How to make your company website more effective.
“If your company website doesn't deliver results, then why do you have one?”
The dilemma for many small and medium-sized companies is that they have a website but that it doesn't generate many business leads. The company that owns the website is usually disappointed, as expectations had been so high when originally launched. They may have heard of various methods of making it more useful but aren't sure how to implement these changes or how effective they will be. So what should they do?
If you have a company website like this there are two main questions you need to ask yourself. Firstly you need to make it easy for a potential customer to find your website. Secondly, when a potential customer finds your website, is the information that they require present, does the website engage the customer and compel them to take action and is it easy for them to contact you?
Lets look at the second question first, after all what is the point of getting potential customers to your website if when they get there all they do is become disappointed and leave. Your website needs to be attractively design, easy to navigate and contain all the information, in a user friendly format, for the visitor to meet their requirement. The website must convince the visitor that you can be trusted and are capable of delivering to meet their need. If you have too much information, poorly constructed navigation or an unprofessional website then the visitor will become frustrated and leave.
Therefore you need to make sure your website can deliver these requirements. Sometimes this is not as easy as it seems and getting a professional to review your website appearance, structure and content can make a significant difference in converting visitors to potential customers.
So now you have a great website you just need to get it in front of all those potential customers on the internet. The question of ensuring your company website can be found may seem an enormous task, but positioned in the right way, it can become the most cost-effective form of marketing your company can have. The internet is getting larger every day and hence competing to be found in your particular target market is becoming increasingly difficult. To start with do not focus on just one approach. By using a combination of approaches you are much more likely to reap significant results.
For a start make sure your website is registered with all the major search engines and that it is recognised by these search engines as search engine friendly. Check out all local directories and industry-relevant directories where you can register your company details including your domain name. Many directories will allow a free entry for basis details with the option to upgrade for a price to a premium listing.
To achieve a high position in the search engine for your website two important approaches that can be used either separately or in tandem need to be considered. Search engine optimisation can position your website high up in the rankings for the actual key phrases people actually search for on a regular basis. The importance of this can not be over emphasised as the top 30 results in search engines get 90% of the traffic and the top 10 results achieve nearly 80% more traffic than those in positions 11 – 30 achieve! Appearing high up in the search engine rankings and achieving and maintaining that position can make such a difference.
Pay-per-click is the approach to appear in the sponsored links when a key phrase is entered in the search engines. These sponsored links, sit along side the top organic listings in the search engine results and Google Adwords is by far the most popular. The company only gets charged when a person actually clicks through on the sponsored link and visits the website. Remember this is a person, who through the search phrase they entered, is actually looking for precisely the types of services or products contained in the sponsored links. A highly qualified visitor from your target audience can be delivered direct to your website. Although a more costly approach this can have more immediate impact than search engine optimisation, and if managed professionally, can produce a very high return on investment and make it very cost-effective.
Making the most of your company website can make a huge difference to your business generation and ultimately the company profitability. Your company website should be central to your company marketing and if used wisely can be the most cost-effective form of marketing your company can have.
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