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 Many companies spend considerable
time and money preparing for the design and production of
their Web sites, but neglect to think ahead to how they
will market it when it is live. Here are three ways to get
people visiting your site and keep them coming back.
1. Tell people you have a site
This might seem blindingly obvious, but it's
remarkable the number of people that don't promote their
Web site addresses. Every piece of your business
literature that is put before customers and prospects
should contain your site's address, from stationery
(letterheads, business cards, compliments slips, faxes and
invoices) to marketing collateral (brochures, price lists
and packaging).
If you use email, set up a signature that will appear at
the end of every message you send. This should contain
your name, position, your company's name, phone number (s)
and, of course, your Web address. Email me at signature@nigelgordijk.co.uk
and you'll receive a signature example template in an
automatic reply.
2. Encourage repeat visits
Research has shown that many customers decide if they
wish to do business with a company after they have visited
its Web site seven times. Here are simple ways to
encourage repeat visits:
Keep it up-to-date. Nothing discourages visitors more than
a site that is clearly not maintained regularly. Make sure
that company information is current, including contact
details, personnel listings and prices.
Make it easy to use. If your site is poorly designed and
relevant content is difficult to find, then no-one will be
bothered to waste time looking for it. Web users are
notoriously impatient, so make sure pages are clearly laid
out and links (including navigation) is simply worded. If
you have a particularly large site, consider having your
own search engine on it to make information easier to
find.
Make it quick. More and more people are using high-speed
broadband connections but a significant number are still
using slower dial-ups to access the Internet. Consider
this when you design and program your site; people won't
return if they know your pages take several minutes to
load.
3. Register your Web site with search engines
More than half of site visits are via search engines,
so don't underestimate their influence on how many
visitors your site will get.
You may find companies that offer to submit your site to
hundreds of search engines; there is even software that
can do this for you. There are really only four or five
major search engines that you need to consider (ask
yourself how many search engines you can name and how many
you actually use). Many of the others are just ways to
surreptitiously get your email address, which you can
pretty much guarantee will become inundated with spam
(unsolicited email).
To increase your chances of a high ranking in search
engines, make sure that pages contain plenty of relevant
text-based information. Mostly, this is what they store in
their indexes and base their results on. For example, if
you search on Google for "web design brighton"
my site appears on the first page. At the time of writing,
my homepage is number five in the results, with my company
ranked third highest on the list. "Brighton web
design" ranks me at number one overall. Not bad for a
one-man firm!
Email me at signature@nigelgordijk.co.uk
and you'll receive a signature example template in an
automatic reply.
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| About
the Author: Nigel Gordijk - based in Brighton, England
- is an accomplished, independent Web consultant with over
16 years' design industry experience. His Web site designs
are noted for their ability to engage users and their ease
of use. His client list includes BP International Ltd,
Thomson Holidays, Honda, Ladbrokes and No 10 Downing
Street. |
