Is your website
working for you?
Many companies, caught in the 'me-too' trap have rushed to get a website
up without appearing to have any sort of strategy about how to keep it
current and relevant.
There is more to online marketing than throwing up your company's
brochure on the web and crossing your fingers. This is one of the most
common complaints that our customers come to Pacific Websites about. They
have a great-looking website, either made by a friend cheaply, or made by
a "web designer" who knows how to design very well, but knows
nothing about website marketing or promotion.
In short, they have an
attractive website that no one sees!
The Web is an interactive, dynamic, and
rapidly changing new communications medium that your website should
reflect.
Great sites are
- well-organized
- written to make the viewer respond
- attractive
- interactive
- consistently formatted
Do your Research
Go out and take a peek at what your competitors have got. Keep an open
mind. Spend time surfing the internet and find out what else is possible.
Tell your web master what you like and what you don't like. This will help
you get what you want, as well as save you money.
Are you
Listening?
What feedback opportunities are there on your site? Emails can tell you a
lot about the site's design and about customer satisfaction. This is the
direct interface between you and your customer. Many people use the email
to get some initial "human" contact.
Write to Sell
To make a website truly
effective, it has to be written to show the reader what the benefits are.
Everyone comes to your site thinking "What's in it for me?" and you have
to tell them, exactly and repeatedly! Show your stuff! Tell them the
benefits. Pacific Websites has great information to help you with
this.
Optimized for
Speed
Is your site optimized for ease of use and, above all, speed? Good web
designers will ensure that all graphics are compressed in such a way as to
help speed up displaying your pages. Your customers won't necessarily have
fast modem access. Your site may look great on a high-speed ADSL, but will
be very slow and cause frustration to those users who still use old 28K
modems.
Search Engines
There are tricks in getting yourself registered on search engines. Links
FROM other websites is a major consideration for both people finding your
site and for "search engine friendliness." Make sure your site's meta tags
are set up to ensure that search engines list you correctly. Meta tags are
hidden keywords and descriptions in the background HTML which say what
your site is about and also allow for a list of keywords. Pacific Websites
knows the correct methods to get high listings on search engines and
directories.
Our Examples
This page you are reading comes up
# 5 out of
3 million on Google for "What does a website need" (April, 2006)
Customer
Satisfaction
On an e-commerce website, it is essential to ensure that you have your
back-end systems in place to meet customer demand. Don't offer more than
you can deliver - the best-looking website will fail if goods aren't
delivered in good order and on time.
Customers use the internet for greater ease of use than going to shops or
mail order. They want to access details about what they're buying, see
photos of products, and get through to the checkout. Is your site easy to
use? Enquire
here
Keep in Touch
The internet makes it easy to keep in touch with customers. Use email to
let them know what's going on and build on the loyalty you have
established. But be careful, don't over do it, or you'll alienate them and
be accused of spamming! Judicious use of email can alert them to new
products and services you offer, and make for ongoing sales.
Your web site should be used as an effective marketing tool - to get your
message across and persuade your customers to take immediate action. A
visitor's impression of your site, their ease of navigation and ability to
search for what they want effortlessly and efficiently inevitably
translates to a set of impressions that shape how the rest of your
business is perceived by the online world.
There is a BIG difference between a "web
design" and a "web business".
Do you want a website or do you want a
business? RUN AWAY if your web designer:
- Does not ask you about your business
- Does not ask you any questions about
your Search Engine Marketing and Optimization programs
- Begins the new design without discussing
with you the goal of your website
- Begins the new design without discussing
with you who your target audience is
- Puts visual impact ahead of the
usability of the web site
- Recommends a Splash entry page (Search
Engines cannot normally ‘see’ Splash pages. This is a dated feature that
tends to put off site visitors – who will often simply leave the page
(and the website) before it has had a chance to load)
- Recommends your entire site be in Flash
(Search Engines cannot ‘see’ Flash pages)
- Recommends putting your site in Frames
(Search Engines have great difficulty ‘seeing’ Frames pages – there are
workarounds for using Frames but they are a costly retro-fit. A good
designer will recommend using tables rather than Frames if you have your
heart set on a Frames look)
- Does not realize that the <title>, <meta
name="description">, and <meta name="keywords"> tags should be different
on every page
If you are using the services of a
professional Search Engine Marketing company, please ensure that your web
designer follows their recommendations. If you are not using a Search
Engine Marketing company, speak with your designers and make sure they
understand:
- How to optimize a website for Search
Engines,
- How to design a website that will be
user friendly for your target customers, and
- What you want to achieve with your
website.
Contact us for an assessment your current site.
We can improve your company's visibility and profitability.
Here are
some of our recent designs. |
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