The BMW Charity Pro-Am Golf Tournament provides Greenville with a great deal of benefits from celebrity sightings, outdoor concerts, good golf, money for local charities and economic development. Now Web.com has entered the playing field to provide resources to our small business community.
Web.com has announced its 10-year participation as the title sponsor for the PGA and Pro-Am Tour internationally.
Following the tournament win by Mark Anderson on Sunday, May 19, Web.com and SCORE hosted a Small Business Forum at the TD Convention Center in Greenville.
Aiding Small Businesses
Bobby Hitt, SC Secretary of Commerce, welcomed more than 80 business owners and expressed his appreciation for the involvement of Web.com in this tournament and the continued resources they bring to the region. Hitt recognized that while large business can often resolve their own problems, we must help small businesses find the help and relationships they need to succeed. In his role as commerce secretary, Hitt explained several ways the state is assisting the small-business community:
• SCbiznetwork.com offers an array of programs serving the needs of small businesses across the state.
• Another successful program has been a Matchmaker Lending series, which offers a direct connection to both traditional and non-traditional lending sources for small businesses.
• BUYSC is a program that has been developed to help small businesses get in on the bidding process with large companies.
Workforce Drives Economy
Workforce development is one of the most important issues in the state, Hitt said, and through both the WorkKeys program and Ready SC, we are improving our skilled workforce and diversifying our economy. Partnerships between technical schools and the business community further help set us apart.
Keys to Online Strategy
Aman Devgan, vice president of marketing for Web.com, provided the attendees with the fundamentals of online marketing. Aman explained that online marketing is a key ingredient in formulating a business plan and provided the following tips to develop an online marketing strategy:
• Determine the goal of the website: most often to drive calls, leads or visits. The website should always include the phone number, hours of operation and address, Aman said, noting that it sounds simple but is often overlooked. Visitors will only spend a couple of seconds on a website, so it is important to make it easy for them to find what they are looking for.
• Now that they have found what they are looking for, make it easy for them to understand by adding trustmarks, a term he described as indicators that the visitor should do business with you and associations that prove your credibility.
• Linking to relevant sites and having them link to you will not only edify your business but increase traffic as well, Aman said.
• Adding pictures and keywords or short sentences will help customers understand your value proposition.
Once you have formulated your strategy, Aman suggested ways to get recognized, noting that a search engine will present your website with the best interest to match searches and provide a better ranking if you incorporate tactics to consistently track the performance of your keywords, claim your Google Places page and optimize it and create social media pages that you can update regularly.
Keep It Mobile and Flexible
With technological advances and the urgency of the consumer, more and more customers are searching for business on a mobile device. And not just searching, Aman said: This type of mobility allows the customer to more readily purchase. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices.
Aman stressed the understanding of ecommerce by providing online solutions, noting that 83 percent of Americans are buying products online every month, and that 97 percent of consumers start their search for local services and products locally.
Therefore your website must accept payments, employ a PCI-compliant shopping cart, provide effective shipping options and lastly should feature merchandising and management tools and have capability to analyze sales.
Ultimately, Aman said, your website should clearly reflect your business value proposition, prove your credibility, provide effective access to resources and track the ability to drive traffic and increase customers.
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Claudia Wise is the manager of small business of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. She is responsible for bringing informative and educational programming for businesses with 50 employees or fewer, providing resources and networking opportunities.
