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Marketing Your Business on the Internet - Part 2 |
Paul Faix, Signtrade, Australia |
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In the previous issue we were discussing domain registration. Now when you have your domain registered it is time to think about the website content. This is a very critical part of the whole website development process and mistakes happening here are usually very costly.
Before you appoint a website designer, you need to spend some time thinking about the content. Today I will show you how to plan a very successful website.
Set Your Goals
The question you need to ask is what do you want to achieve by having a website? Some of your objectives could be: increase sales, brand awareness, showcase of products, qualify prospects to become your customers, production support, etc.
Whatever your answer is I believe your website should be able to capture prospects and customers and facilitate your marketing program. One of the main objectives of any online business is to create a large database and to market it regularly.
Who is Your Customer?
Now when you know what you would like to achieve you need to spend some time researching your customer base. You need to know where your success is coming from and project this on the website. Projecting your strengths will attract customers to your doors.
Please have a look at picture 1 - Customer Table.
Create a similar table for your business. You will be surprised how broad the range of your customers is. Work through the following columns:
- Write down types of customers who are using your business. Split them into large categories by industry or by location.
- Customers' needs. Why are they doing business with you? Is it the location of your business? Is it uniqueness of your designs or perhaps product selection?
Products range. List all products that each group is buying from you.
- What kind of information is needed for a potential customer to do business with you? What is important to them? It could be a timely delivery, materials used, lifetime of the sign or design options.
- And lastly free value as we all love freebees. Especially when we are buying from the Internet. It is vitally important to offer either a free or added value. Free value can be a newsletter but you should come up with something more attractive like a monthly draw for a new sign, an article about the latest design trends, download of tips and tricks of sign promotion, etc.
Take your time and fill out this table properly. This will be your basics not only for your new website but also for your other marketing activities. To know your customer is the alfa and omega of every successful marketing campaign.
Content Writing
Now is the time to transfer the information about your customers to the website. In my opinion, each customer group should have its own webpage. This page should reflect the customers' needs and information they are looking for. It can be written by following this scenario (there are many variations and you can be creative here):
- Start each page with a strong statement that your business is serving this type of customers and is very good at doing this. Mention that you are keen to help them with their needs.
- Talk about their problems and how are you going to solve it for them. Use some statistical data to strengthen your credibility.
- Briefly explain the process of supplying or manufacturing those types of signs.
- Use customer testimonials on each page to confirm your words. There is nothing better than someone else talking nicely about your business.
- Display sample images showing projects done in the area. Play your strengths.
- Include call for action on every page. Calls for action can vary. It could be a newsletter sign up, a design consultation or you prompting them to call for more details or samples or perhaps to visit your shop.
When writing the content ask yourself again: "What is it that makes us different from others and our clients like it?" Write this content for every single customer group. An appealing content has three main advantages.
- Prospect becomes qualified to do business with you and very likely buy from you.
- It helps your site get higher rankings on search engines and thus create more leads.
- You are saving yourself a lot of money for the implementation part of your website and your designer will love you.
Customers Database
Internet evolves very quickly. A good looking presentation on the web is the thing of the past. New technologies and lower prices pushed websites into new spheres. I believe that today you need to have a website doing a little bit more than just showing nice pictures of your previous jobs to your audience.
Website becomes a tool you can use to establish new markets, to market to the existing customers and above all it becomes a part of your business. One key principle is to collect customers and prospects information into a large database. Then market this database effectively. Get more out of your existing customers and sell the latest products. Capture your customers and create successful long-term working relationships with them.
Closing Notes
Every site should have a site map - list of all pages displayed on your website. This helps the search engines identify new pages and also customers can find the relevant information quicker. Do not restrict yourself with the size of your website - the bigger the better and not necessarily more expensive!
Include few pages about your business - history, values, and people. Include the testimonials page and also spread testimonials to every page. Don't forget the Contact us page - give your customers an option to get in touch with you by email, telephone, order form, feedback form or physical address.
Now you have 2 months to do this exercise before we progress to the implementation part. In the next issue I will talk about the range of programming technologies that are used to develop new websites and how your selection can affect your search engine rankings and also win or loose your prospects. Stay tuned; there is more to come.
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