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Most businesses now believe that it is necessary to have a website to add
credibility to their business. So, sometimes reluctantly, businesses seek out
a web designer, or web developer, or even hire on a programmer in-house to build a
web site. After a portion of time, and or pain, the business finally has a
web site that they can put on their business cards or brochures. Welcome to
the twentieth century!
Oops. Did I say twentieth century? I guess I did. You see, the
world wide web (aka the internet) has now been around since the late twentieth century,
or 1993. Since that time, the "internet" has grown up to be a lot of things,
including doing business online. So, why the slam when your business finally
gets a web site?
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Now, you might be someone who can say that you've been online
for a while, but you're just not getting any new business online. That could be true
for a lot of businesses. If your site isn't in the right place in the search engines,
chances are you won't be getting business off the web. Ouch! That hurts after
investing in all those web development dollars, doesn't it?
Is There Really an ROI?
So, you've invested the dollars for the web site, let the web designers do their thing,
but you're still not bringing in business from the web? What does it take?! This
is usually where most businesses stop or just give up on their website. Don't quit
now! There really is a way to get a return on your web development dollars.
But, like any marketing program, it does take a continual investment to get
results. And, like any good marketing program, it takes a good plan. The overall
tactic to do this is called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO is not the only
tactic, but a major portion of the overall strategy. To succeed online, search
optimization must be part of YOUR strategy.
So, what is SEO? Search Engine Optimization, simplified, simply means a strategy,
or set of tactics that promotes a web site so that it is found by a targeted set
of people. These people are those that are looking for your products or services
online, using particular keywords. The trick is to have enough site pages ranked
high in the search engines, across enough keywords, to be present when the prospective
customers are searching. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it is, sort of.
But it takes regular effort, research, and time to get the right keywords populated in your web site pages. It also is not just about the web site pages.
Links from other web sites, press releases pointing to the site, and a few other factors help
focus the search engines in on your site.
Have you figured out if there is a return on investment in all of this? It sure
doesn't sound like it on the surface. If you were to invest in a brick and mortar
store, would you just stock it and open the doors? If you did you might be disappointed
in the ROI. A storefront also takes promotion, PR, and enticements to get customers through
the door. Even then, the retail business has studied 'merchandising' for years to
determine what entices the customer to buy more often and more quickly. The same applies to
a web site. The 'merchandising' online is called 'conversion'. Not only is 'SEO'
important to pull in the prospective customers, the site must be built to properly convert the
visitors to customers.
Here's the good news. Everything happens faster on the web! Not only can you
determine where your prospects came from, you can tell how long they stayed on each page, and
where they went next. You can build a sales funnel that can lead your prospect through the
steps necessary to become a customer. You can continue to improve the funnel and web site
pages by testing different approaches and get the results from those tests almost immediately.
As technical as "SEO" may sound or seem, it is a necessity to build a business online
today. All businesses are operating in a global economy today. Whether it seems so
or not, every business is actually affected by global competition. Especially,
competition that comes from the internet. To give your business every opportunity to compete
and grow, a website and site optimization should be in your long term plan with short term goals.
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