No matter whom your customers are or what kind of services you provide, every service business can benefit from a presence on the World Wide Web.  Below are five things that any service business needs to do to get online and generate value through an online presence.

1)  Choose your Web site's name

One of the first steps when you are starting a new business or when you are setting up an online presence for your business is to decide on the right domain name.  A domain name is how people find your site online and is one of the most valuable aspects of your business's online presence.  In short, your business domain name is an important key to your business's online identity-especially if you intend on having a Web site and setting up email for your business.

First you will need to find the right name.  Ideally this will be the name of your business, but it can also be a variation of that name.  For example, if you run an auto repair shop, you may choose the name of the shop itself or an abbreviation such as "auto" in lieu of "automotive".  Sometimes it makes sense to add a local component to the name.  The addition of your state's abbreviation, for example, may assist people searching for local repair shops.

You will also need to choose an extension-the "dot extension" or TLD (top level domain). Adding different TLD extensions to your name makes it an entirely new domain name registered to a different Web address. For instance, thedotcompeople.com and thedotcompeople.org are two different Web addresses.  For a service business, a .com or a variation on .com such as .us.com is preferable.  However, your business may want to register multiple extensions (.net and .info, for example) to protect your business's brand name.

2) Set up your Web site

Once you've committed to creating an online presence for your business - a Web site - and registered your business's domain name, the time has come to design and build the site itself. As with so many aspects of the Web, site design and construction offers many options.  You can choose to design the site yourself.  Web site creation software makes building a Web site for your business almost as easy as creating and sending an e-mail. Using professional design templates, Web site software lets you accomplish building a Web site quickly, efficiently, and for a very small price. 

Another option is to hire someone to design a site for you.  You can hire the services of a professional Web site designer. You should check to see that the design service you select possesses the proven technical expertise to create a Web site that reflects well on your business, delivers your message effectively, and takes advantage of the Web's special ability to market your products or services.  Looking at samples of sites that the designer has worked on, preferably specific to your business type, and checking references are great ways to assess a designer's fit for you.

Regardless of the route you choose, you will want to give some thought as to what information about your business you would like to see on your site.  At a minimum, your auto repair shop site should show hours of operation, a map showing location and driving directions, information on whether there is a before/after hours drop-off box, any specialization (foreign vs. domestic, specific models, etc) and information as to whether your station conducts inspections should your state allow individual shops to test emissions.  This is also a place to showcase any certifications (e.g., ASE) as well as link to consumer reports-type reviews if your local publications have carried them on your business.

Setting up a Web site is also a great time to elect e-mail with the package that you choose.  This will allow you to send and receive correspondence under your name at the web address you have chosen. This e-mail address can be used for all of your business purposes and is more professional than many of the "free" e-mail boxes that you can also choose from.  Use this e-mail address to work with your parts suppliers, your accountant and even your customers.

3)  Help Web users find your Web site

Now that your site is ready for visitors, it is time to send them your way.  The first step is to introduce keywords to your site.  A keyword is a word or a phrase entered by users into a search box when they want to find information, or products and services online. Search engines are designed to look for keywords or phrases in specific areas of your Web site. To rank higher in search results for your target audience, you must identify the most effective keywords and then place them in the right areas of your site's content and HTML code. Quality keywords describe what your business offers and should include both general and specific terms. For example, your auto repair shop might use "auto repair", "domestic repairs", "automotive services", and "automotive repair", rather than simply "repairs."   Once you've identified your keywords, you should use them in the places of your Web site where the search engines will look for them. Search engines will look at emphasized text like titles, headings, and subheadings.

You may also choose to use these same terms to purchase online advertising to send traffic to your Web site.  This service enables you to pay to have your site appear in the "sponsored links" section of the search results of engines such as Google® or Yahoo!®. You'll typically pay for each click that you get on these links, so this is often called "pay per click" advertising.

Finally, you may choose to list your business information, with a link to your site, in online directories.  Many of these directories are local in nature and offer free listings.  This is an easy way to send more local traffic to your Web site and, in doing so, more potential customers as well.

4) Keep your site current

One of the most important things that you can do once your site is set up is to ensure that you keep the information current and fresh.  This serves two purposes: it ensures that customers and potential customers who access your site have accurate and dependable information and it also encourages search engines to "spider" your site.  A spider is a software program that travels the Web (hence the name "spider"), locating and indexing websites for search engines.

Keeping a Web site up-to-date can take a number of forms.  It can include updating basic text or photos.  It can also mean introducing features such a blogs, which allow business owners or users to post comments.  The comments could be specific to the business (i.e., happy customers talking about the service they received) or more general "useful" information (the value of an oil of a different viscosity in different climates).  People can post or comment on posts. 

5)  Connect with your customers

A Web site can allow you to be creative about how you communicate with customers.  You can build out your Web site so customers can use the site to schedule maintenance appointments.  You can even utilize a "referral" button which is often available in hosting packages which allows your customers to e-mail information about your business to friends and family.  These referrals often translate to new business for you. .

These are just five easy ways for a service business to generate value from being online.  With a little bit of upfront investment of time and resources, your Web site will pay you back for years to come!