How do I maintain the web page for my small business?

One of the most common concerns for small businesses is their competition. To often so much blood, sweat and tears goes into making a great web site, only to be met with rejection in the form of little or no sales, poor subscription rates, minimal traffic and, worse, obvious web page abandonment. For any business (large or small) a presence on the web is vital so it is crucial that small business owners in order to maximize sales maintain their web page. Yet in the overwhelming demands of running a business many small business owners simply abandon their web page and give up in frustration. The actual maintaining of the web is not hard it is simply done by software or a webmaster that is paid to oversee it but the creativity may be much more difficult.But there are ways to help you maintain your web page and increase profitability. Here are some tips to get you started-

• Stay ahead of your competitors. You may wonder why you try since it is heartbreaking to see that your successful and popular idea has been copied, ripped-off and duplicated. What's even worse, the competitors may have improved on your idea and you are watching traffic and sales drop. First you must understand that it is the nature of the business.The internet moves at lightening speed and the savvy business owner will move to keep up with it. But the bottom line is if your business depends on the internet to survive, you can not rest. You will have to keep searching for that "something extra" that will brand your business as a leader and make it stand out from the rest. Yet while it is equally important that you know your competitors do not obsess over them.Know who your competitors are and what they are doing but do not follow their ever move-make your company stand out as the leader.
• Trust your instincts.Work to make your web page, original, different, and creative. Keep in mind that just because someone else is using a specific phrase, that does not make it a profitable one!
• Do your own research. It is best to implement your own tests and then try new strategies and new offerings that you believe in. While studying competitors can be helpful use it only as a guide to improving your own web site.
• Do things that are hard to duplicate!While it can be easy to copy content from another website it is a lot harder to hide the pirated content from the original copyright holder.This helps insure that your web site is fresh and original a big draw to today's tech savvy target markets. Keep in mind that blogs, forums, user reviews, and other "visitor-generated" content are hard to duplicate (and get away with it.) The more diverse your web site content is, the less likely you are to find it copied wholesale into another site. And best of all user-generated content is much more likely to make your site a destination.
• Do not just change your web page, improve it! It goes without saying that change for the sake of change will end badly. You will have to find ways to improve your offerings, not just be different. One of the best ways to do this is to get feedback from your customers. Your customers are full of good ideas and they will tell you what they want. In addition keep in mind that while not every complaint is a goldmine of information, many of them are golden opportunities to improve. Online surveys and feedback forms can also offer a wealth of information as do salespeople and "real life" customers.
• Stay informed about what is going on.One of the easiest ways to maintain your web page is to stay informed about what's going on in the industry through trade publications, newsletters, and RSS feeds and always look for those ideas that will set your company and your web page apart