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Is your website working? Setting Objectives, Avoiding Pitfalls.Today most businesses have a web presence, with a range of reasons for building one. The single most common reason businesses invest in a web presence is simply because: “everyone else has one”.Jumping on the website bandwagon can actually be detrimental to your business and your brand. When building a website you need to identify key objectives as to why you need a website, these could include the following:
Those examples are business or marketing objectives, they will influence the design/layout of a website and need to be considered before the design process begins. A website may need to fulfil multiple objectives. For instance; a company may build an online presence purely to convert customers to buying online, which should decrease traditional marketing costs, whilst building relationships online. Once your site is up and running you need to track its performance in order to determine the sites success. An E-Commerce website would track sales generated online. If the site needed to build a customer database, we would track the amount of site sign-ups/registrations. Other ways to track your sites performance include but are not limited too:
That is a handful of information used to measure your websites success, and to identify strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these facts can be the difference between your sales scraping by, or your product going global. By setting achievable objectives before you start a website project, you can assess its effectiveness. Your website can do more than simply stagnate. Your brand needs to reflected in your website presence, ensuring that the quality of service delivered offline is matched or exceeded online. A website is often considered a luxury, and more often than not, businesses cannot justify spending thousands on a long term marketing project, and a website is a long term investment. However the benefits of investing now, outweigh the costs. With a structured digital marketing plan, your site can help your business reach a larger audience. It can be integrated into traditional marketing, enabling you to track how effective your Radio or Press advertising actually is. Websites can automate manual processes, which can reduce staffing costs, helping to increase profit margins. Not every business is ready for a web presence, prematurely investing in a website may result in your website failing to meet expectations, reflecting badly on your brand. Invest when the time is right, when you have considered what your website needs to achieve. The internet is rapidly changing the way we think and behave. Google is now used by the majority of people worldwide. It has replaced traditional printed directories to find out information, its faster, relevant and at peoples finger tips. A quick search enables you to access information within seconds. The word “Mandurah” is searched extensively each month, with barely a handful of websites set-up to benefit from this. People are looking for your business/products and are receptive to your online messages. Take your time to research why you need to build a website, but remember, for everyday you delay, your competitor may beat you to the prize. If you have a website ask youself - Is my website working? What can my website do for my business? What objectives should I be setting and how can I track it's effectiveness. |
