SEQUIM — There’s a simple something that must be clear on every part of your business website.
Putting this bit of information on each page — at both top and bottom, if you want to really do it right — helps you win clients instead of frustrating and driving them away.
That bit, said website consultant and Peninsula College instructor Renne Brock-Richmond, is your contact information. As in your phone number and e-mail address.
All too many websites don’t make that obvious enough, she said, and so the businesses behind them can miss out on new customers.
This advice was part of a free Cultural Connections talk Saturday night in the media room at The Lodge at Sherwood Village.
The Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance (www.SequimArtsAlliance.org) presents such talks monthly, and Brock-Richmond’s evening on “Expressive Websites” drew a variety of local business people, including Catherine Mix, owner of The Cutting Garden, a you-pick flower farm and wedding site in Dungeness (www.CuttingGarden.com), and Linda Melos, a naturopathic doctor in Sequim (www.LindaMelosND.com).
Numerous ideas
Brock-Richmond, herself a website and event-planning consultant, delivered numerous pointers on how to make a website more alluring, how to use social media such as Facebook to attract newcomers to it and how to make a site come up more often in Google searches.
To begin with, the first look, or “landing page,” of a business website must outline:
• What you’re selling.
• Whom your business is appealing to.
• The action you want the visitor to take: for example, calling or e-mailing to set up an appointment.
• Why and how the visitor would contact you.
Adding a blog — a Web log where you write about products, past and future events and special offers — is an excellent way to bring in new clients, Brock-Richmond said.
Not about vanity
Blogs aren’t about vanity, she added; they’re vehicles for stories from your clients.
Besides your blog, you can create a Facebook page, by following the steps provided on the “create a page” link on www.Facebook.com.
Along with the photo site www.Flickr.com and the video site www.YouTube.com, Facebook is part of the social media tide washing over anybody who goes online these days.
And such sites aren’t just for socializing anymore.
“The purpose of social media,” Brock-Richmond declared, “is to drive business to you.”
For example, use Facebook fan pages to invite people to visit your website. The Cutting Garden has several fan pages, including one for its store and one for its florist.
Other ways to make your website and Facebook page more fun to visit:
• Post customer comments, invite feedback and respond positively to that feedback.
• Cross-pollinate across the Internet by providing links to related websites.
• Add photos of events that might show your audience in action.
“This is the Pacific Northwest, so be smart and use humor,” said Brock-Richmond.
High position
If you want your website address to pop up high on the list when people use search engines, she advises continual adding of new tidbits, blog posts and links to other sites. This may seem time-consuming, but it pays off in customer traffic.
It’s a good idea to use — and change — colors and graphics on your Web pages, Brock-Richmond said.
But don’t let things get too cluttered. She seeks to keep things clean and clear on her business’ website, www.UniqueasYou.com.
And she teaches this stuff in community education classes in Peninsula College’s Sequim location, at Dungeness Design, 520 N. Sequim Ave.
Among the offerings during the summer session are short courses in website design, social media and Facebook, Photoshop Elements and computer basics.
For information about class dates, times and fees, e-mail RenneB@PenCol.edu, phone Peninsula College at 360-452-9277 or visit www.PenCol.edu.
The summer quarter starts the week of June 21, and registration runs May 27 to July 1.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
