Internet Checklist for Starting a Business in Loudoun County

We recently looked through the Loudoun Department of Economic Development’s "Checklist for Starting a Business in Loudoun County". It’s chock full of useful information and guidance, for businesses of many types, large and small.

What was curious, was that the word “Internet” wasn’t used at all.

That said, we offer here our own basic “Internet Checklist for Starting a Business in Loudoun County”:

Company Presence

• Establish a website, with a clear “About Us” page, including your Loudoun address, directions and service hours. Use new photos or even videos of your new business. (Need help with a video? Try Trivision Studios.) Redirect old sites to the new one.
  
  
• Register your business with Google/MSN/Yahoo “Local” services.
  
  
• Include Geospatial Metatags on your website, of your location in Loudoun.
  
  
• Update your YellowPages listings, online and off.
  
  
• Update your business name in DMOZ, and Yahoo Directories.
  
  
• Spellcheck - don't spell it "Loudon"
  
  

Networking and Communication

• Join the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce and/or the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce – use their logos on your website, and update your information on their websites.
  
  
• Join smaller Business Networks, like the Dulles South Business Alliance or Loudoun Business Alliance – as applicable - making sure your online information is updated.
  
  
• In your online social media pages (i.e. on your blog, your wiki, your LinkedIn or Facebook pages), include your new Loudoun address and contact information.
  
  
• Update your email footers to include your new location in Loudoun – and send a new broadcast out to your mailing list about it.
  
  
• Establish a new email account(s), specifically for your Loudoun business
  
  
• Update your online business networks – for example at MerchantCircle – invite your new business neighbors!
  

Marketing & Advertising

• List your business on local directories, such as Dulles South Online, Visit Loudoun and/or LoudounPedia (as applicable).
  
  
• Make sure your business is listed in localized “review” sites, like Yelp – encourage reviews among your customers and partners!
  
  
• Send a press release to the Loudoun Papers, for example the Loudoun Times, with an update on your location and services (make sure it's online as well as printed) – or take out a paid advertisement, as your marketing budget allows. Or construct a "Social Media Press Release" (contact KME Internet Marketing about this).
  
  
• Take out an ad in a local magazine, like "Modern Moms of Loudoun County" - the ad should appear on their great website as well.
  
  
• Notify local realtors of your new business, for possible referrals - like Ingrid Myers, Realtor - business partner links very often are included on local real estate/broker websites.
  
  
• Upload photos and/or videos of your new Loudoun business location, along with updated information about your business, to relevant social media sites like "Flickr" – using “Loudoun” in the keywords and tags.
  
  
• Get a “Made in Loudoun” tag!
  
  
• “Capture the Market” in the search engines with respect to your Loudoun business – for example “Loudoun Internet Marketing” – (this will likely require local, professional Loudoun Internet Marketing/SEO/Social Media services).
  

These are the minimum things necessary to solidly establish your business on the Internet as a respected Loudoun business entity.

Contact KME Internet Marketing for assistance with these activities, and provide any other ideas/questions here in the comments!

Frank Wolfe and Pierce Homer address Dulles South Business Alliance in Loudoun County

Today's Dulles South Business Alliance meeting in Southern Loudoun County, Rt. 50 corridor, featured guest speakers Congressman Frank Wolf (US House, 10th Virginia District) and Virginia State Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer. Attendance was light, mainly DSBA members (Dulles South business owners and landowners) and directors, at the Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church.



Most updates focused on transportation issues, with by far the most spirited comments on Wolf's part regarding the Dulles Greenway rate hikes - deeming them "unfair, based on a flawed law". His comments mostly revolved around the pressures and cost burdens levied upon Moms and Dads, driving to and from work and family/children responsibilities...this was a similar argument he made for supporting the Dulles Rail extension, which would not only give us a "2-seat ride to the Global economy" (as put by Homer), but also was the most important transportation issue in this region - that actually had a fast-closing window of opportunity for actual success and funding, given the rapidly declining picture for transportation infrastructure funding across the State.

On the score of funding for transportation issues, Homer was frankly dire - noting that while the Dulles Rail project had a "very good chance of success", most other local or regional projects are all going to be reconsidered in the next few weeks, and most information to come out of the "reconsiderations" will not be happy news for our area or elsewhere.

Wolf's other major sounding board was his "Cooper-Wolf" bill - a bi-partisan (55/45 republican/democrat) bill to broadly address the "gathering storm, an economic tsunami" of USA debt/spending issues. Additionally, he commented directly on the need for consideration of considerable attention and spending in the area of alternative energy studies (i.e. USA energy independence), along with domestic drilling opportunities. He noted that Cuba's recently granted licenses to China for offshore drilling between Cuba and Florida, where the US is currently restricted by legislation.

Some questions followed, mostly dealing with Rt. 50-specific issues - in all, an honest appraisal of the very difficult transportation infrastructure situation the state faces due to the significantly deteriorating revenue base, significantly increasing building costs, and very significantly increasing gap the US faces in maintaining global competitiveness.