Do you have a website? We all know that having a web presence is important. So before we really know any better, we go out, find a web designer, determine what the site should look like and how it should work. Several weeks later, after a few design changes and tweaks, it’s done and online. We couldn’t be happier, right.

After the site has been up several weeks, we have learned more about how the site should look or be laid out or just wish we had done some things a little differently. If we want the changes to happen now though, we have to rehire the web designer to make those modifications and that’s going to cost more money and it’s going to take time. Not that those changes really need to happen immediately. But, once you decide what you want, doesn’t it just make you crazy to have to wait for even the simplest changes? It does me (and maybe it’s just me but…).

There’s another way. Instead of a static website that rarely changes, I’d like you to consider a blog. You have the ability to change a blog as often as you wish. Make the changes you want, don’t like them, change it back. It’s very simple. The changes can happen on your schedule. Immediately or a few days from now. A site that is changing and evolving will keep your customers coming back to see what’s going on.

We recommend a WordPress blog. WordPress is free to use and is easily customizable. There are literally thousands of plug-ins that are also free to make the site do what you want it to do. You want the site to be SEO (Search Engine Optimized) friendly, there’s a plug-in for that. You want the site to have analytics, there’s a plug-in for that. You need a sign-up form for a mailing list, no problem, there’s a plug-in for that too. If you can think of it, there’s probably already a plug-in designed to it.

There are many free themes available as well. The theme is the skin. What the site looks like – the colors, fonts, how it’s laid out, etc. Install a new theme and the look and feel of the site changes. Installing a new theme literally takes a few seconds (finding the theme you want to use takes much longer). Along with the free themes that are available, there are also premium themes that can be purchased. The ones that we recommend cost about $100 give or take, have great support forums and free updates. Installation is a snap.

You can have your blog hosted free at WordPress but we recommend you buy your own domain name and have it hosted by the provider of your choice. You should be able to get hosting for $15 per month or less. Blue Host is an excellent service that is very WordPress and user friendly.

I’ll be writing more on this topic in future posts but if you are anxious to get started but would like some help, we offer website/blog installation. We would be glad to help you get started.

Thanks for spending some time with us today. We appreciate it!

Photo credit: Donncha @ InPhotos.org

Syn-er-gy – The combined effort being greater than the parts.  The working together of two or more people, organizations, or things, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities. A mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct business participants or elements (as resources or efforts).

Let’s look at this in terms of social media for minute.  Stores start a social media campaign to better communicate with their customers.  They let their customers know that they are on Twitter or Facebook or wherever.  Their customers choose to follow because they want to know what’s going on with your business.  That’s all good but, the only people that follow you are those that know about you and choose to follow you.  What about reaching potential customers?  What do you do to reach people that have never been to your store and maybe don’t even know of your existence?

This is where synergy comes in.  Let’s say your shop is in a plaza where there are several shops.  They could all be clothing stores or they could all be different kinds of shops – it doesn’t really matter.  Each of the shops individually attract 200-300 followers on social media.  If the group of shops combined their efforts and created a platform to reach out to all of their individual customers, think about the number of people each shop could then be reaching.  For example, let’s say there are 10 shops in the plaza.  Each shop has 200-300 followers.  Combining that group of shops would yield a following of 2,000 to 3,000 people.  That’s a huge difference.

Let’s look at one more thing.  By definition, synergy is the combined effort being greater than the parts, especially when the result is greater than the sum of the individual effects or capabilities.  This would lead you to believe that the following of the group then could be more than 2,000 to 3,000 people.  Is that possible?

Absolutely.  You’ve heard the old saying that two heads are better than one, right?  Well, it’s true.  By getting those 10 shop owners together and brain-storming, bouncing different ideas off of each other, the end result has the potential to be amazing.

We’ll talk more about this in posts going forward but I’d like you to really think about the possibilities of synergy in your community.  Let us know what you think?  We’d love to talk about it.

Photo credit:  kln2119