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Internet Strategies for Small Business Owners
Course Title: Internet Strategies for Small Business Owners
Course Number: SBX 7472
Course Hours: 9
Would you like to expand your market base and better connect with customers? The Internet is where millions of people go to research products and services, communicate, make purchases, and discover information they did not know before. As a business owner, you cannot afford to ignore the potential of the Internet as a marketing tool, sales driver, and business resource. Not only do you need a website to be competitive in today’s marketplace, you also need a strategy to optimize the use of your website and Internet tools. Discover the key elements of a website, considerations for building or buying a website, and how optimization and social media can increase your exposure.
Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will able to:
- Identify the critical elements for a small business website
- Understand the pros and cons of building or buying a website
- Ask the right questions when working with a website consultant or hosting provider
- Implement techniques to optimize internet searches of their websites
- Recognize and understand how to use social networking tools to promote their business
- Develop an Internet strategy that best fits their business
Content:
- Critical elements for a small business website
- Technology trends
- Types of websites
- Musts for every small business website
- Pitfalls to avoid
- Technical considerations (browser issues, download speeds, screen resolutions etc)
- Building vs. Buying a Website
- Available tools to build your own website
- Things to consider when deciding whether to buy or build
- Choosing the right vendor to build your website
- Maintaining your website
- Hosting and maintaining a website
- System availability and response time
- Security
- Backup and recovery
- Choosing the right vendor to host your website
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- How do search engines work?
- What can an SEO firm do?
- How can I “optimize” my website?
- Reporting on the results
- Social Media
- What is it and how does it work?
- Popular social networking sites and tools
- Marketing and connecting with customers and prospects
- E-Commerce
- Taxes
- Technical, security and processing issues
- Targeting
- Process flow
- Single-product landing page
- Completing an Internet strategy for your business
- Determining my goals for using the Internet as a business tool
- Setting your priorities (what elements best work for your business)
- Come up with an action plan
- Complete the plan!
- Monitor and measure the results
- Update your strategy
