ed a Website?
By Ginger Davis Allman
www.thebluebottletree.com
You don't need a complicated website with a shopping cart
and an expensive suite of marketing tools in order to benefit
from having your own website. Sites such as Etsy, Artfire, Folksy, Zibbet and the like do an admirable job of being an online
storefront for you. That is good news because it means that you
can put more effort into your branding, marketing, and search
engine optimization.
Your website should be the center or hub of your online world.
Every social media profile, every promotional link, every comment left on websites, and each mention by bloggers should
link back to your website where you can craft the viewer's experience to work to your advantage. Remember that new social media websites are starting all the time and even Facebook
is going to fall out of favor at some point. Will you be the one
holding the keys to your brand's online identity?
Even if you don't want to blog, a simple website is valuable.
It gives you an opportunity to make an impression with your
brand, explain what your philosophy is, describe your process,
or show a representative portfolio of your work. Of course you
would also want to give links to your sales venue and give people a way to get in touch with you.
A website does not need to be expensive. A domain and hosting can cost as little as $60 per year. I strongly recommend
hosting your own website using the Wordpress.org platform
for a fully customizable site. If you need fewer options and
more help, you can find wonderful solutions at wordpress.com.
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