1. technology and computing
2. internet technology
3. web search

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Small Business
© 2008 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved.
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Monday, August 11, 2008
How to Create
A Successful Web Site
ForNothing
(Or Almost
Nothing)
By Vauhini Vara
AVE YOU GOT eight hours and
$1O? Then
you can build a Web site for your busi­
ness.
Thanks to competition among Web­
hosting providers, and the falling costs
of Web storage, it's never been easier to get a
Web site up and running-from buying the do­
main name to building a site to setting up a pay­
ment system to tracking traffic.
But many small businesses still seem intimi­
dated by the job. In a survey published last year,
JupiterResearch LLC found that just 36% of on­
line small businesses-that is, businesses with
fewer than
100 employees,
where managers ac­
cess the Web at least once a month-have Web
sites.
So, here's a guide for owners looking to make
the leap online. W�'ll lay ourarnnesteps you
need to take to build your site, and present some
expert opinion about getting it noticed and keep­
ing track of customers-all with no technical
background required.
1. BUY A WEB ADDRESS
First, you have to buy a domain name-e.g.,
YourCompany.com-for about
$10 a year. As an
example, we'll show how to buy a domain using
the registrar Go Daddy Group Inc., but you can
shop around at others, such as Tucows Inc. and
Register.com Inc.
Type the domain name you want in the search
box at GoDaddy.com. If it's taken, try another.
When you've settled on one, scroll to the bottom
of the page and click "Proceed to Checkout." Ig­
nore the offers for additional products and ser­
vices, continue to the checkout page, enter your
payment information and hit "Checkout Now."
You're now the owner of a Web address.
Web pages.
ness executives say they pay up to $1,000 a year
All you need to do is visit the Web site for one
for Web hosting, and about another third pay
2. FIND A HOME
more than
of these hosting services-such as Microsoft
$1,000.
For years, companies have charged small busi­
Fortunately, in the past year, a number of com­
Corp.'s Office Live Small Business, Weebly Inc.
nesses a fee to "host" sites-store the sites' con­
panies have begun providing hosting services
or SynthaSite Inc.-and enter a user name, a
tent on their computers. According to a recent
free of charge. They often make money by charg­
password and some other details. Then visit your
survey from Jupiter, about a third of small-busi-
ing for premium services or running ads on your
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Monday, August 11, 2008
R3
MANAGING TECHNOLOGY
Creating a Successful Site for Ahnost Nothing
Continued from page R1
where they can enter payment informa­
all-could turn off potential customers.
up prominently in search results if peo­
tion. You don't have to do any work to
If you run a funeral parlor, for instance,
ple search for the exact name of your
process the transaction.
ads could come across as distasteful.
business. But the trick is to show up
The basic serVice is free, but you have
Also, you'll probably need a lot of traf­
when people search for complicated
to pay a fee each time someone pays you:
fic to make significant money from the
terms related to . your business, like
30 cents, plus 1.9% to 2.9% of the transac­ ads, since you typically get just a few "wedding flower arrangements."
tion. This basic serVice isn't fancy-if you
cents when someone clicks.
That's because you want to attract peo­
-want to build a full-blown retail site,
For Tim Carter, ads made a lot of
ple who might not know about your
3. BUILD YOUR SITE
you'll probably want to buy special e-com­
sense. Mr. Carter; a former carpenter,
business but are looking for something
merce software-but to offer a basic pay­
wrote a home-improvement column
that you provide.
Once you've got a host, you'll want to
ment option on your site, it's enough.
running in papers across the U.S. The
Mr. Clay offers two shorthand ways
design your site. The good news: Most
To set up an account, click on the
only problem: Publishers were paying
to do this. First, ask your employees to
of the free hosting serVices proVide
"Business" tab at PayPal.com and fol­
tools that let you build a site quickly,
low the instructions. Once you've done
without lots of technical know-how.
this, click on the "Merchant Services"
. The Cost of. Space
Among the things you'll need: a wel­
tab. Then, choose "Website Payments
coming home page; an "About" page
Standard," from the left-hand column.
f For small companies that do have
that describes you and your business;
You'll see three orange buttons you
: a Web site, what do top executives
and a "Contact", page that tells people
can place on your site: "Buy Now," "Add
: or owners plan to. spend this year
to
.
where you're located and how to reach
ft
to Cart" and "Donate." If your custom­
� host the site?
you. The' rest depends on your business.
ers are likely to purchase one item at a
If you own a restaurant, you might in­
time-say, a yoga lesson or a day-care
clude a "Menu" page. If you're selling a
session-click on the link under the
product, you might include a "Store"
"Buy Now" button, which will send
page where people can buy your wares.
them directly to a page where they can
Adding those things can be simple.
pay for the item. If your customers
In Weebly, for instance, click on the
might want to browse around your site
"Pages" tab, then choose "New Page."
for different types of items before pay­
In Office Live, click "Web pages" in the
ing, choose the "Add to Cart" button,
which lets buyers fill a shopping cart
top left-hand corner of the editor and
choose "New page." In SynthaSite, click
with several items before checking out.
"New Page" at the top of the editor.
The "Donate" option is mostly for peo­
��.
In each case, doing so calls up a
ple who aren't selling anything, like
The percentage of online small
blank page template, like opening a . bloggers soliciting donations.
Dusinesses1' with Web sites
new document in Microsoft Word. Once
You can then follow the instructions
lOO%·,··.. :;···v·······;.w·...... ·,·,··········-.··
to create a button for each item you want
you've created a page, you usually can
to sell. PayPal will give you some HTML
add content simply by typing the text
you want into the template and drag­
that you can paste into your Web site to
$25,000 $49,999
girtg and dropping graphics.
add the buttons. You should put these
$50,000-$74,999
There are some downsides to these
buttons on your "Store" page, next to a
free hosting serVc
i es. Each offers several
picture and description of each item.
$75,000 -$99,999
dozen design templates, but you could
The service has been a boon' for
0
0
1
5
10
25
still end up with a site that looks pretty
Graydon Blair of Syracuse, Utah, who.
to 4
to 9 to 24 to 99
generic, unless you have Web-design
sells biodiesel supplies at UtahBiodie­
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
skills or hire someone who does. What's
seISupply.com. When he started his
'j Small buslnesSl!s wh�(e an owner« otj\er top
more, most of these services don't offer
company, MGBJ Enterprises LLC, he
executive uses the Internet at least on�1! a month.
looked for software to add a shopping
an easy, one-click way to add flourishes
Source: JupiterResearch Llc
cart to his site. "All of them wanted me
such as shopping carts or more than two
to pay them lots of money, and I
columns on a page; that, too, takes some
him a pittance.
know-how. Mostly, you just arrange pic­
send you a couple o( words or phrases
thought their stupid shopping carts
that describe what your company does
In 2004, Mr. Carter figured out how
tures, text and other elements, and that's
didn't look nice," he says. So, "I built
and incorporate that language into
to make serious money from his
it. And, sometimes, even doing that can
my little Web site, and threw some Pay­
your site. Second, do a Web search for
work-by tapping into AdSense. He had
be tricky for nontechies.
Pal buttons on there."
terms related to your business and look
been posting his work on his own site,
There's one more free and easy way
Visitors to his Web site can use a
at the language used in the top search
AskTheBuilder.com, for nearly a de"Click here to purchase" button to add
to improve the design of your site-us­
cade. Google scans his site-which has
results. For instance, a search for "cow­
ing HTML programming code. Fortu­
an item to their shopping cart and buy
boy boots" turns up several Web sites
separate pages for topics like cabinets,
nately, you don't neep. to have program­
it via PayPal. Payments get sent di­
ming skills'to use HTML. All you need to rectly to Mr. Graydon's PayPal account, fences and mold-and places appropri- that also use the phrase "Western
ate ads on each page, such as pitches for, wear." The fact that those sites turn up
know is that a block of HTML-essen­
minus the PayPal fee. He says he now
kitchen cabinets and mold removal.
so high in sear£h results means that
tially, a bunch of gobbledygook words
does 100 to 150 PayPal transactions a
He has since branched out by selling
they're dOing something right. So, if
and symbols-can add extra features to
week. He brought in $750,000 in reve­
you sell cowboy boots, you should also
other types of ads. Taken together, his
nue last year and is on track for more
your site. And numerous third-party
refer to Western wear on your site to
ads bring in close to $2,000 a day, based
sites offer handy HTML blocks you can
than $1 million this year.
draw additional traffic.
plug into your site, as easily as copying .
on daily traffic of about 40,000 visitors.
He has also branched ou,t by hawking
You should also make sure to in­
and pasting text in Microsoft Word.
5. GET SPONSORS
clude those phrases in your page titles­
his own products, like a stain-removal
Ali Shapiro, a health counselor in Phil­
bleach. In total, his site brought in more
the headings that appear in the blue bar
adelphia, recently found one such pro­
than $1 million in revenue last year.
at the top of a browser window-since
It's easy to add advertisements to
gram-an appointments calendar-at
search engines pay particular attention
"I'll tell people in my columns,
ScheduIy Ltd.'s site. She copied a .snip­ your Web site to make extra cash. Every
to these. (How do you change the title
'Look, this is what you need to do: But
time someone clicks on an ad on your
pet of HTML from Scheduly and pasted it
they're still going to need the products-bar? In Weebly, click the "Settings" tab
page, you get paid a small amount,
into-the-"Contact" page at her own site,
and type in the "Site Title" field. In Of­
which varies depending on the particu­
to do it-and that's what they see in
PyourNutrition.com. The result: Visitors
fice Live, click the "Page Editor" tab,
those ads," Mr. Carter says.
to Ms. Shapiro's site can see a calendar
lars of the ad.
then click "Page Properti�s" and type in
One of the most popular serVices is
with her free time slots and sign up for
the "Page title" field for each page. In
Google Inc.'s AdSense. Advertisers pay
appointments over the Web.
6. GET KNOWN
SynthaSite, click the "Properties" tab
Googletoplace ads on Web sites through­
and type in the "Window Title" field.)
out the Internet; site owners, meanwhile,
4. GET PAID
If you primarily do business locally,
So, you've got your site up and run­
can sign up at Google.com/adsense to
there are other ways to get noticed.
ning. Next, you'll want to be sure people
host those ads on their pages.
Start by trying this exercise: Type "Se­
can find it.
You've probably seen the ads, which
Probably the easiest way to let cus­
attle spas" in Google and pay attention
often appear as blocks of text along the
We asked two experts, Bruce Clay of
tomers pay you online is to let some­
to the results. At the top of the page,
Bruce Clay Inc. and Alan Rabinowitz of
body else handle the technical work.
right-hand column of a Web site. Goo­
you'll see several spa listings, with
SEO Image Inc., to reveal some tricks
gle scans the content of participating
One popular option is PayPal, from
eBay Inc. The service lets people pay sites to decide which ads would work about search-engine optimization­ phone numbers, reviews and Web-site
links, next to a map showing each spa's
moving your site to the top of search-en­
best on the pages. For instance, an ad
you by clicking a button on your Web
location.
gine results.
for used cars might appear on a site
site, which takes them to a PayPal page
Below that, you'll see traditional
Start with your site itself. You'
with car reviews.
Ms. Vara is a writer in Iowa City,
search results, but many of the links
should use language on the site that is
But you need to ask: Will ads actu­
Iowa. She can be reached at
won't send you to a specific spa's Web
associated with the business. Let's say
ally improve your site? Showing the
[email protected].
site. Instead, they'll send you to a news
you're a florist. Most likely, you'll show
wrong ads-or, sometimes, any ads at
domain-name registrar and tweak your
settings so that your Web address
points to the service you've chosen.
The hosting service will give you in­
structions on how to do this.
�'il:II,: I·
•
or review site, like Citysearch or Yelp,
that talks about area spas.
So, it's important to get into the list­
ings at the top of the page, next to the
map, as well as into the news and re­
view sites. To do that, first register
your business with Google's Local Busi­
ness Center (Google.com/local/add). By
entering some details, like your busi­
ne�s's address and phone number, you
can automatically be listed in Google's
local results at the top of the page.
Next, the news and review sites. Say
you're a spa owner in Seattle: Click on
the Citysearch page that comes up in a
search for "Seattle spas". and find con­
tact information for a Citysearch editQr
who might want to include your spa in
the site's list.
Also click on the links for review
sites like Yelp, which solicit reviews
from businesses' customers and often
give businesses a way to list them­
selves. Don't review your own business
on these sites (it's usually against the
rules), but you can encourage your cus­
tomers to post reviews, as long as you
don't bribe them with freebies (also
usually against the rules)..
7. TRACK YOUR TRAFFIC
A bunch of companies offer free
tools to help you track who visits your
Web site, how they find it and what
they do once they're there. This can
help you tweak your Web site to attract
more potential customers.
The best-known provider of tools is
Google; you can find its offerings at Goo­
gle Webmaster. Central (Google.
com/webmasters). We'll focus on one
of the programs: Google Webmaster
Tools (Google.com/webmasters/tools).
To set this up, follow Google's in­
structions for uploading a fIle to you,r
Web site so that Google can track it.
Once you've done this, look at a few ar­
eas on the Google Webmaster page.
In the "Statistics" area, click on "Top
search queries." This shows you two
things: the search queries for which
your Web site turned up, and the que­
ries from which people actually visited
your Web site. If a search term appears
in the first li'st but not in the second, it
means your Web site is showing up in
search results for that term, but people
aren't clicking on it.
To improve your site's performance
for that term, you should tailor the lan­
guage in your Web site. Say your Web
site shows up in searches for "experi­
enced Seattle therapists," but nobody
is clicking on it; that suggests that you
might want to describe your level of ex­
perience on your site to improve your
performance..
You can find another handy feature
of Webmaster Tools in the "Links" area.
Click on "Pages with external links" to
see a list of other sites that include
links to your site. This can give an in­
sight into how others view your site.
For instance, if you run a bar and see
that a local hotel links to it from its own
Web site, you can guess that the hotel is
recommending your bar to its custom­
ers. So, you might offer special dis­
counts to that hotel's visitors. III
WSJ.com