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By Karen E. Klein Putting Your Web Site to Work You can have the niftiest site on the Internet and it won't matter a jot if potential clients don't know about it. Here's how to get some traffic Q: My investigative firm has had an address on the Internet for several months now, but we have received very few responses to that URL for business purposes. How can we increase the effectiveness of our Web site? -- N.K., Victorville, Calif. A: The Internet is a powerful tool for small business and can significantly enhance the bottom line, particularly when marketing a service firm like yours. However, as with any other sales and marketing avenue, your Web site must be properly positioned and managed properly to make it effective. Simply launching a Web site, amongst the more than 1 billion sites on the World Wide Web, is not going to work miracles for your firm. Your main goal should be to maximize the traffic that comes to your site. More hits equals more potential customers, informs your audience about the services you provide, and can even help collect information about your target market. SITE UNSEEN. Adding your site to search engines is an effective and easy way to increase Web traffic, says Donna M. McGuire of Upper West Web, a Web-development firm based in New York City. There is a free service, available through the Open Directory Project that will place your site onto the major search engines. Putting critical "key words" at the top of each page of code on your site will help bring your site up in a high position when Internet users are searching. "These should be words that customers would use in a search if they had to find you," says McGuire. You might use "investigation," "private eye" and "detective," for example. You can get detailed information online about this process, called "search engine optimization," and learn to do it yourself or find firms that will undertake the task of ramping up your Web traffic using search-engine optimization techniques. Another way to boost traffic is by marketing it the old-fashioned way: Tell people about it. Include your Web address on all your print materials and in ad campaigns. You can buy relatively inexpensive "keyword" ads at search engines like Google, so that your company's link will pop up in a highlighted box when Internet users type in particular search terms that relate to your business. Make the site compelling and useful, so that people will seek it out and return to it frequently. "Think of ways to maintain the attention of your audience by making the site informational, offering resources, and guidance," McGuire says. "Send periodic newsletters or new information, and then link to your Web site for more information. Mailing these ticklers will remind your customers and potential customers to visit." THE CUSTOMER KNOWS BEST. If you belong to professional associations and organizations, place their links on your site and ask them to reciprocate. Getting your link on as many other sites as possible will increase your traffic and bump up your search-engine placement. "Consider creating a directory page of useful links for your industry. Your customers will remember your site as a good resource and will be more likely to return," McGuire notes. Another idea is to try using your Web site for transactional purposes or make it more interactive, requiring the user to do something. Think about using the Web for obtaining orders, e-commerce, satisfaction surveys, or follow-up reminders. You can use e-mail to send congratulatory, seasonal, or thank-you notes, including a link to your Web site. It goes without saying that your site should be well designed, easy to use, and provide a quick, simple way for potential customers to get in touch. It is amazing, however, to see how many business Web sites do not include those attributes. Make sure that the information, graphics, and overall design layout are captivating and designed for the target audience. Finally, a word of advice from McGuire: "Keep the content fresh, updating periodically, and track the hits you get, in order to benchmark your progress. It never hurts to listen to your customers, either. Ask people about ways to improve your site, and include someplace specific on the site where they can let you know what they would like to see on it." Have a question about your business? Ask our small-business experts. Send us an e-mail at smartanswers@businessweek.com, or write to Smart Answers, BW Online, 45th Floor, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Please include your real name and phone number in case we need more information; only your initials and city will be printed. Because of the volume of mail, we won't be able to respond to all questions personally.  Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who specializes in covering covered entrepreneurship and small-business issues.
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