This article was originally published by Gregg Murray for Elance.com.

The number of website strategies you need to implement for an effective online presence is a real head-spinner. I found it much easier to navigate once I created a list of the most important website strategies. Focus on these one or two at a time. As you do, you’ll find the process of creating or recreating your web presence much less stressful.

1. Simplicity
From the design of your website to the amount of content on the page, keeping things simple is one of the best things you can do to make life easier on yourself. A website with a clean design, simple navigation and ease of use is what will provide the safest solution to your web building dilemma. Not only will you save time, you’re also likely to save money. Even more importantly, your visitors will thank you.

Use my “Uncle Leo” test method to find out if your website is user-friendly enough to use. This is where you find the least technically-savvy person you know (I use Uncle Leo), have them go to your website, and ask them to find a specific piece of information or to take a certain action. If Uncle Leo can do it, then you know you’re on the right track. And that means you’ve done your job well. Here are a few more tips on keeping your website simple.

2. The Sales Funnel
Your website exists to help you build your business. By seeing your website as a potential sales funnel instead of just a flashy online brochure, you’ll generate more web leads and more opportunities for new business. The sales funnel process begins with driving potential customers to your site, keeping them there with a professional look and compelling content, inviting visitors to join your email list (throughout your site), and finally – following up with them to build trust, authority, and a bond. Once you have the sales funnel process incorporated into your website, you’ll find more potential customers reaching out to do business with you. Learn more about using your website as a sales funnel here.

3. Words That Connect
One of the most frequent mistakes I see solo-preneurs and entrepreneurs make is creating web copy that doesn’t connect with real people. This happens most often with us business and marketing folks over 40. We have a habit of taking our old media thoughts on copywriting and applying it to new media. In other words, we are more likely to keep things a bit stiff and stuffy instead of writing our web copy in a conversational tone. The Internet is the ultimate personal medium, and it’s important to keep the copy we feature on our website a bit more casual and conversational. If you can pull this off, your website visitors will feel more connected with you, and thus… BINGO… do more business with you. Here are some pointers on creating website copy that connects with your audience.

4. Make SEO Easy
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the key to being found online. Problem is, there’s information overload. People write books (really, really long books) getting into all the minutia of getting ranked higher in Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. The good news is that the 80/20 rule plays out big time with SEO strategies, and that means there are just a few things you need to do to achieve higher search rankings. This includes making sure your keywords are incorporated in your page title and your page description and are scattered at a 3-5% ratio throughout your web page. And if you’re targeting locally, always incorporate your city or town name as one of your primary keywords. Finally, take every opportunity to have your website linked to from other websites (and the bigger the better). Do just these items and your search ranking will make a huge leap. Need some pointers on SEO? Check out this free SEO lesson.

5. A Touch of Email Marketing
Emailing your clients and prospects is a dance of moderation. Send your peeps more email then they expect and they’ll leave you. Don’t email often enough and they’ll forget about you. So, what’s the right mix? For most entrepreneurs, once to twice a month is usually the sweet spot. Just remember that the key is to always provide helpful information up front in your emails and keep the pitch as secondary. If you do want to send a specific pitch to your email list, never do it twice in a row. A little bit of moderation will go a long way. Learn more about maximizing your email marketing.

6. Get Social
Without exception, I can’t think of a single business that won’t benefit from incorporating social media into their website strategy. The big three are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Facebook is perfect for most small businesses, especially when you’re wanting to reach a local audience. Twitter is excellent for connecting with those that spend more time than most online. And LinkedIn is a great connection tool for any business professional. Pick one. You’ll love it… It’s easy, and it’s free. Get more out of your social media with this guide.

7. Blogs Required
You gotta’ have a blog built into your website. A blog allows you to easily create single page posts about events, specials, tips, and company information to your website visitors. Not only do you get the benefit of keeping your website content fresh, you are also creating new content that search engines are on the lookout for. It’s a big win-win. A blog post every week is great for entrepreneurs, but once every two weeks or even once a month will still serve you well. Learn more about business blogging here.

8. Google Tools
If you don’t have a Google account, get one, it’s free. Yes, you’ll have to get a Google email address, but you don’t have to use it, except as your login name to get the other free Google goodies. Once you have a Google account, you can access some super important free tools that will help increase your website traffic. My faves include Google Places, Google Analytics, and Google Webmaster Tools. Even if you don’t know how to use these tools yet, go get your free Google account now, so you’ll be able to incorporate them soon.

9. Staying Connected
The biggest problem those of us have that already have a solid website is staying connected with our website visitors and those that are on our email list. The best advice I can give you is to always stay connected enough so that you’re not forgotten. That comes back to creating new and engaging blog post content several times a month and distributing great email content several times a month as well. I can’t tell you how often I’ve received a new and repeat business because I always find a way to stay in touch with my clients and prospects every 2-3 weeks. And with the quick access of Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, you can stay in touch with your social networking audience in no time as well.

10. Managing the Madness
Once the website is done, the email marketing is rolling, the blog is being updated, and the social media is in place, you have to manage the beast. Don’t beat yourself up. The secret to managing your website and online presence is “chunking.” That means instead of going to your website several times a week to do little things that can wait, keep a list and do it all at once as needed. My list every week usually has 3-5 things I may want to update. When I do them all at once, it saves my time and gives me more peace of mind… and those are two things no website owner wants to be without.

About the Author:
Gregg Murray is an award-winning website consultant, online marketing manager, and certified SEO. He is the author of Website Blueprint: The Beginners Guide for Small Business Owners and director of Website Elementary, an online home-study course for newbies. For more free website help, download Gregg’s Small Business Website Checklist.

Every time a person visits your web site and leaves without taking action, you have lost a prospect. The easiest way to capture that prospect and lead them into your online sales funnel is through the effective use of email marketing. Building an email list through your web site is a crucial element of keeping in touch with your prospects and increasing your sales.

Once visitors reach your website, they’ll do one of three things. They take action (make contact, sign up or buy something), bookmark you or click away. If someone takes action, great! If they click away, there’s not much you can do. And don’t count on those bookmarking you to come back anytime soon.

Fortunately, with a smart email marketing game plan and the right invitation, you’ve got your best shot for capturing their email addresses. And that can only mean one thing; more business.

Step 1
Utilize a professional online email marketing service that provides the tools and support you need to be successful. There are several options depending on the size of your company, but I’ve been really happy with Aweber over the past five years. If you have a webmaster, ask what they use. If you don’t have a webmaster, go with Aweber for their simplicity and service. Email marketing services start at less than $20.00 per month.

Step 2
Create the form (simple) at your email marketing services website and paste the code for that form into your web pages. This is not as hard as it sounds. The email marketing service will have a simple way to create the form, and you or your webmaster can just paste it right into your web site.

Step 3
Create a compelling offer why a visitor should join your email list. Best ideas include a special white paper or special report, a helpful top 10 list about your business or industry or even a coupon for toward their first purchase. If you want the best shot for getting those email addresses? Offer all three for signing up.

Step 4
Create a thank you or autoresponder message. This is the email your new subscriber will receive after they’ve signed up on your web site. This is a great place to introduce yourself, provide them what you offered in your invitation and let them know how you can help them any further.

Step 5
Stay in touch with your subscribers every couple of weeks. What should you email your list? Well, anything that would interest them as a potential customer.

- Think about the frequently asked questions people ask you about your business or industry. Each of those answers could be a future eblast (email broadcast).

- Send them other interesting articles or blog posts you come across. No, you can’t just copy and paste an article you found and treat it as your own. But, you can make an opening statement or provide some tips surrounding an article, and then include some of the article’s text, as well as a link where your subscriber can read the rest. Commenting on other articles or blog posts of interest to your prospects is a great way to stay in touch with little work on your part.

- Sales and special offers are perfect for email marketing. You can notify your subscribers about anything you need to promote. You can pre-schedule your emails weeks in advance.

These days, it’s all about building relationships and making an impact with those that visit your site. Email marketing is one of the most effective tools you can use to connect with your web site visitors and stay in touch until they become a new client or customer.

This article was originally published by Gregg Murray for AllBusiness.com.

Access the complete Creating a Business Website series.

If you want to turn website visitors into paying customers, you’ll want to remember that your website provides the opportunity to build relationships. This is so important to remember.

There are only a few ways to extend the relationship once someone is at your website. They can pick up the phone, email you, or come and see you. But, if they don’t do any of these, you’ve lost your prospect.

The solution is to persuade them to sign up to your email list (aka email marketing). Email marketing is a vital (and I mean the most vital) element to building relationships with your website visitors.

Your website should have a form on every page that simply asks for two pieces of information – first name and email address. When someone fills out that form, they’re now on your “email list” (email database). Once a “subscriber” (potential customer) is on your email list, you can begin to send out eblasts to all of these “subscribers” whenever you want. Of course, “whenever you want” shouldn’t be more than once or twice a month. The goal is to stay in front of your visitors or customers without overdoing it.

What type of information should you email your “list?”  There are three types of eblasts: promotional, informational, or a combination of the two.

1. A promotional eblast would contain details about your service/product, company news, a coupon or a sales pitch.
2. An informational eblast educates your subscribers. The idea is to brand yourself or your business as an authority or expert. If you owned a dry cleaning business, your eblast might include a couple paragraphs about how to get rid of stains on a certain piece of fabric, a review of a new leather care product, or a list about how to select the best tailor. The bottom line is to provide something that’s helpful to your subscriber that’s related to your type of business.
3. I think the best idea for small businesses is the combination eblast. It gives you the opportunity to first provide a helpful tip, followed by a soft sales pitch.

Two of the biggest questions I get about building an email list is, “how do I get people to subscribe?” and “how do I add my current client email addresses to my database?”

“How Do I Get People to Subscribe?”
You have to entice them by giving away something that is good enough that they would be willing to give you their email address. My best suggestion is to give away a special report, such as (if you were a dry cleaner): “10 Ways to Keep Your Clothes Looking Great” or “5 Insider Tips of Picking the Right Dry Cleaning Service.” If I were the dry cleaner, I’d also include a coupon for signing up; such as 25% off your first order.

“How do I add my current client email addresses to my database?”
Your email list must be 100% opt-in subscribers. That means that you can’t just add them to your list, they need fill out the form to subscribe themselves. The best way to do this is to email your customers in the traditional manner as you may have done in the past and ask them to sign up. Just be sure you give them something beneficial in exchange for signing up. This may be your special report, or some type of special customer coupon. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were a customer and received the email, what would it take for you to become a subscriber? With many email marketing services, your current email list only have to click a link to confirm themselves to your new database. Nice!

That brings us to what service to use for your email marketing. There are many out there. Perhaps the most well known is Constant Contact. The service I use and recommend is Aweber. You can sign up for an account, create a web form for your web person, and have them add it to your site (or do it yourself with Aweber’s help — they make it easy with great support). Then, you can begin to manage emailing your subscribers. There’s a learning curve to sending out that monthly email, but it’s not too steep. If you’re on a budget, it’s definitely a job that you may be able to handle yourself.

There aren’t many ways to build a relationship with folks who visit your website. But, email marketing is the one I’ve found to be the most simple and effective way to stay in touch.

This is Part 5 of Creating a Business Website. View the rest of this series:
Part 1 | Keep it Simple
Part 2 | Don’t Go Alone
Part 3 | Think Like Them
Part 4 | Get Clicked!
Part 5 | Build Relationships

Access the complete Creating a Business Website series.

Six up-and-coming online marketing experts were recently interviews for a series of audio blog posts at Website Blueprint. The interviews covered over 50 questions most frequently asked by small business owners and entrepreneurs. It’s now available free (on this very page) as the Website Blueprint Online Marketing Audio Series. Take a listen to the interviews below.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) 101
Craig Fifield of www.craigfifield.com discusses simple way to get your website to appear higher in Google.

Local SEO 101
Jon Rognerud of www.chaosmap.com discusses ways to be appear in Google’s local search results.

Email Marketing 101
Justin Premick of www.aweber.com discusses how to get started with email marketing.

Social Media 101
Laura Roeder of www.lauraroeder.com discusses which social media networks may be the best match for your business.

Business Blogging 101
Wendy Maynard of www.mavendiary.com discusses why a blog is so important for small businesses web sites.

Online & SEO Copywriting 101
Erika Napoletano of www.redheadwriting.com discusses how website wording can persuade visitors (and Google).

Interviews were conducted by award-winning website consultant, Gregg Murray. Gregg Murray is a website strategy blogger for AllBusiness.com, a website marketing contributor to The State Journal, and author of Website Blueprint: The Beginners Guide for Small Business Owners.

Gregg Murray of Website Blueprint interviews email marketing expert, Justin Premick of AWeber Communications. The 54-minute interview answers the top 20 questions small business owners want to know about professional email marketing.

Hover your mouse over the image below to see play/pause/volume controls.

I recently got together on the phone with Justin Premick, Director of Education Marketing at AWeber Communications for an in-depth interview on email marketing for small business owners. I wanted to ask all the questions I thought you would want to know about modern email marketing. If I missed one, add it into the comments area at the end of this post.

Here are the 20 questions we discussed during the interview:

• What are the pitfalls of “old school” email marketing (Outlook with CC & BCC fields)?
• What are the benefits of using a professional online email marketing service provider?
• How does an online email marketing service work, step-by-step.
• What happens to the data once someone has filled out an email form on a website?
• What are CAN-SPAM regulations?
• Can you use an email marketing service before you have a website?
• How do you get current client email addresses into a new email marketing database list?
• What is an “unsubscribe” link and why is it required?
• What is a “double opt-in” and why is it so important?
• What’s the difference between HTML and plain-text emails?
• Describe pitfalls of using an @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, or @hotmail.com email address?
• How can a small business owner build their email marketing list?
• How often should you email your clients (aka “subscribers”)?
• What are some good ideas for email marketing subject lines?
• What should you say in your email marketing messages?
• How can blog posts and email marketing messages be used together?
• What should a small business owner know about email “deliverability?”
• What is an “autoresponder”?
• How do you avoid being left in spam filters?
• How many email marketing messages should be information versus promotional?