Business owners can be rushed into creating Web sites, perhaps
because "my competition has one", or because "it's the hot thing
right now".
But, as with any aspect of your business, some preliminary
thinking will help to maximize the return on your investment in
this key part of your marketing mix.
Here are seven key issues to consider from the outset:
1. Are your markets online?
Who are your customers, and are they currently using the
Internet? Try a customer survey if you don't know the answer to
this yet.
Alternatively, there may be new markets that you would like to
tap, who are already online.
An excellent Web site for researching Internet demographic
information is at: http://www.nua.ie/
2. Where is your geographic focus?
Is your operation confined to a local area, or can it have
national or even international appeal?
It is not currently possible to restrict display of Web pages
within geographic boundaries (e.g. "only Illinois"). So if your
business is only local, or you only serve the U.S., you should
state that clearly on the site, otherwise you may receive leads
and orders that you can't fulfill.
3. What are the specific goals of your site?
What outcomes do you want from the visitors to your site? Will
you be selling product online, or are you 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 that they can subscribe to, or a competition,
or a free offer of some kind?
And don't forget your existing customers. Will your site also be
providing ongoing support and education for these clients?
4. How will you engage your visitors?
Remember that your Web site may be the first and only contact
that a prospect has with your business. Make their experience as
close as possible to actually speaking with you.
Incorporate the questions that are most frequently asked during
the buying process, perhaps in an online survey that can be
e-mailed to you as a lead.
5. Do you want "hits", or qualified leads?
Decide whether you want as much traffic and as many responses as
possible from your site, or whether you would prefer only to
hear from serious buyers. A nonprofit organization might want
many people to see its message, but most businesses have a
specific focus.
If you decide to qualify the responses that you get from the
site, how will you do this?
6. Do you have a promotion plan and budget?
Even the best designed Web sites need effective online marketing
to generate traffic. You will need a strategy to position your
site as well as possible in the Internet search engines and
directories.
There are also many ways to promote your site "Beyond the Search
Engines" - a tipsheet of ideas for doing this can be requested
at http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/
Remember that marketing your Web site is an ongoing activity,
and allocate time and resources to this.
7. How will you measure your success?
If you have made decisions on all these issues, you will need a
way to evaluate the results of your site against the goals and
outcomes that you set.
Your traffic analysis reports can provide really valuable
information about your visitors. This can be used to improve
your Web site, and your marketing (both online and offline).
The reports will tell you how many users come to your site,
which search engines and keywords they are using to find you,
which pages of your site are the most popular, and which are
rarely accessed. So, think before you leap, and may your
business prosper in Cyberspace!
About the author:
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally recognized
e-business strategist. Check out her free tipsheet "Beyond the
Search Engines" for 17 ideas to promote your Website:
http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be
reached at (831) 465-0317 or mailto:pgamse@CyberSpeaker.com
