Using the Web as a Marketing Tool
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By Rich Dusky
Nothing has impacted society and our behavior as rapidly as the internet has! It has changed the entire marketing communications dynamic, and has become an invaluable tool for small and large businesses. Most companies can benefit from having some sort of web presence.
It is important to remember that your company's website is a direct reflection of your company. A site that is challenging to use or is not well-thought-out could possibly harm your marketing efforts instead of boosting your growth. In other words, represent yourself well. Thoroughly planning your site will save you time, money and resources in the long run. Here are a few important points to remember:
- It is necessary to first map out all of your web-related goals. This includes, but is not limited to such goals as gaining more customers or leads, selling products directly online, or answering frequently asked questions (a customer-service-related goal).
- Keep a user-friendly, or user-centric approach to your website design. To do this, envision yourself as a visitor to your own website. Keep in mind that your website does not come with a user manual for the visitor, and all moves/clicks/links must be instinctive for anyone to understand and navigate through the site. If a visitor gets frustrated with your site, it could mean the loss of a customer or a sale.
- Design your site to be SEO and SEM-friendly, too. You'll also want to employ SEO and SEM (search engine optimization and search engine marketing) techniques to increase your page ranks and page views. We will discuss this more in a future article.
Well-developed website plans will lead to success in your web marketing. Take the time to really develop your plans, create an outline for your site, and employ a skilled designer and programmer to help you implement your ideas.
