If you have an existing site, or are looking at building your first, this article may bring clarity to your decision-making process. The key factor that every site owner must consider is the return on your investment. How is this effort and investment going to generate more business or profits for the site owner? The strategies involved here vary as much as the budgets for this investment do. At the entry point your may be simply securing a position for a future investment while making your presence known in the digital world. This is a soft launch of your digital identity to give you the essentials required to then consider the next level of web marketing. This level of marketing is marketing with a measurable action. At this level we have a conversion point (or many points optimally) that can generate leads, convert sales, create awareness, or leverage market share. How well this performs depends on the level of investment you make in one of two avenues. If you have the time and the vision, a well branded web marketing campaign built to accomplish it’s mission can run on it’s own steam. This is the “If you build it, they will come” style of approach. Great care should be taken to define your audience, and their various touch-points. Once you know who you are engaging, and you have the proper means of communicating your mission to this audience, you can focus on refining the process as you see fit. Another mode of web marketing initiative is to build what is functional and promote it heavily through ad spend, affiliate marketing, and other forms of search marketing. This method has some definite advantages, but generally is best suited for less competitive markets. Beyond these initiatives are other levels of service that either resolve business process requirements, or facilitate other informational or resource oriented web-based initiatives. Whatever your objective we have a strategy to get you on your way to reaching your online business solution. Just remember these key factors:
- Make it for people: Even Google is analyzing how user friendly your site is.
- Make it mobile: Mobile first in this new digital age. Responsive design doesn’t always mean mobile first.
- Make it quick: This is akin to mobile. Speed is a major factor in your user’s experience, and Google’s ranking process. With mobile devices speed is a major consideration.
- Make it with purpose: This site is your salesman, and he’s hourly. Get to the point, and quickly. While marketing hype may stroke your ego… “ain’t nobody got time for that”.
- Make it secure: Obtain an SSL certificate on any site with transactions of data or money, and strongly consider a Sitelock for any/all sites. If you use a vulnerable system such as WordPress, a Sitelock should be required.
- Make it scalable: Make sure your efforts today won’t hurt you tomorrow. This will require a plan for the future, but an ounce of strategy is worth a pound of DOH!
We at Digital Marketing Group hope this information is helpful, but if you want to discuss your specific needs, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly.
