Many business owners rushed to create websites, perhaps because “my competition has one” or because “it’s what’s hot right now.” Often these sites are little more than online brochures, and maybe that’s all you really need. But have you really considered whether you are taking full advantage of the online opportunities out there? As with any aspect of your business, some preliminary ideas will help maximize your return on investment in this key part of your marketing mix. Here are seven key issues to consider early on:
1. Are your markets online? In February 2003, Jupiter Research reported that 61% of business decision makers use the Internet to find information about products and services. Does that include your buyers? Try a customer survey if you don’t know the answer. Alternatively, there may be new markets you’d like to tap into that are already online.
2. Where is your geographic focus? Is your operation limited to a local area or may it have national or even international appeal? It is currently not possible to restrict the display of web pages within geographic boundaries (eg, “Illinois only”). Therefore, if your business is only local, or if you only serve the US, you must clearly state this on the site, otherwise you may receive leads and orders that you cannot fulfill. On the other hand, perhaps there are ways to tweak your “real world” offerings to reach online shoppers everywhere, perhaps by packaging your knowledge into downloadable eBooks or whitepapers.
3. What are the specific goals of your site? What results do you expect from your site visitors? Will you be selling products online or generating leads for a product or service?
Do you want visitors to leave their contact details? If so, how will you encourage them to do this? Do you have a newsletter they can sign up for, a contest, or a free offer of some kind? And don’t forget about your existing customers. Will your site also provide ongoing support and education for these customers?
4. How will you attract your visitors? Remember that your website may be the first contact a prospect has with your business, and if they don’t engage with your site, it might as well be their last! Make their experience as close to talking to you as possible, and engage them in all the ways you would offline. Incorporate answers to frequently asked questions during the purchase and support process. If you don’t know them, have your staff keep a log of customer interactions for a few days; soon you will see a pattern. And, if you normally help the customer with product selection, ask them to choose from an online survey that can be emailed to them as a guide.
5. Do you want “hits” or qualified leads? It’s important to know if you want as much traffic and as many responses as possible from your site, or if you’d rather only hear from serious buyers. A nonprofit organization may want as many people as possible to see its message, but most companies have a specific focus. If you decide to rate the responses you get from the site, what criteria will you use to do so?
6. Do you have a promotion plan and budget? Even the best designed websites require effective online marketing and advertising to generate traffic. You will need a strategy to position your site as well as possible in Internet search engines and directories. There are also many ways to promote your site “Beyond the Search Engines” – check out my free tip sheet with twenty-three proven ideas for doing this… Remember that marketing your website is an ongoing activity, and allot time and resources for this.
7. How will you measure your success? If you’ve made decisions on all of these issues, you’ll need a way to evaluate the results of your site and your promotional efforts against the goals and results you’ve set. Your website traffic reports can provide really valuable information about your visitors; in fact, I would suggest that without this data, you are shooting in the dark with your online investment. The reports will tell you how many users visit your site, which search engines and keywords they use to find it, which pages on your site are the most popular and which are accessed infrequently. You can use this information to modify your site and make strategic development decisions that can often affect not just your Internet marketing, but your entire business. So think before you jump and may your business thrive in cyberspace!
(c) Copyright Philippa Gamse, 2003. All rights reserved.