Process Service Online

Is an online presence really necessary? That depends. Do you have all the clients you want? Do you know that in performing a simple search of the internet for “Texas Process Servers” using Google, one of the primary search engines, there were more than 2,000,000 (that’s two million) results. Not all of those are going to be exclusive of one another, but if you expect to get even a small portion of the business, the need for an online presence is pretty much a given.

So, what do you need for an online presence? For starters consider social media. But I’m a process server, not a techie, you moan. What do I know about social media? Do you have opinions about your industry? Do you have helpful advice to offer? Do you have fun or interesting information to share? Then you can do social media. There are many different avenues for social media; some are geared more toward business than others, so you will need to do some research to figure out which will work best for you, your style and your business.  The most important thing to remember for social media is to be consistent. You don’t have to post something every day. But, whether you post daily, a few times a week or a few times a month, be consistent so that your followers will know when to look for your next helpful, fun, or educational share.

Next, you want to consider the importance of a website for process servers. What do you need in a website? Websites can range from relatively inexpensive and simple, self-produced, generally template based, one page informational, no interaction-type of sites to an expensive, custom-designed multi-page, interactive site with all the bells-and-whistles.   So how do you choose which is right for you?  First let me say, not all template sites are inexpensive, nor are all custom-designed websites expensive; but the wrong type of site without proper SEO (search engine optimization – which helps you to be located in the sea of internet information) can be very costly. The other thing you need regardless of how simple or extensive your website may be is that it is “responsive”.  Responsive means that it can be viewed on any mobile device. If it can’t, you might as well not even have one.

www/rtr-i.com

To begin with, the type of website you select will probably come down to what your budget can afford at the time. Like all business tools, the budget should look at not just the initial cash outlay but cost over time and ROI.  Remember, as your business grows your “tools” can always be updated in line with the growth of your business. Feel free to take a look at my site. www.rtr-i.com.

You may think that the first step to building your website is to purchase a domain name (generally your business name or some variation thereof) aligning with your branding, followed by a hosting service. A hosting service is the business that stores the data for you. In reality, the first steps are to know your target market and then develop a plan as to what message you are trying to convey to that market. Classes are held all the time to help small businesses with website planning and design. Once you know who your target market is and what message you are trying to get across, determine your domain name and then get your hosting service. Now you are ready to begin building a site.

If you are just starting out, a basic website set up by yourself or others might not draw in a lot of work without any “search engine optimization” or all that fancy computer “stuff” (as I call it), but get it started. You won't be found as easily without the optimization, but you will at least be online.  Over time, as your company begins to bring in steady revenue, you can always get the right service to upgrade and enhance the website so that customers can find it whenever they conduct a search on the internet for a process server. What little I do know, as I am not an expert in website design, the best thing one can do is to optimize the website so that search engines can easily pick it up.  This requires the ability to understand “key words” and to be able to know how to submit your website to the various search engines, like Google, Yahoo, etc.  I rely on a website hosting service to handle this for our company.  There are also businesses, who are not hosting companies, who specialize in search engine optimization (SEO).

Another way to draw traffic to the website is to consider exchanging links with other businesses as this is known to draw traffic toward your website.  But first and foremost, get the site up and running at the very least.  Then, if you have the funds, hire a “qualified” web professional who knows how to submit your website to the search engines and knows how to push traffic towards your website.  And what I mean by qualified, in my opinion, is ask someone who already has a website where the website is getting traffic on it.  The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money to have someone set up a website for you and they promise to get the internet traffic to it, too, and then you find out that person or company doesn’t know what they are doing and they are just taking you for a ride on the information superhighway at your expense.  Research the purchase of this tool as you would any vital tool for your business.

If you've read my book “The Business End of Process, Running a Process Service Company From the Ground Up” I'd appreciate a review in the comments below or where it is available on Amazon.com. If you haven't read it yet, it's an easy read with what I consider to be some handy tips for running a process service business.  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0.