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How to Establish a Web Presence and Market Your Business on the Internet
Revenue from internet transactions is growing at an exceptionally fast pace. Businesses are realising the importance of having a web presence and potential customers are becoming to expect it.
You may feel that your traditional 'bricks-and-mortar' business with a local customer base does not need a website, or, if you do have a website, you may avoid marketing the site outside of your local area. You do not want potential customers from Mongolia, for example, requesting a price list. No problem. There are plenty of ways to promote your site to those who are searching in a particular region or for a specific service.
The success of your website depends upon its quality coupled with your marketing skills and you can easily build a prominent web presence without breaking the bank.
Not sure where to start? Whether you already have a website and are looking to promote it more effectively, or you are starting from scratch, the following information should help you to communicate with new and existing customers alike.
Buy a Domain
Firstly, you need a domain name which will be the home of your website. Choose one that matches your business name to maintain consistency, or, if unavailable, one that can be easily identifiable with your business name. You can search for available domain names on various websites and buy the name directly for an amount at which you may be surprised. Alternatively, you can buy your domain from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and buy your hosting package 'space' at the same time. Prices are for the entire package which includes the domain name, hosting package and several email addresses.
Build a Site
If you haven't done so already, you will need to build a web site. You can use templates provided by your ISP, software to design it yourself or a specialist website design company. Your choice obviously depends upon experience, budget and time restraints.
The first hurdle is having a site that people will want to return to and you should give them an incentive to come back on a regular basis. People who come to your website will often make a decision about the professionalism of your business as a whole.
Make sure your site is easy to navigate, laid out simply without fussy flash graphics. Also ensure that your contact details are easily visible on all pages and information is easily accessible. Have a look at competitor sites to see what works well for them - if you find it easy to use, the chance is your customers will too.
Free Listings
Once your site is up and running, it is worth researching local and national web directories, many of which offer a free submission of basic business information. High profile directories include www.yell.com, www.local.google.com and www.yahoo.com .
Search Engine Submission
In order for visitors to find your site when they search on engines such as Google, you need to submit it. There are varying levels to this, from free submission to paid-for high profile sponsored links.
There are hundreds of search engines you can submit to for free or various companies who will do this on your behalf for a cost. You can also consider a 'pay per click' campaign where your site is ranked higher than a basic listing and you pay a fee every time a visitor clicks on your site. To ensure a guaranteed first page listing on a search engine, you can consider a sponsored link. The downside to pay per click is if there are 150 other organisations who appear in the same search results, chances are your business could be listed on page 15 and it is rare that a web surfer will remain patient enough to get to this point. On the flip side, you only pay if someone clicks, so you don't really have anything to loose. If you want high visibility for your site, sponsored links can be good value for money, but if the objective is to cherry-pick relevant visitors, pay per click is more cost effective.
To increase the likelihood of your website being found, ensure that the title tag in the HTML contains phrases or key words relevant to your site that visitors are likely to use when they conduct a search. The Meta tags (invisible tags on your website) are also important because search engines read them and use them to rank your site. You can set up your own meta and title tags within your hosting package or it can be done by your web designer. This is the area you will put your location in if you want to restrict your geographical reach.
Affiliations
There are various ways you can link your site to others and arrange banner exchanges. Place animated banners so they attract attention on third party websites that have an affiliation with your business. If you agree to a banner exchange each business will benefit from shared contacts without any cost. Alternatively, you can buy banner advertising either for a set fee per month or per click. It is important to research the visitor levels and visitor profile of the site you choose to ensure you are reaching the intended audience. Once the banner is loaded, regularly monitor and test the effectiveness of the ads, measuring not only click-throughs to your site, but also the actual resulting sales and return on investment.
Newsletters
One of the most common mistakes in any business is its lack of communication with existing customers. All too often, major efforts are made to secure new customers, whilst the people who have actually made the decision to buy in the past, are left by the way-side. Firstly, keep a database of every contact you ever meet; whether they are a customer, someone you met at a networking or social event that showed an interest in your business or a prospect company you found on the internet. Contact your customers regularly and inform them of special offers or give them a discount if they refer a friend. If you do this via email, with links to your website, it costs you nothing but your time and your website will receive heightened promotion. Make the newsletter interesting with photographs, links, news and special offers to encourage the reader. Ensure you always allow the recipient to opt out of future newsletters by providing an email address to unsubscribe and do not send bulk or spam email to unknown addresses.
Competitions
Everyone likes something for nothing. Having competitions on your website can encourage visitors to submit their details which you can then use to market your products and services. A competition prize can be anything from a free manicure to a high value holiday. Get people to subscribe to the newsletter on your website and receive free entry to the prize draw. Or alternatively, promote the competition in offline content, such as press releases or magazine advertisements and send people to your site to find the answer to a competition question.
Offline Activity
The offline marketing plan should be consistent with all of your website marketing. Get the best out of both by allowing them to work together. Also, put your website address on all of your stationery and marketing material.
MeasurementOnce you have built a web marketing campaign using the various techniques described above, it is critical that you measure the visitor levels. There are various stats packages that will allow you to insert html into each page of your website which measures where visitors are referred from, how long they spend on your site and which pages receive most interest. www.statcounter.com is a free stat package which will you can load and monitor on a regular basis.
And Finally
Provide great customer service. A satisfied customer will return to your site so go out of your way to give the visitor support and service.
Don't be afraid to try new ideas and monitor what works well for you. Good Luck!
Kate Beever is a Business Consultant dealing with all areas of strategy, operations, market analysis, marketing & sales and hr advice. Kate is an experienced web marketer and web designer. For a FREE initial consultation and quotation on web marketing or any other business matter contact:
0161 286 3001 0771 980 3569 |
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