Will I Get Rich?

The short answer is no.
But don't stop there, continue reading!

Everyone in the webdesign and web hosting business has had a client come back to them 6 months or 9 months down the road demanding a refund because they aren't rolling in the dough after putting up a website.

We know it sounds ludicrous to the vast majority of people, but it's more common than you'd suppose.
So... no refunds if you expect to get rich from having a website but doing no work. :)

You can get rich from your website, but only if you invest your time and energy into it!

Are there any specific methods you recommend for helping me promote my website?

Absolutely.

As anyone with a successful online business knows, advertise advertise advertise. But this doesn't always mean advertise online! If you have a business that serves a local area you should be advertising locally in traditional media. Newspaper classifieds are cheap and effective. With a simple 3 line ad, including your website URL, you just virtually sent out a brochure of as many pages as you want for the cost of that little $20-30 classified ad! Direct mail is another very effective advertising method -- again, you send out one unaddressed admail (in Canada they're 11.1 cents each, in the US bulk mail is 28 cents) to your targeted areas and, depending on the size of your website, in essence you just mailed a 20-200 page brochure for pennies!

If you market primarily to a specific trade, and you are able to service a market regionally or even globally, you should be advertising in specialize trade magazines and suppliments -- a small business card sized ad with your domain name on it is just like sending out a fifteen to twenty page magazine insert! If you're a larger corporation just look at the examples set by other large businesses looking to expand their internet presence. Large internet businesses like Yahoo, Godaddy and Outpost would not be spending money on TV ads and magazine ads promoting their websites if they thought (or knew) that all they needed to do to be successful was toss up a website and then sit back and watch the cash roll in. So why would you?

Nobody knows your business better than you. You already know who buys your products, and you already know there are countless untapped potential customers out there ...but how to get them to purchase from you? Well, first they need to know you exist! Just tossing up a webpage won't get you many (if any) sales. A real world example: our yearly new customer base consists of about 2% of clients we've received due to a search in a search engine (and we have some very high, first page, rankings for a lot of different keywords). Another 2% is from paying for online targeted ads including google adwords, paid search engine listings and clickthrough advertising on websites. Not counting clent referrals, the bulk of our clients come from traditional advertising methods like we've mentioned above and not from online methods. Amazing considering we're an online business!

Nobody knows about your business unless you tell them

Along with traditional advertising avenues (direct mail, newspaper & magazine ads, billboards and signage) you definitely want to ensure your website is search engine friendly and take advantage of every known tip and trick to improve your rankings. Getting on the first result page or second result page on Google, Yahoo and MSN is a really good idea. Even if it only results in an extra handful of sales each month, that's still new clients you would have never reached with a regional or national advertising campaign (it's also a lot cheaper).

That is why so many online businesses invest in search engine optimization (SEO).

Is it worth it to me to pay hundreds of dollars on SEO?

If it's done right, yes. But don't believe any company that claims they will get you top ten search engine placement and all you need to do is pay a small $99.00 fee. If they do, and they guarantee it, then you will see the fineprint says for a very specifc multiple word search term. EG: lets say your business sells janitorial supplies. You won't get promised a top ten search engine placement for the search term "Janitorial supplies" -- you will instead find that they guarantee that "your comany name janatorial supplies" is what they'll get in the top ten. This means that somebody seaching for "janitorial supplies" will find your site, but it will most likely be in the 500-10,000 ranks. Only the specific search term "your company name janitorial supplies" will be in the top ten. Get it?

But you offer SEO services at Go Graphical! Yes, we do. but we do not make false claims as to getting your website into the top ten. At least we wouldn't make such a claim without attaching a $50,000 price tag to it, and even then we couldn't possibly guarantee a top ten placement for search terms such as "cars", "electronics", "books", etc.. We will, however, optimize your pages so your specific relevant search terms have really good weighting and will do exponentially better in google ranking and yahoo results than they did before. We know all the tricks to getting good search results : just check "world class website design" and see who is #1 on Yahoo, #4 on Google, #2 on MSN and so forth. We didn't get ranked in the top ten on all 3 main search engines by chance! The search term "Go Graphical" is also #1 in almost every search engine we've checked.

Are banner ads and banner exchanges worth it?

If you're a new website, yes. They will help increase your search engine rankings and they will drive a small amount of traffic to your website. Unless you have a large marketing budget, and you have specific products or services you can target to niche markets -- ie: buy ad space for your new telescope on space.com or telescope.com -- don't expect to get much traffic from paid banner adertising. Also expect to get at best 0.1%-0.5% of click through traffic actually converting into sales or sales leads as well. (This is something none of the banner companies out there tell you up front.)

One of the best investments you can make with your online advertising money is utilizing Google Adwords. If you have a good idea what words people are going to use when searching for your product you can pay to get top 5 results, and even then you only pay if they click on your ad and visit your site.

Some ebooks we recommend
Helpful information for any website owner

Also, be sure to visit our Free Website Tools section on the website for more free & superb goodies.

Is it worth it to have a website?

If you're asking that question, and you didn't just arrive in a time machine from the early 90's, please allow up to give you a resounding "YES!" A well designed website containing the imporant information you want to convey to your customers pays for itself before the first year is through.

Even so, don't just run out and get a website for your business! It needs to be carefully designed for your message to be understood in the most efficient way! A site needs to get your message across and can give much more information than a television commercial or news advertisement might and allow you to sell your products and services, as well as, promote your business worldwide. The overall reach of the World Wide Web (WWW) gives you instant access to global markets. Even if your business is focused on local customers, worldwide reach can never hurt and sometimes leads to new and unexpected opportunities. There is no practical limit to the amount of information you can put on your website. It's also a great way to give your clients information that educates them about your business. Customers like it because it helps them become a better buyer and it benefits your business because consumers are more likely to buy from someone who offers them an ability to evaluate products and services they are considering.

Go Graphical will help you design your website to be exactly what you need. We also have technical writers and content writers whom can take your written copy and turn it into an effective online presentation.

What are the benefits of having a website?

Well, lets list a few of the obvious ones!

1. Today, consumers expect to have information about your company and your products available online.
2. A business that doesn't have a website simply does not come across as professional, and that business lacks longevity in the eyes of the consumer - that's a bad thing.
3. Everyone at your company can have theirname@yourdomain.com addresses instead of a hodge-podge of email addresses that give you no added benefit or exposure. (Why advertise for your ISP when your email address should be telling everyone you contact about your own domain name?)
4. Save money - More can be included on your website; can be updated at any time, and save re-printing costs. - that's a good thing!
5. Attract new customers - Put your website on business cards, pens, stationery, etc.
6. Effective for any company - Useful for local customers, as well as, possible national or worldwide trade! - that's a great thing!
7. Reach previously untapped markets globally, you'll never know what sort of opportunities you may run into simply because you have an effective online presence.
8. ... and much more. (There are literally hundreds of great reasons to have a website.)

What can GO Graphical do for me?

Keeping in mind what we've outlined above, take a look at our current web design packages to see if one suits your budget. Please bear in mind NONE of them are written in stone, and we are entirely flexible in any size, shape or form of website design. We'll taylor what we do to what you need.

The website design packages we have listed on the website are primarily to let you know what is available to the average small to medium business owner and at what general price range. If you're considering having a website created: contact us so we can discuss what it is you want, and advise you on what it is you need.