In many ways, the organization’s Web site is its most important interface with the public.
I learned a long time ago that a person never stops learning. As a result, I constantly read books and articles in regards to marketing, public relations, psychology and other topics. This excerpt from Fraser Seitel’s The Practice of Public Relations, 13th edition, page 204 is a great start to how a business owner should create a website that is going to result in a high conversion rate. (Meaning more paying customers!)
“How should you create a winning Web site?
By first asking and answering several strategic questions.
1.) What is our goal? To extend the business? Sell more products? Make more money? Win support for our position? Turn around public opinion? Introduce our company? Answer these fundamental questions first.
2.) What content will we include? The reason some Web sites are tedious and boring as they are is because little forethought has gone into determining the content of a site. Cramming news releases onto a Web site won’t advance an organization’s standing.
3.) How often will we edit? Often the answer to this question is not often enough. Stale news and the lack of updating are common. Sites must regularly be updated.
4.) How will we enhance design? The style of the site is most important. If an organization’s homepage isn’t attractive, it won’t get many hits. Good design makes complicated things understandable, and this is essential in a Web site.
5.) How interactive will it be? Traditional communication is unidirectional, one way. The great attraction of the Web, on the other hand, is that it can be bidirectional.
6.) How will we track use? As in any other communications project, the use of a Web site must be measured. Measuring site performance should be a multifaceted exercise that includes such analysis as volume during specific times of day, kind of access, specific locations on the site to which visitors are clicking first, and the sequencing through the site that visitors are following.
7.) Who will be responsible? Managing a Web site must be someone’s full-time job. Companies may subordinate the responsibility to someone; it is much better to treat the Web site as a first line of communication to the public, which requires full-time attention.”
Thank you Seitel for helping to easily formulate what we all know and what I have been telling my clients for years.
#websites #marketing #smallbusiness #diy #publicrelations
