Blogs Work For Businesses

  Blogging is a great tool to use for your business. Here are the most important reasons that blogs work well as a business and marketing tool in world of internet usage:

• Cost: There are many software packages that available at no cost, but even the ones that have a licensing fee is very reasonable in their price. Platforms like blogger, WordPress and Wix are all very good way to start blogging and sometimes no fee to starting. 

• Communication: Blogging is a great way to communicate with clients in a direct or informal way. You can chat and comment about your product or service without the pressure of selling your business. Just having the ease of a conversation about the facts about your business can go a long way with your client, especially when they don't have to feel the sense of a sales pitch.

• Research: Many companies want to learn about new marketing strategies and new demographics ,so blogging allows you to discuss with someone about how to produce or gather information about how to position your produce or services. 

• Feedback: The best way to find out what your doing right and wrong in your business or with your product by just asking straight out in your blog. And many will comment and give you pointers. Feedback from others is always a great to learn more about how to market your business better. 

• Reputation: Keeping a good name for your business will show that you have respect for everyone and who all comes to your site or business will always say good things about you. Putting a picture of yourself also say that your honest and trustworthy. So when your content is helpful it leads to trust. 

WorkCites:

• https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-reasons-your-business-should-be-blogging/

Alison Beyale

Why you should have visual content on your webpage?

Why you should have visual content on your webpage?
 We found several reasons why you should care about visual content on your webpage.
 The first thing we found is that our brain is able to process a photo faster than text. Our brains are made to process visuals, in fact I read our brains can process visuals 60,000X faster than text.
We found that you are able to identify who you are and tell your story as a business owner so your consumers are able to see who you are and what you are doing. It makes it easier for consumers to in-trust you to use your service or purchase the product you are offering. I read 85% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after viewing or watching a video of the product that is being sold.

You are able to keep consumers interested in your service or product by sharing a ton of information in the visual content you share and they will not feel overwhelmed as our brains respond to visual content easier. You will also be able to engage with your consmers as they can post photos on your business social media pages and not only share there satifaction with you service or their purchase, you are able to comment and communicate with them. You also will be able to hashtag your photos and it can then become a chain where your product or service is being shared with millions on the web and are able to gain new consumers and interact with current consumers and gain possible new consumer.
 With visual content you are able to get extremly creative and have fun with what you are sharing, you always want to make sure that not matter what you are sharing that you are using correctly and appropriate content on your page.

Below I share a short video with more information on why you as a business owner should use visual content on your webpage. 

Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I042qGW88wc 

https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-reasons-you-should-include-visual-content-in-your-marketing-data.aspx

Understanding Google Analytics for Small Business

Do you ever wonder how your online advertising is working online? Or how often people actual visit your site daily, weekly or even monthly? Google Analytics is the key to help you learn more about how your website is doing online. I bet your next question is, "what is google analytics?" Google analytics is an advanced technology which can help you measure how your company's online marketing and presence is working. It is a free program that will help your business grow online and may help your business improve online.

Here are ways of understanding how google analytics can tell you about your site:

• Know where your traffic is coming from
• who visited your site and see if they have return to your site more than once
• where your visitors are coming from
• what is the bounce rate
• the average time a visitor spend at your site
• great tracking data site

Here is video about how Google Analytics works:

Next step is to sign up for Google Analytics. There are many videos out on YouTube that can show you how to set it up but I will post several videos on google analytics with WordPress, Blogger, YouTube. Which every platform your using these are good tools to help you set up an account. I am more of a visual person so this helps me set up sites faster when I am stuck on figuring out how to post on my website.  

WordPress with Google Analytics:

Blogger and YouTube with Google Analytics:

Once you set up your account you will be able to see how people are finding your website and the most important is if others are sharing your website to others. After setting up the account you need to copy the tracking code and install this code to your website. It all depends which platform you are using but they are all pretty similar. The tab you want to go into is your setting menu and search for Google Analytics button. Once you find it, you will see the Web Property ID text field, enter the tracking ID that was given to you in the Google Analytics account and last make sure you click the save change button.




After you install your code, log back into Google Analytics to check if you installed your code in correctly. When you log back into Google Analytics your dashboard should appear with the tracking data that was obtained from your website you are using. Just remember that your account is so new that when you log back in there should be a big fat zero that shows that no one has gone to your website yet. Once you start posting your content this zero will eventually turn into number of people that view your page.


The more you publish your content on the web about your business the better overview you will get on how many visitors looked at your site. Google Analytics is a great tool to use for your business because it keeps track of your content and who visits them and which content is popular. There is so many different tutorials out there about how to use Google Analytics and I have just touch the basic about it, so if your just starting out learning about the analytics it will bring so much improvements about your business and your site. "What can Be measured can be improved!"




worksites:

https://www.lynda.com/Google-Analytics-tutorials/How-does-Google-Analytics-work/574707/608315-4.html

http://firedupdigital.com/how-to-use-google-analytics-for-your-small-business/
https://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2013/11/25/5-power-tips-leverage-google-analytics-small-smart-businesses/