10 Tips for Green Business Owners on the Web

If you’re a green business owner looking to create or expand your web presence, this list is for you. We at CalFinder Solar are happy to break down some essential web tips for you.  After all, with your prosperity comes ours.

1. Work From the Inside Out – Make sure all your staff and web team are on the same page when you are designing your website.  Then, make sure that the steps you take are actually accomplishing your goal of promoting and selling your product.  Keep your top priority, sales, in mind when you go about setting up the page (even if you have a rockin’ product/service that has the potential to sell itself).
2. Write Content to Who Are You Targeting - This is especially important because if you’re designing your page to be viewed by retirees looking to go solar at home, but your actual hits are coming from twenty-somethings, you’ve missed the target audience and thus, the sale.
3. Tell Them Who You Are, What You Do – Be concise but be sure to explain who you are, what you do and why your product or service is a good investment.  Green is great, but we’re talking dollars and cents.
4. Watch Out For Utopia – Painting the rosiest picture you can muster (i.e. children in a field of flowers, running next to Lassie in the bright yellow and smiling sun, towards Candyland) is a good thing in terms of selling the green aspects of your business.  Go too far, however, and you look like a bad Wizard of Oz trying to lure kids into cars.
5. Simplicity is Key – The Green idea is neat and clean.  Maybe not surgically clean, but keep the site clear and uncluttered.  Think Google: it’s easy, attractive and wonderfully efficient.
6. Customers Come First – Remember that the customer is not likely to be as knowledgeable on the topic as those writing the content. Make sure all buttons on the site are easy to find and self-explanatory. When it gets too hard to navigate, they’re probably already bouncing away.
7. Use Video – “In the age of YouTube, building a website without video is like building a house without a roof.” That about sums it up.  Video also helps you to establish a personal feel with the consumer and gives you a chance for some “face time” in the modern way. DO NOT produce a corporate docu-short; it’s boring.  Instead, use wit and appeal to lead the eyes (and minds)  in.  Be sure to title the clips wisely – it’s the only way to get hits on search engines.
8. Make Press Coverage Accessible – News is easy to update, and updated content will increase search engine rankings.  The higher the ranking, the higher you’ll be on the list.  Also, news shows that you are an “out there” company making things happen.  Always good for investor and buyer confidence.
9. Use Social Networking – You know the drill. Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Make the site easy to bookmark, too. Digg is a common bookmarking service.
10. Spend Your Money On It – A $5,000 website is likely to look like it’s held together with bubblegum.  If you know someone and can get top-notch web design cheaper, pick up the phone.  But whatever you do, don’t cheap out (even if your brother is doing the work).  This is marketing, this is the face of the company and this is the success of the business at stake.  Make sure the quality of the site accurately and adequately reflects the pride you take in owning your green business.
11. Bonus! If all else fails, there is always the marketing gimmick to bring in customers. Exhibit A: Buy solar. Get a gun.

Best of luck to you, we wish you well.

Via RenewableEnergyWorld

Photo Credit: EcoSherpa

Posted on December 15th in Solar Information by Craig.