This is more of an internal list but I figured I’d make it into a blog post because this might help other designers/developers who do work for small businesses as well.

This list covers the final checklist for a small business site; if you have any ideas to add, please leave those in the comments. We would love to add more ideas to help out not only our future, but our current clients as well.

1. XML Sitemaps

Every site, large or small, should have a sitemap. If you’re using WordPress, there is a great plugin that will create a sitemap for you called Google XML Sitemaps. If you are not using WordPress, even though you should be, you can use the XML Sitemap Generator.

2. Google Webmaster Tools

Adding a site to the Google Webmaster Tools seems like a minor detail, but it can provide a vast amount of information and details about your site.  A few features of Google’s webmaster tools include: Malware diagnostics, Crawl errors, Crawl stats, search queries, and links to your site.

3. Analytics

Even if your client doesn’t want the statistics for their website, you should install analytics to give you the ability to track the site and set goals. Personally, I think Google Analytics is top notch but some other good ones are Mint and GoSquared.

4. Google Local Business Center

To allow your client to get the most bang for their buck, you should make sure they are listed in the Google Local Business Center so that they will appear in Google Maps and related search results. If you can’t do this for them, then consider shooting them an email with a link to the local business center, so they can do it themselves.

5. SEO Checkup

This seems minor, I know, but I often overlook setting the page titles and descriptions. The key to the SEO checkup is making sure none of the pages have the same title, tags, or descriptions, as this could have a negative effect on your rankings. Some prefer to do this while building the pages and some prefer to do it all at the end. It is all based on personal preference; no right or wrong way to do it as long as it gets done.

6. Social Security

Not the program run by the United States, but  take the opportunity to lock up names on social media sites for your clients such as twitter, facebook and more. This will not only allow them future room to move into social media but prevent someone else from taking the names.

Wrap Up

Some might think this list is common sense, but you would be surprised how often I forget to do one, if not more, of the above before we launch a site. Most of these take only a few minutes, but it is time no less. We budget in an extra hour into each project to make sure we can accomplish all of the above for our clients.

At the least, we send the client an email with instructions on how to do this themselves. I have found little tips like this really help build trust with your clients and it shows that you care about their business and that you want their business to succeed on the web.

Many thanks to Meredith Marsh of FLX Creative for proof reading this post!

Online business owners and merchants: now that you have traffic driven to your website and your services are available for all to see, the next obstacle to conquer is to be able to make that sale, over and over again. Attracting customers is relatively easy compared to building a loyal customer base; however, with a little creative marketing and profit flexibility your business can have a repeat consumer clientele by trying these indispensable retention methods.

To start, as a business, you will want to be able to make your product or service as well-known to the largest audience possible; while avoiding out-of-pocket costs. Consider promoting a special on your site offering a certain percentage off of the first purchase (usually 10%) for customers who sign up for your email lists. Additionally, you may wish to include a notation on the email list, when sent, that an additional 5 or 10% off a future order is available when a customer is referred, places an order, and uses their name as the referrer. You can generate a specific code or manually look-up a customer’s order to verify details and send an online coupon code to the intended referrer. This method is an excellent way to retain customers while expanding your customer base by using word-of-mouth marketing.

Another way to retain long-term customers is to offer a loyalty program. Loyalty programs can vary but the premise is after a designated number of orders, or by spending a specified amount of money, a customer is eligible for an incentive, usually in the form of a certain percentage off of the next order, a fixed dollar amount off of the next order (ex. take $5 off of $50 order), or a coupon for the next order to either ship free or have upgraded shipping. Depending on the type and nature of the goods or services sold, all businesses can accommodate loyal customers by offering one of the suggested loyalty rewards.

Above all, remember that the customer is number one. If conducting business in the virtual world, just as with a brick and mortar business, keep in mind that a customer’s first-hand experience can either help or hurt a business. More importantly, in the online world, word-of-mouth can travel faster and reach more people than ever; so be sure to excel at customer satisfaction and your consumer base will be around for a very long time.