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In the last post we talked about some basic things to consider before you build or update a web site. I placed "Who is my audience" at the top of the list and noted that it was a biggie. Allow me to elaborate.
Knowing who your audience is can be one of the most important factors in any situation where you wish to get information to someone else. It is true in advertising (whether online or not). It is also true for someone who simply wants to write a blog. You have to know something about your audience in order to reach them. The more you know about them, the better you should be able to reach them. Advertisers have known this for a long time. Why were there people selling doves in the temple area during the time of Jesus? They knew that people would want to buy them for their offering in the temple. The same reasoning holds true today. You will probably not do too well selling automobile tires by advertising in an Amish newspaper. You might, however, do well to advertise in Car & Driver Magazine.
If your company sells children's clothing, then having a web site that has a metallic green color scheme with images of motorcycle parts in the background is probably not going to appeal to your customers. However, a site with images of children's toys and a nice pastel color scheme, just might fit the bill. Think about what might appeal to your customers and not what has the most dazzle. If your average customer is a 30 to 40 year old woman, build a site that would appeal to her. If you are writing a blog about the glory days of the 1950s, then build a site with images of that period with topics that interest someone who lived in that era.
The bottom line here is to target your audience. Build a site that fits into the overall feel of your business that is geared toward your most likely customer or visitor. Be as specific as possible. If you do not know who your customer is, the do some research and find out. Ask your current customers questions. Go online and see what your competition is doing. Read reports related to your field of work. The more you know about your target audience the better the chances you will have of knowing how to reach them. |
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It has been my experience that many people want to build a web site without thinking about what they really want from a web site. There is a tendency to "just get a site out there" and that can be problematic, as well as just not very smart.
I frequently have clients contact me when they begin thinking about a site to get general information about what is involved, how much it will cost, how long it takes and so on, and then I don't hear from them for a long time. Then, they will call me in a semi-panic because they are about to launch some new campaign or product and they have to have the site in a week. Really. It happens a lot.
This attitude tends to make for a hasty judgment call on what to put on the site. That can lead to a poorly thought out site design and useless content for the end user. With that in mind I wanted to share some thoughts on what every site owner needs to consider BEFORE building a new site or upgrading an old one. I will cover this in a few posts in the near future, but for now I am just going to list some things that should be at the front of your mind when planning a site.
Things to Consider
- Who is my audience? (This is a biggie)
- What information is my target audience most likely to want when they visit my site?
- What is the best way to present this information?
- How can I interact with potential customers who visit my site?
- How large will my site need to be?
- How much traffic do I expect to have?
- How can we integrate our site into our current and future marketing / advertising?
- How will I promote my site?
As I stated above, I will go into more detail on a few of these topics in the near future, but for now, take a little time an think about these questions. It may give you some great ideas to implement into your site now or in the future. |
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Search engine optimization of a web site is one of the biggest and most basic necessities that site owner can have. However, many web sites are bulit with the "If you build it, they will come" mentality. You can have the greatest looking site in the world and if it has not been optimized it will not likely do very well for you. One of the major problems I see in web design these days is that many sites are built without any thought or effort given to SEO. Basic SEO practices can make a world of difference in the amount of traffic, and therefore, business your site generates. I have explained many of these techniques on this site in the past and you can read further to find them, so I won't go into that again, for now. However, it has gotten me thinking and here is what I am going to do about it. If you have a web site and it has not been performing the way that you had hoped, you are in luck. I am offering a limited amount of free site optimization reports during the month of December. If it goes well, and I don't get too overwhelmed, I may continue this in the coming months as well. Here is what you will get: - Site analysis of basic Search Engine Optimization and recommendations on how to improve your site's ranking.
- A custom, detailed report on ways to improve your site's ranking.
- Suggestions for future improvements to build a larger client base and generate leads.
- Ideas on how to improve your sites sales conversion rates.
One of the ways we make our living is by helping others promote their business online and we would like to earn your business. Hopefully this will be a good way for you to get to know us and we can work together more in the future, but there is absolutely no obligation for this service. It is just a way for us to introduce ourselves to you. Remember this is a limited offer, so contact us now to make sure you get your site analysis for free. This is a $150 offer, so don't miss out. |
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