Whether you're concerned with business-to-business, or business
to consumer, whether your organization is large or small,
commercial or nonprofit, these are some fundamental questions
around your Website and technology strategy that should be
addressed.
Otherwise, you risk missing opportunities, and not maximizing
the return on your investment in your online presence.
If you haven't visited your own Website for a while, look at it
again in light of these questions:
1. Does your Website present an appropriate image of your
company? Marketers talk a lot about branding, and consistency of
message. Does your company site reflect how you'd like your
customers to feel about your business? Is it sophisticated, and
professional looking? Does it speak directly to visitors in
language that they'll understand, and in ways that relate to
their issues and needs?
Image is also about public relations. Publicity is a powerful
marketing tool, and reporters are increasingly looking for
stories and information online. Does your Website offer a media
center? Does it offer comment on current events in your
industry? Do you face up to the bad news, and spin it to your
advantage? Whatever you may think of Microsoft, check out their
extensive Press Pass area at:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.asp
2. Does your Website suggest potential for new or currently
untapped markets? In almost all the sites that I've consulted
for, we've identified markets or audiences beyond the
"real-world" customer base of the business.
This may be because the site extends the geographic reach of
your marketing. If you have good content on your site, it may
also be because visitors looking for your subject area find you
in search engines, and come to read your articles and white
papers.
Either way, if you find many "non-traditional" visitors to your
site, you should assess whether they constitute a possible new
market area for your business.
3. Does your Website suggest potential for new products or
services? A clear understanding of your visitor needs may also
encourage you to consider new products or services. On the Web,
bundling expertise into downloadable, for-sale content provides
valuable new revenue streams for many businesses and non-profits.
You can find great clues for development ideas by tracking the
keywords entered into your own site search engine. These show
what visitors expect to find on your site - and therefore what
they expect your company to offer.
4. Does your Website provide continuing added value for existing
customers? Most site owners focus on acquiring new customers,
and fail to maximize the opportunities to support and service
existing ones.
These include password-protected areas where your clients can
follow the progress of their projects, share documents with you,
etc. Personalization and pre-populated forms (i.e. which are
automatically filled in with the customer's details) help to
create a feeling of value, and save time for your visitors.
Check the average response time for a contact from your Website.
One of the top complaints about major company sites is that
e-mails are not answered in a timely (hopefully 24 hours or
less) manner. 5. Does your Website support your internal
operations and employee needs?
This question relates to whether you're making the best use of
all available technologies, and integrating them with your
online operations.
Example applications to consider include:
* Instant messaging, fast becoming a serious business tool *
Knowledge bases - continually updated databases that can provide
automated customer support on a 24/7 basis * Streaming media,
perhaps for just-in-time training or on-the-spot manuals for
your operatives * Intranets and extranets, which are really just
fancy names for password-protected employee and client areas
6. Does your Website integrate fully with your "real-world"
activities and processes? One of the most frustrating visitor
experiences is to complete a form, an application, or to submit
a search on your Website, only to receive an error message.
Customers want the security of an e-mailed purchase
confirmation. They want to know that they'll be taken off your
mailing list quickly and without the need for multiple requests.
With the complexity of technology and programs today, sometimes
a change to a seemingly unrelated system can wreak havoc. Do you
regularly check all the input forms and processes on your site
to ensure that no unexpected gremlins have crept in?
7. Does your Website provide you with a justifiable return on
investment? This is probably the most important question of the
seven, and possibly also the most difficult.
That's because the answer depends on a clear understanding of
the goals of your site, both in direct financial terms, and in
other less tangible benefits, such as name recognition.
The keys to evaluating ROI, to improving your site, and often to
further business development ideas can be found in your traffic
reports. These show what visitors are looking for, how long they
spend on the site, where they go, where they leave, and what
rate of response you get to the various calls to action.
These reports can be daunting - a mass of figures, graphs and
URL's. But I'd strongly suggest that someone in your
organization should understand them. Otherwise, you're shooting
in the dark with your Web investment.
(c) Copyright Philippa Gamse, 2003. All rights reserved.
About the author:
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy consultant and
professional speaker. Check out her free tipsheet for 23 ideas
to promote your Website:
http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be
reached at (831) 465-0317.
