Web Site Best Practices

WWW ... No Longer an Option!

By Deirdre Cavener, MCP

The growth of the Internet and wireless technology is providing businesses with exciting and innovative ways to reach customers. Now your target audience can do business with you from any location including their car, a doctor’s office, even the beach.

A Web site is no longer an “optional marketing tool.” It is one of the most critical weapons in your marketing arsenal.

• Those businesses that use the Internet grew 46% faster than those that didn’t. - The US Department of Commerce

• 87% of the online users depend on the Internet to access local information. - Digitrends

• 52.7% of the online business directory users visit a merchant because of what they saw online. - Digitrends

What is a Web Site?

A Web site is an extension of your business and a barometer of your credibility. A Web site allows your business to deliver key purchasing information about your products and/or services to your target demographic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to anyone with Internet access. Your site should provide your customers with everything they need to make a purchasing decision (customer service, branding, product/service information, support, etc.).

The idea of building something before it has been fully defined, designed and planned would be considered negligent in many other industries, yet it happens all the time in Web development.

The Web Development Lifecycle … Building Blocks to Success

• Plan

• Design

• Develop

• Promote

• Maintain

Plan

The planning phase of a Web Development project is the most critical of the lifecycle. During planning you need to put your business and your customers under a microscope. Find out about your customers’ buying habits and search behavior, favorite Web sites, and whatever other statistics are important to your business. This is where Search Engine Optimization should start. When you have a complete blueprint of your Web site you are ready to move on to the design phase.

Skills Required: Business, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Design - Digital Branding; The Look & Feel

The design phase is where the graphical representation and creativity of your Web site is born. The design should be similar to a magazine cover and mirror your current branding campaign while providing a clean, informative and easy to navigate layout. A picture conveys a thousand words and I cannot stress enough how important professional photography is in the design of a visually captivating Web site. Studies show that you have a mere five seconds to either pull the customer further into your site or send them to the competition.

Skills Required: Graphic Design (Adobe)

Develop

The development phase is where your graphic design becomes a Web site! During this phase the data collected for the Search Engine Optimization is added to the individual pages along with the content and photography. Remember, each page should be given the same attention as the home page because you never know where the user will initially enter your site.

Skills Required: Programming (HTML, ASP, Java, VB)

Promote - Traditional & Digital Advertising

Incorporate a strategic pull and push advertising campaign to fully promote your Web site. By using both traditional and digital advertising you have the potential to reach a wide audience of customers.

Pull advertising targets customers actively seeking your product or service. If someone conducts an Internet Search for your type of business, you want to be found on the FIRST page. Pull advertising includes search engine optimization, online directory listings, local portal listings, and pay-per-click campaigns.

54% of people have replaced the Yellow Pages with the Internet. – Kelsey Group

BUYER BEWARE! Before spending money on Web site advertising find out how many unique visitors and page views a Web site receives. Web sites that advertise HITS as a measure of traffic are misleading consumers. One page can receive many hits making it an inaccurate measure of traffic. For example, a Web page loaded with pictures and graphic advertising banners will get a hit for each graphic. You want to know how many people (unique visitors) frequent the site and how many pages (page views) they visit.

Push advertising markets your Web site to an entire group of potential customers. Your print ads should drive the customer to your Web site with a call to action … print a coupon, request information, enter a contest, download an article, or purchase a product and/or service.

Remember to include your Web address everywhere you have your company name!

Maintain & Update … Keep it Fresh

Keep your Web site information up to date and fresh. This can be done daily, weekly, or monthly depending on your type of business.

The Internet is forever changing the way we conduct business. Wireless technology is creating an entire set of “pocket customers.” Imagine the potential in designing marketing that goes wherever your customer goes! It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Deirdre Cavener, MCP is president and CEO of K.I.S.S. Marketing, Inc. and founder of PinellasLife.com. She has lived in the Tampa Bay area for 23 years and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of South Florida in 1996 with a degree in Management Information Systems from the College of Business.

Published September 2007, Volume 1, Number 6, Bay Area Business Magazine

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