A friend of mine was kind enough to send me this article, I think it has some good ideas and reminders. Hope you find it of value!
Creating and funding a tech or business start-up in this economy is a challenge. You have to be smart, lean and focused on the numbers and work flow.
To achieve excellence in building a business requires a combination of hard work, craft, timing and luck. Out of the hundreds of business startups over a given time period, you might only learn of a few that offer a great new product or service.
It helps to nail down the functional steps in creating a start-up business. Here are 5 good tips to help your startup business.
1. Find a Smart Domain Name
Domain names are important for several reasons. A good domain name identifies and typifies your company – maybe a domain name like cleanitout.com will work if you’re in the plumbing business. Be creative, have fun, but don’t get overly cute in your eventual domain choice
Domain names that are short are easier to remember – try to stay away from a long confusing URL like bensonhurstandbrothersincorpatedlawfirm.com. It’s just bad practice.
Domain names work better in search rankings when your keywords are linked within – If you run an auto repair business in Tampa, FL, try to find a URL like TampaAutoRepair.com – you’ll be amazed how search terms and domain names connect online.
2. Research a Solid Web Host
Web hosts are nearly as important as everything else. Things to look for in a good web hostinclude bandwidth allotment, reliability, speed of access, data transfer and more.
Speed and function of your website reflects greatly on your business. Your site needs to be on a reliable, consistent web host. There are many great options online, including VPS hosting from myhosting.com, to make sure you get the best reliability and performance. Don’t skimp on the host.
3. Keep it Simple and Informative
As you start to describe how great your business is and in how many areas you can compete well, avoid the dreaded ‘too much text’ syndrome. Too often, a company gets carried away with too-wordy descriptions on its website of everything that it does. Have a main page that succinctly tells who you are, what you do, and why you are good at it. Tell site visitors boldly and briefly how your business can help their problem.
Also, make sure your contact page has real contact information that you will react to. Include addresses, phone numbers, Facebook, and Twitter page info along with an email contact page.
4. Back-up. Back-up. Oh, and back-up
Make sure that you back up website data, customer information, and any business data often. What steps can you take about your customer contact information? What about customer history? This detailed work is important for your start-up website. Take control and make sure you have a solid back-up plan in case of internet, website, and computer network failure.
5. Social Media Time
Building a business today is hand in hand with building your personal profile online. Develop a helpful, generous online tone, and you’ll start to find that your social media voice reflects well on your business work. Social media for your website will help you find new customers online and help your start-up gain a new brand presence. Get your basics taken care of and you’ll be ready.
Achieving excellence with your business start-up takes perseverance and hard work. Make your web site count with the steps above and your start-up will be on its way to bigger and better things.