Choosing a new look and style for your website is one of the most exciting parts of creating (or recreating) your online presence. Fortunately, there are a several great places where you can find professional website templates (commonly referred to as “themes”) that will have the flexibility to fit into your vision.

Before choosing a new theme, you need to commit to what platform your website will be built on. I always recommend WordPress. It’s flexible, simple to learn and has some great SEO benefits. Best of all WordPress developers are constantly putting out new themes that you can use to make your small business website look great. This means that you don’t have to start from scratch with your website design and you don’t have to be a professional designer in order to have an incredible looking website.

There are hundreds of themes out there for you to choose from and even the higher-end themes cost under $100 (a great investment).

Here are my favorite places to find professional WordPress themes for your website or blog:

•    WooThemes – www.woothemes.com
•    StudioPress – www.studiopress.com
•    Perfectory – www.perfectory.com
•    Thesis – www.diythemes.com
•    ThemeForest – www.themeforest.net

As you search through these websites, save the links to the themes you like best (copy and paste from the address bar to a Word doc) so you can compare and share all of your top choices at once when you’re finished searching.

Even if you pick a WordPress theme that looks unique to you, you will want to visualize the new theme you select as a base layout that a web developer change elements of…such as images, colors, or even font sizes.

Freaked out about using a template or theme, instead of an original design? Don’t be. For more than 10 years, I’ve reviewed hundreds of websites and have visited thousands more. And only a few times have I looked at a website and realized that I had seen that same theme on another company’s website.

So what are you waiting for? Explore these sites and start building your list of potential candidates to create or recreate the look of your new website.

Domain names have become as scarce as beachfront real estate. No, they’re not expensive, but it is getting more difficult to find a good one for your business. Here are 3 great tips on how to choose the best domain name for your small business:

1. Match Your Business Name (or…).
   Hopefully, a domain name that matches your business or company name is available. If it isn’t, consider a subtle variation. For instance, if your business name is Jake’s Bookstore and jakesbookstore.com is not available, consider incorporating your local town/city/region into the name (it will serve you well for Google SEO purposes). For instance, you might want to use a variation such as jakesbookstorebuffalo.com or jakesbookstoremiami.com.




2. Be Sure Your Domain Names is Not too Long.
   If your business name is Benson, Jacobs, and Duffield Law Offices or Wooldridge and Sons Heating and Cooling, you may be tempted to create one long domain name. Stay under 20-characters for your domain name if possible. 15 or less is even better. For the two business names just mentioned,  you may want to try bjdlaw.com or wooldridgeandsons.com. Taking long business names to shorter (or available) domain names can take some thinking, so be sure to jot down plenty of ideas to choose from.




3. Stick Exclusively to .com Domain Names.
   You may be tempted to use .biz, .net, .info, etc., domain name extensions. I don’t recommend it. People are just too used to using the .com domain name. The only exceptions are if you qualify for an .edu or .org domain name. The only other exception would be if you’re a B2B (business-to-business) company. If so, you can consider using a .biz domain name. However, just realize that many people will still make the mistake and enter the .com extension by habit.

By remembering these 3 tips, you’ll be sure not make any big mistakes in choosing the best domain name for your small business.

Your “web host” is also often referred to as your “server.” It’s the place where your web pages and files are located (i.e., hosted). It took me a while to get my head wrapped around the concept of web hosting, so let me give you my most simple analogy.

Think of your traditional home or office telephone service. If you have voice mail, rather than a physical answering machine (another soon-to-be relic), your custom greeting may be something like; “Hi, this is Alex. I’m not able to take your call right now…” This custom greeting is “hosted” with your phone company. That’s because there’s not an actual/physical answering machine at your home/office. Your greeting is actually sitting somewhere on a computer connected with the phone company.

Your website works much the same way. A third-party company hosts the information that you create for your website and makes it available for anyone else around the world to locate, visit, and browse.

There are dozens and dozens of reputable web hosting providers out there. Many people use GoDaddy because that is where many domain names are purchased. But, I find their constant up-selling annoying and their navigation/usability very confusing for regular folks.

I highly recommend another large and reliable company, www.BlueHost.com, because it’s inexpensive (less than $70 a year), it’s as user-friendly as anything out there, and it’s been the most reliable for me. Most importantly, they have excellent 24/7 phone support. Another very popular choice is www.hostgator.com.

Every website needs a web host or server. Unless you have super-privacy reasons or heavy-duty software that runs off your website, you don’t need your own dedicated server (which can be expensive and a big headache). A shared-hosting provider like bluehost.com or hostgator.com should work fine for most folks.

Back it up once. Back it up twice. Now, breathe :)

Computers are, for all of their wizardry and wonder, just machines. And sooner or later, every machine is just waiting to cause you a big problem. It’s inevitable – at some point, you’ll have a big problem with your computer and that’s when the pending disaster can occur. While having the occasional computer FUBAR is a fact of life, that corresponding panic and sick feeling can be avoided. Feel better?

So, what’s the secret to escaping the Apocalypse when your computer decides to test your sanity by going down? You got it…back it up.

There are two simple ways to backup and store all your files, folders, and data. Use these two easy methods and you’ll one day be so grateful you won’t know how to contain yourself.

Back Up Method #1: Local

Go to your local electronics store and buy an external USB hard drive, at least 250 GB. You’ll be able to get one for under $100. Once you bring it home, plug it into your computer’s USB drive and copy over your entire hard drive (or at least all your “Document” folders and files). It’s a simple drag and drop routine. Once every week would be great, but scheduling once every two weeks will do. Put it on your calendar. Here’s one that I’ve used and can recommend: Western Digital My Passport Essential 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive.

Back Up Method #2: Remote

Several companies sell remote space online for people like us to securely backup our files and folders. You’ll often hear these online storage spaces referred to as, “the cloud.” You can rent space on these sites for only $50 a month. And the great thing is, after an easy download and setup, the software automatically continues to back up the files and folders you choose to “the cloud.” Oh, yeah! I always use an online backup service, as well as the local external hard drive method. That’s because a fire, flood, accident, or theft can wipe out both your computer and your local hard drive backup. The service I’ve used for years for online backup, and wouldn’t do without is www.carbonite.com.

With your files, folders, and information backed up both locally and remotely, you’ll avoid the ultimate disaster when something happens to your computer (and it will:). And for a $50 a year Carbonite subscription and a sub-$100 external USB hard drive, that’s some serious peace of mind.

The best advice for the success of your website and online marketing is much like the rest of our lives: Sometimes the best ideas come in small packages. Glance through these 33 quotes from marketing pros and see if you agree. If you’ve been looking to increase the ROI of your website and online presence, very often it’s just a single concept or simple idea that can make the entire process more focused and tangible. Read on to see if a few end up making a big change and bigger profits for your business.

In today’s business environment, a company’s website is the key to their entire business.
- Marcus Sheridan, Author of The Sales Lion

Remarkable online content and great sales copy are pretty much the same — plain spoken words designed to focus on the needs of the reader, listener, or viewer.
- Brian Clark, Founder of Copyblogger

One way to understand all social media is to consider each platform to be a new kind of public space.
- Danah Boyd, Social Media Researcher of Microsoft

Increasing your website ROI begins with never forgetting three simple words of action; attract, persuade, and connect.
- Gregg Murray, Author of Website Blueprint

People share, read and generally engage more, when content is surfaced through those they know and trust.
- Malorie Lucich, Facebook Spokesperson

Think about what a user is going to type.
- Matt Cutts, Google

The internet has turned what used to be a controlled, one-way message into real-time dialogue with the masses.
- Danielle Sacks, Fast Company Writer

The very first piece of social media real estate I’d start with is a blog.
- Chris Brogan, New Marketing Labs Founder

Give them quality. That’s the best kind of advertising.
- Milton Hershey, Founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company

People shop and learn in a whole new way compared to just a few years ago, so marketers need to adapt or risk extinction.
- Brian Halligan, Co-Author of Inbound Marketing & CEO of Hubspot

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.
- Benjamin Franklin

The Web is like your Hollywood agent: It speaks for you whenever you’re not around to comment.
- Chris Brogan & Julien Smith, Authors of Trust Agents

Search, a marketing method that didn’t exist a decade ago, provides the most efficient and inexpensive way for businesses to find leads.
- John Batelle, Founder of Federated Media Publishing

Doing well with blogging is not about writing one key post, it is about performing day after day and helping a few people at a time.
- Aaron Wall, Author of The SEO Book Blog

Word-of-mouth marketing has always been important. Today, it’s more important than ever because of the power of the Internet.
- Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett, Authors of Get Content Get Customers

Corporations must answer questions about why they should be in the blogosphere. Small businesses need to answer questions about why they shouldn’t.
- Paul Gillin, Author of the New Influencers

Twitter is not a technology. It’s a conversation. And it’s happening with or without you.
- Charlene Li, Co-Author of Groundswell

Companies are learning that it’s much better to offer customers a place to give direct feedback at their virtual doorstep than to ignore complaints and let them crop up everywhere.
- Brian Reich & Dan Solomon, Authors of Media Rules

Marketing isn’t magic. There is a science to it.
- Dan Zarrela, Social Media Scientist at Hubspot

By publishing content that shows buyers you understand their problems and can show them how to solve them, you build credibility.
- Ardath Albee, Author of Emarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale

Authenticity, honesty, and personal voice underlie much of what’s successful on the Web.
- Rick Levine, Co-Author of The ClueTrain Manifesto

If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing.
- Guy Kawasaki, Co-Founder of Alltop

The attention economy is not growing, which means we have to grab the attention that someone else has today.
- Brent Leary, Co-Founder of CRM Essentials

Increasingly, search is our mechanism for how we understand ourselves, our world, and our place within it.
- John Batelle, Founder Federated Media Publishing

What happens online is you are constantly dealing with invisible audiences.
- Danah Boyd, Social Media Researcher for Microsoft

Clarity trumps persuasion.
- Dr Flint McGaughline, Director of MecLabs

I can take what I learned from writing articles, educate a new audience with a new channel, and leapfrog other companies who aren’t embracing this now.
- Brian J. Carroll, CEO of Intouch

Traditional methods of sales prospecting are grossly inefficient.
- Jill Konrath, Author of Snap Selling

What we really need is a mindset shift that will make us relevant to today’s consumers, a mindset shift from ‘telling & selling’ to building relationships.
- Jim Stengel, Former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble

To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products.
- Brian Halligan, Co-Author of Inbound marketing & CEO of Hubspot

In this age of microblogging and two-second sound bites, almost no one has the attention span, or time, to read more than a few sentences.
- Tim Frick, Author of Return to Engagement

Hyperlinks are the twenty-first-century equivalent of the name-dropper.
- Chris Brogan & Julien Smith, Authors of Trust Agents

When you break down all the fluff, there are two ways to promote and market your business: dumber, slower, and expensive —or smarter, faster, and cheaper.
- David Siteman Garland, Host of Rise to the Top