Today is Day 1. It’s the dawn of 2013. A new year, a new start.
Technically speaking, it’s the 2nd day of 2013 as I write this but for most people it’s the first day back to meaningful work.
The Holidays are over, it’s time to get down to business. Serious business.
Your 2013 Business Plan
You’ve got one right? Even if you scribbled down notes on a cocktail napkin at that party – it’s a start. Formal, informal, or all in your head, you’ve got something going. Good for you!
The first item you should have on your business plan is setting up a HOME BASE.
HOME BASE is the hub from which everything you do emanates from.
HOME BASE is where everything you do leads back to.
HOME BASE has to have a few critical elements. Check these off if you have them…
- Pleasing to the eye. It doesn’t have to be an artistic masterpiece but it shouldn’t remind anyone of the old MySpace days either. Something clean that represents you and your brand.
- Simple Navigation – can the visitor find what they came there for?
- Contact Info – is it easy to find? Really easy. Dead simple easy?
- Great SEO – That stands for Search Engine Optimization, meaning that it’s going to be found in search engines.
- Easy to use. You can update it, you can add pages, posts, pictures and video at will.
- Social Sharing. Is it easy for visitors to share to their preferred social spheres what they found? A Share, a Like , a Tweet, a Pin, or +1 should be 1 click away.
- You OWN it. The domain name, the hosting, everything. Should you change business names, affiliations or brokerages and the site goes with you to the new job.
If you have those 7 items you have a solid foundation started. Having a HOME BASE is going to be critical to your success.
Let me explain in a few examples…
1. You have a great article, picture, or video you want to share on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platforms. It starts as a post or article on your HOME BASE. From there it’s easily shared by you. Better yet, it’s also shared by others who come to the site. They might be sharing to the same social platform but to an entirely different social circle than yours. When they do – your message is reaching much farther than your original sphere. These are people we don’t know, people we’re not connected to. Friends of Friends of Friends. That’s a good thing.
2. When you post articles on your HOME BASE the search engines are automatically notified. Their Bots and Spiders are dispatched. When they arrive on your site they are given a road map of everything that is new. Your site is found in Search Engine Results for keywords that are relevant to your business plan. Make no mistake. This isn’t something you pay someone to do – it happens automagically when you use your site.
3. Your HOME BASE has ‘Calls to Action’ and ‘Lead Capture’. What they are depends on the business you are in. At the very least should be a mailing list sign up. For a real estate agent you might add a “How Much Is My Home Worth?” and / or an IDX showing the homes in the area currently for sale. A small retail business might offer a coupon or discount code for signing up for the mailing list. When we drive people to HOME BASE (see example 1 and 2 above) we don’t want them to just visit and go. We want to entice them to return again and again.
As a WordPress Developer, I think a properly built WordPress site is the right answer. Why? If you can write an email – you can use WordPress. Of course, I should also make it clear – you don’t have to be a blogger to use WordPress.
To Recap. HOME BASE is your place where everything starts. It’s where you drive all traffic. It’s where Google sends new people who search for something you have. It’s where you gather new contacts. It’s where you cultivate and grow relationships. It’s where you convert casual traffic to business results.
Your HOME BASE – It’s available right now. Let’s get started!
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^^ that’s a call to action by the way ^^
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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