Revisit your Web Site

First, go ahead and say it aloud:  You’ve forgotten about your Web site.

Your team hands out business cards and brochures daily.  Press releases and e-mails carry the company signature. Advertising and promotions push prospects and visitors toward your home page.  These are all vital corporate marketing elements that tie back directly to your online presence. 

So, your Web site should do more for you than just allow potential clients to find your phone number online. It offers a chance to build awareness, increase understanding of your offerings and connect with potential clients. Are you looking to become a source of information in your industry, or spur consumers into action? Whatever your goal, look no further than your own Web site (since often your prospects will do the same)!

The summer is a good time to give your site a good once-over and fill in some of the minor (or major) gaps that occur during the hustle and bustle of daily activity throughout the year. It’s probably time to take a quick tour through the inner workings of your online company presence to see what visitors are seeing and what may be missing from the experience. Giving attention to a few simple but important aspects could make all the difference in your marketing results.

Search Engine Logic
One of the most crucial elements of a Web site is search engine optimization, or SEO.  Most web users rely on search results from Google, Yahoo and MSN to find information on the web.  When these companies cannot index your site, potential clients cannot find you. 

In the past, there was a tradeoff between search engine readability and graphical standards.  Images make your Web site visually appealing, but leave it “hidden” to search engines that look for text to “find” your site.  The search engines rely on programs called “spiders” that currently crawl the Web to index pages based on text content.  They can’t interpret the content of images they come across, so they just move on.  In the case of a site with primarily image-based navigation, or menus, the spider has no idea where it’s going.  It’s like driving on an interstate highway with no exit signs; you could take the next exit, but you don’t know where you’ll end up, and certainly can’t give directions for others to get there. 

Thanks to technological advances in CSS, Flash, and JavaScript programming, today you can retain that graphical feel without sacrificing search engine visibility.  Navigation, page headings, and links can now reflect your branding graphically while providing Web crawlers with adequate direction.

Updating Content Pays Off
Once customers can find you through search engines, you’ll want to make sure they quickly find the right information to keep them interested in your site. 

Since the average user gives a Web site only 5-10 seconds to grab attention before deciding to click that “Back” button, one of the surest ways to keep each person on your Web site longer is maximizing access to current, easy-to-find information. Both content and design need to be taken into account when analyzing a Web site and how visitors find information on it. When was the last time you updated your home page?  Are you still displaying new hires and press releases from 2003?  If you haven’t thought about it recently, it’s probably time to make a few changes.

Updated content also ties back into your SEO goals in terms of quality, quantity and frequency. When it comes to the Web, the sites with the most recent, relevant information get the highest ratings and rankings in search results.

Having a News or Media section on your site that includes white papers, press releases and other events and announcements helps to strengthen the quality of content and increase “searchability” and relevancy for prospective visitors and the crawlers.

In fact, it’s a good idea to make sure every page of your site has relevant content, right down to the Contact Us page(s). Remember, it “pays” in page visits to make sure the right key words appear on the right pages, along with those snazzy graphic effects.

And updating your site with something new, even if only on one page, on a frequent, regular basis, will ensure you can keep your ranking high when new prospects are searching for what you do.

Get Your Name “Out There”
After getting your Web site refreshed and ready to work for you, it’s time to concentrate on getting your name out there. Links to your Web site should appear in all publications, communications and materials sent out by your company. The more exposures your name and link have externally, the better your online visibility will become. 

While the goal is to maximize exposure for your name, be wary of tools that promise thousands of links within minutes – these can lead to your domain becoming listed as a source of spam with servers across the Internet. Once that happens, cleaning your name takes much longer than the preferred slow buildup approach.

Also be aware that online advertising can be very expensive without a targeted approach and methods for measurement of results. Search engine advertising, which allows you to pay for higher search placements and featured positions based on key terms, can be useful for “rising above the noise” in cluttered categories, but the bidding companies do in this area can bust a budget quickly even if you are creative with your search term selection.

Banner and e-newsletter advertising can be very effective and targeted with a bit of strategy and planning. So, in addition to choosing your online outlets and schedule carefully, be sure to create a specific message for your ad feature that will generate interest and consider creating a special page/URL on your Web site that will allow you to track response (click-throughs/visits) for each campaign.

Don’t Let the Web Scare You 
While intimidating for many people, keeping a Web site up to date is a much simpler process that it used to be.  Dynamic content and content management tools automate and structure updates and additions to make it easy for anyone to have a cutting-edge online presence without draining budgets or resources.  The small amount of time you invest to implement updates can be far outweighed by recurring, increased exposure with your online community.

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