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In addition to focusing on increasing last minute holiday sales, now is the time to make sure everything is in place to make 2011 a great year for your site and business.

We should all check our sites for errors and be focused on SEO and Social Media all year long but not everyone has the time or knowledge to do everything they should.  If you are one of the offenders, now is the time to make it up to your neglected website.  Go through the checklist below and make sure you have everything in place to start 2011 off right.

An old Chinese Proverb says

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.”

That kinda says it all!  Now on to the checklist

Google recently released www.20thingsilearned.com, an interactive online book about the fundamentals of the web.  It explains concepts like cloud computing, malware, phishing, plug-ins and browsers.  Illustrated by award-winning German illustrator and children’s author Christoph Neimann, the tome has a storybook feel that encourages the reader to relax and expect simple explanations. Perhaps more wordy than many would prefer, it does a good job of making these concepts accessible to the average Joe.

Many of our clients think they are the only ones who don’t understand technology when, in fact, they are in the majority.  So we’re particularly curious what you think about the book.

Give it a click, then let us know what you think!

1.  Create Compelling Content. Blogging is an easy way to do this.  It creates more ways for people to find you and it tells your customers who you are.  Good content builds trust, brand, reputation – all the things that make it easier for me to hand over my hard-earned money for your products & services. Get creative!

2. Hire Someone To Create Compelling Content. Look, you can’t do it all yourself.  If you’re not a writer, that’s okay.  What you may not know is that there are starving writers out there who will research and write for you at a fairly inexpensive rate.

3. Sponsor A Blog–Or A Blogger. Find websites that have already captured your target customer and buy an ad on their site.  Better still, sponsor a blogger, podcaster or video blogger with a relationship with that customer on that site.  This is a seriously fabulous way to collect customers, but do keep a close eye on the return on investment and mix things up as needed.

4. Advertise Through Traditional Channels. It’s easy to pull back on advertising when times are tough, but now is NOT the time to cut advertising.  Now is the time to DOUBLE your (smart) advertising because your less savvy competitors are pulling back.  Now is the time to really stake your claim in the marketplace.

5. Measure Twice, Cut Once. You’ve got to measure your efforts or your throwing away money.  But remember, just because one string instrument isn’t contributing to the symphony as much as another, or your having trouble measuring it at all, isn’t a reason to toss it out.  You’ve got to look at the performance and think about what happens if that instrument stops playing.  If one of the key numbers falls flat as a result, its value is higher than when measured in isolation.