How to Keep Up With the Dot-Coms!
Step 1 – Identify, Improve and Impress
Identify what needs to be on your website. Ideally, a business website should include at least a general overview of the company, list contact information with location, and provide product or service information. Improve what you have now so that your design and text support company goals. Impress people who look at your website first!

Step 2 – Develop and Discover
Develop your page until you are ready to be discovered. According to Ben Straley, nearly 80% of all Web site visits start with a search using Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. SEO, Search engine optimization, can help make your site more discoverable. After all, the results are based on relevancy.  More exposure can be found if your web site is easy-to-navigate, as it will have people talking and if it is located on other sites and has links, as it will encourage people that the answer is just a click-a-way!

Step 3 – E-vite and e-mail
Easily e-mail everybody that you communicate with regularly to promote and market your new site. With more energy and effort, you could utilize search engine marketing and display advertising.

Step 4 – Action!
Now that you have people going to your site, why not have them become involved? From reservation, registration, and send me more information forms all they way to completing a purchase can be added in time to a site. Focus on getting people to act.

Step 5 – Repeat, Retest, Reevaluate
Continually monitor and track leads, sales, clients, prospects, etc. to see if being online is for you and really paying off. According to Ben Straley, it is possible to sign up through Google for a FREE Analytics account that will track traffic of the visitors visiting your web site.

Hopefully in time these steps will turn into a prospect database and will progress toward profits.

Organized Bike Ride
It’s that time of year again. The 3rd annual Oswego Chamber bike ride will be held on Sunday August 19th. This year the family ride has really stepped up and added many fun events for the children and parents. Thanks to the Oswego Police Department there will be a Bike Rodeo that will teach children the proper way of riding a bicycle around the village of Oswego. It will teach the children things like obeying street signs and how to safely cross streets with their bikes. Along with the Bike Rodeo we will have many other fun activities such as moon walks, community rigs – where children and families can explore fire trucks and police cars. There will also be plenty of fun family games, as well as bike decorating for the kids and adults too. All of this will be topped off with a fun bike parade through downtown Oswego to show off the decorating done by the children. Please mark your calendars now and don’t forget to get your registration in now.