“ If you do not have a website, you
are not in business” (Friedmann, 2009). The Idiot’s Guide to Marketing said it best;
being connected to customers online is crucial to a business’ success. A website is the reference point for customers.
It has all the information they need and provides customer support. A website
can attract customers and keep them engaged in the company brand or it can fall
flat and disappoint. Here are seven steps to creating the perfect online
presence through website development.
What Is Your Website
Doing For Your Business?
A website is a tool, put it to work. Large or small all
businesses need to establish the main objectives of the company. The website
objectives will directly reflect the mission of the company. The goal of your
website should get attention, create interest, stir a desire, and create a call
to action (Roberts, 2013).
I am currently working on rebranding my photography business
and needed to create a new website. In the past, my
website was there for price references; I never
acquired a client through my website. By rebranding the business,
I need to reach a new audience. As a photographer, my
website objectives are:
- Create awareness of my brand
- Communicate my mission
- Increase communication
- Inform audience of my services
- Increase sales
Knowing exactly what it is that you want from your website
is the starting point. The site should work for you and
your business. By rebranding my photography business, my
number one priority is to make people aware of my business.
Who Does Your Site
Appeal To?
The most important step to creating an effective marketing
plan is identifying the company’s target market. Identify the audience the
business wants to attract. Learn as much as possible about that specific audience. You should do the most research on this part of
your website development. The target market should be narrow and easy to
identify. You should be able to describe the audience by age, gender,
ethnicity, location, income level, life cycle, and education level. Once the
target market is clearly identified, you can understand exactly how to reach
them. Knowing how to reach the audience and getting their attention is one
thing, but knowing what makes them tick internally is ultimately what inspires
the action or purchase.
The mission for my new photography business is to show women just how beautiful they are. I want women to understand that they are
perfect and should always be photographed. When we leave this earth,
all we have left is memories and pictures. Every woman needs a professional
image to pass on to generations. The photo-shoot is fun; it’s a pampering event. My target
market is the hard working, busy, middle aged mother who has cared so much for
her family that she often forgets
about herself. Given my location, I am
targeting middle class, educated women. This woman has low self-esteem, simple,
modest, conservative, loving and family orientated. Understanding my target
market, I can create a campaign that speaks
specifically to my target.
As a mother, I understand what makes a selfless mother tick.
My target market would never dream about sacrificing a day to
create a vein photograph. They will, however, do
anything it takes to create a beautiful image for their children to cherish
forever long after they are gone. It could be argued that my target market is a
family member of the mother I am targeting rather than the mother. Knowing that
family is a heartstring, I can create an emotional video campaign driving home
the thought of dying without leaving behind a legacy portrait or family
heirloom. The video will be the first thing on my website. I want my audience
to see this and understand the company's purpose before viewing anything else. I want them sold on the idea before they even see my work.
Are We There Yet?
Your website should be designed in a way that is easy to
navigate. Most Internet users will click out of a page if they cannot find the
content they are looking for. “Anatomy of a Website Redesign: Tips and Tricks”
suggest keeping it simple and try not to reinvent the wheel (Chin, 2015). A website should be
well organized with the most important information on parent pages.
My photography website is very simple; my target audience does not have time or patience to stumble around a website
for information. I have included the backbone that I need for my website and
nothing more. My website is very easy to navigate with a handful of parent
pages.
Is This Thing
Working?
You put a lot of work into creating this masterpiece of a
website. Now, you have to see how well it works.
Conduct a usability test on the site to ensure all the links are working
properly. The site should work well on mobile devices and load quickly. If you
are on a tight budget, you can have friends and family test
out the site on multiple computer and mobile devices. Ideally,
if you had a larger budget, you can create a team of testers
that represent your target market and have them perform different tasks
on the site. During the test, you can observe what the user does,
what they click on, and analyze the results (Farney, 2011). The usability tests
would be useful if the site facilitates purchases or electronic payments.
I ask my friends to test my site once it is live. I am most
concerned about the links that lead to my contact information and the
scheduling link. Having a broken link or a glitch in the site would be
extremely embarrassing and subsequently prevent clients from booking
appointments. I like to test my site one a week to ensure everything is up and
running properly.
Sit Back and Relax,
Right?
The next step is to Launch the site and make sure everything
is perfect. Most of the hard work is done. The only thing left is to fine tune
the site. Link the site to your social media sites. Ensure the links work
properly. Fix any problems with the site and remember if it’s not broke, don’t
fix it (Chin, 2015).
This is typically where I realize image sizes are slightly
off or the cropping is wrong for the page. Often I feel the need to update and
make changes to my website to keep it fresh. The reality is that it works
perfectly and does not need changing. People like consistency that they can
rely on. The brand needs to match the website and be easily recognizable.
Was It Worth The
Work?
1.
SimilarWeb
2.
Quick Sprout
3.
Alexa
4.
Google Analytics
(Evonomie, 2015)
These tools can help you understand how your site is being used and where the traffic is coming from. You can see if social media is driving traffic to your site. You
I have looked at my website analytics in the past. This is
actually how I learned about the telemarketing problem I was having. I looked
at my website analytics, turned out the states on my caller ID matched the
clicks I was getting. I took my number off my site and haven’t had a problem.
In the past I did not pay attention to the analytics. Word of mouth and social
media drove my business. I will certainly be using these tools to monitor my
new site.
Not Getting The
Results?
You’ve created this masterpiece and but it’s not generating
the results you had hoped for. This is a good sign that the site needs to be
changed. If you need your website to generate sales and it’s not effective,
something is missing. You may have to go back to the first step to find out how
to increase the effectiveness of the site. Keep going through these steps until
you get the results you need. A website should grown and evolve with the
company (Chin, 2015).
I have not generated any business from my website. With the
new site, I need it to have a significant impact on the target market. The
website and social media is going to be my voice, my face, and my Internet
personally. If I cannot get the response I need from my website, I will go back
to establishing objectives and how to achieve the objectives.
Best Wishes Website
Developer
By following these seven steps on developing a website, you
can create an effective online presence. Understanding your company objectives,
the target market and how to reach them is the foundation of creating a
website. Design the site to be easy to navigate and fast. Test the site and
measure the success. If you aren’t getting the results you need, reevaluate and
start over. Best of luck in your website developing journey.
Bibliography
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