I’ve said it often and will continue to say it to groups I have the opportunity to engage with around marketing communications issues: “If you don’t have a web site you virtually (pun intended) don’t exist.” Think about it. These days, when you have a question about something or are looking for a certain type of product or service where do you turn? Your answer is likely: “Online to conduct a search.”
That’s common consumer behavior these days and while it could be — and has been — argued that a social media presence, like a Facebook business page, for instance, could potentially replace a traditional web site, that can be risky business. Why? Because you don’t own Facebook and their rules could–and do!–change frequently. It’s not a good idea to put all of your eggs in somebody else’s basket.
So, you need a web site. And that web site should serve as the hub of all of your marketing communication (or “content marketing”) efforts. It’s the place you want to drive traffic to generate some sort of quantifiable–and meaningful–action that will ultimately lead to sales or other positive results for your organization.
- Think carefully about the language that your audience might use in their online searches and incorporate that language into your web content. Yes, this involves SEO, but it goes somewhat beyond that and often requires some creative approaches and a strategic mindset. It also requires that you accept their terminology rather than trying to shove yours down their throats.
- Consider the impact of competitors. No business or service provider exists in a vacuum. Those seaching the products or services you have to offer are casting a wide net. It’s important to know how the competition is positioned, how the competition shows up in search and how to effectively position your products or services so that you will be more favorably perceived than the competition is.
- Recognize that your web site is a reflection of your brand, either favorably or unfavorably. In some cases your web site may be all a prospective customer sees of you and they will make a decision about whether to connect with you because of what they see. Again, they will be comparing your brand against your competitors.
- Keep it simple. A web site does not have to be exceedingly complex, large or big on bells and whistles. It must be clean, attractive and easy to navigate. Develop it with the customer in mind. Think about usability. Do usability studies with representatives of your target audience to ensure that you haven’t overlooked something. These studies can be very revealing.
- Create a plan to leverage and use content across multiple platforms to drive traffic to your web site. This might include social media posts to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.; white papers; blog posts; e-books; videos, etc., etc., etc. The key is to do this smartly–repurposing what you can and creating new when needed.
We have a number of additional blog posts that offer more actionable insights.
Resolve to do it right in 2015. Happy New Year!
Recommended Reading:
The Everything Guide to Customer Engagement
Tags: content management, content marketing, facebook, Internet presence, marketing online, SEO, Social Media, twitter, web site