Whether you have recently been given responsibility for getting your business on the Web or to handle a pre-existing Web site, there are some general truths that you should strongly consider.
Do not consider the Internet simply as a place to put your brochures in electronic form. The Web has more in common with the telephone than print. It is different from traditional media in many respects.
Find out what your competitors are doing on the Web. Spend a few days checking out how your competitors are using the Web. Analyze each site.
Create an Internet business plan and live it. Before starting your company’s Web site project, determine measurable goals and objectives for your company’s site, establish milestones. This may sound obvious, but planning is one of the most neglected areas of corporate Web site management.
Email marketing works, but be careful. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay in touch with customers and prospects online. It can also be effective as a direct-marketing device. In most cases, do not rent email lists, build your own. Make messages as targeted as possible; relevancy keeps people listening.
Be sure your Web site is integrated with your company’s other marketing activities. Don’t make the mistake some traditional companies do and create an Internet effort that is disconnected with your company’s off-line efforts.
Use your company’s Web site to enhance customer service — especially for prospects who may be researching. The Internet allows your company to stay in touch with its customers and provide them with answers to questions they are likely to ask. Consider real-time online help systems.
Make your site an information resource for its target markets. Becoming a trusted resource of high quality information for your customers is of tremendous value to your business, in addition, it can help win your company free press and word-of-mouth.
Be ready for inquiries. Most corporate Web sites are horrible about responding to email inquiries, don’t let yours be one. Also, be ready for international business inquiries, even if it means telling visitors you don’t handle out of country orders.
Outsource areas your company does not have expertise. If you plan on getting real value out of your Web site, outsourcing its development to the right firm is critical. I would recommend that you find a firm with marketing experience, not just designers and computer programmers. Remember that a designer’s expertise is in design, a programmer’s expertise is in programming and an Internet marketer’s expertise is in Internet marketing.
Keeping up with the rapid changes of Internet marketing is a full time job. Find an expert and use him or her. Concentrate your efforts on running your business or handling your professional responsibilities.
Promote Your Web site. There is a popular misconception that Web sites do not need to be promoted. Consider that some of the Web’s biggest successes spend about 75% of their advertising budgets on non-Internet media.
Give it away free. For B2B marketers, the Internet provides a great opportunity to provide your target markets with high quality intellectual capital that can help position your company as a thought leader in the minds of your target markets.
Continuously analyze your Web traffic and other e-metrics to learn and improve. Find out how people are getting to your site and what they’re doing once they get there. Any good Web site statistics software package will tell you how many people are going to your site, what pages they’re viewing, what search engines they’re coming from and more. If you’re using a Web development firm, make sure that they review this with you on no less than a quarterly basis.
Marketing 101 Tips