Why I wrote this article and the others in the series
This article is one of a series that I was inspired to write out of sheer frustration when a business owner I know fell into the trap of a high pressure sales person to engage his company to build her a six page, templated website.
One thing I know for sure, is that an industry based, templated website will never meet the needs of this business owner, because no attention has been paid to the unique personality, needs and tactics of her unique marketing strategy. Down the track, she will have to fork out significant sums to get her website aligned with her business goals.
Your business website is doomed to failure if it does not reflect the overall marketing strategy of your business. Anyway, enough ranting; here’s the first article …
Time & Money Waster #1: your website development is not customized
To have any chance of building a powerful online presence your website development must be customized. By customized development I’m not referring just to the visual styling of your site. A much deeper level of customization of your website provides the real foundation for establishing a powerful online presence.
Website development processes that do not tap into the unique marketing strategy of your individual business are destined to fail.
The only way any business website can sustain a powerful online presence is through the alignment of its business strategy, its marketing strategy, and its unique brand proposition, which includes its set of values and value priorities.
Time & Money Waster #2: applying the latest online tactics with reckless abandon
The fastest way to dilute your online presence is to waste time working on the latest online tactics, without first checking that they align with and support your business’s marketing strategy and existing sales tactics; tactics that will engage your website visitors and endear your brand or unique identity to them.
You want to knock on the door of a website developer who will help you to discover how to leverage online sales tactics in a way that builds your online presence as a strong, consistent and trustworthy brand; a brand that engages your visitors and motivates them to buy from your business.
Action step: Download my free, easy to read, 2 page web marketing template as a starting point to identifying what web marketing tactics will work for your business. Down load your free template by clicking on the image that says “FREE TEMPLATE” in the sidebar of this post.
Time & Money Waster #3 – focusing on search engine optimization at the expense of focusing on the needs of your site’s visitors
Time after time, online surveys reveal that the greatest challenge to generating a powerful online presence is perceived by business owners across a range of industries to be search engine optimization.
To some extent that is true, and yet you want to ask yourself what is the point of high search engine ranking that has been contrived by the use of technology, if your site disappoints visitors when they arrive?
Four questions for you to ask yourself:
- What draws you back to revisit online sites?
- Is it engaging content that is relevant to you personally or professionally?
- Do the sites that draw you back make you feel included by encouraging feedback and interactivity?
- Don’t you think your website visitors deserve to discover a professionally developed site that offers content, information or products that relate directly to the key words they used in their search?
Here’s a really important tip for you regarding search engine optimization – while you want your website to be easily found in the search engines, and integrated organic S.E.O. technology will achieve that for you, what you really want is for your site’s visitors to find your site so appealing and useful that they will happily revisit time and time again.
Action step: I encourage you to make it very easy for your visitors to return by setting up automated notifications through your email auto responder service so that your loyal readers and followers get instant notification of updates to your site.
You want to remember always that the perceived quality of your relationship with your visitors is what will transform them from visitors to buyers, so stay in touch so you can build an authentic, helpful relationship.
Talk soon,
The Hubsite Builder Team