Make the Most of Your Website With Advance Planning
One of the most difficult, but key components of the Internet marketing process is to design your website to achieve the goals you have set for your business. However, most business people ignore this critical step, or leave it to their web designer to take care of, which can often be even worse.
By strategically planning your new website or an update of your existing website, you will ensure you have a marketing piece that showcases your business to its best, allows you to be in control of ongoing content updates, and achieves the goals you have set for your business. Below are a number of steps to follow while planning your new website:
1. Write down on a piece of paper everything you think the visitors to your web site might want to know about your product or service. For example, visitors to a school’s website would probably want to know the attendance levels, size of the classrooms, information on staff members and what sports they can participate in. Brainstorm every possible topic someone might want to know related to the industry, product or service your website will be offering.
2. Put yourself into the visitor’s shoes. Surf the Internet and visit various sites offering similar services, then review them as a potential customer would. As a potential customer, what are the things you like and dislike about each website you visit? Does the website inspire you to take further action? Are you able to find what you are looking for quickly and easily? Are there a lot of pages to navigate through to get to what you are looking for? Note all this data down with the intent of making your new website as easy for your visitors to use as possible.
3. Investigate to find out the keywords your visitors will most likely search for to find your website. You don’t need to invest in expensive search tools, Google has a free keyword tool that is adequate for this purpose. Enter a general phrase related to your product or service, such as “coffee filters” and other related keywords will appear. These are the things your visitors already have questions about. With this information in hand, you can plan your website to feature content that answers people’s questions.
4. When planning your new website, make sure to keep in room to grow. Avoid websites that can’t be easily expanded to add more pages or products. A good website is a constant work in process.
5. Finally, make sure your website is easy to control, so you don’t have to rely on your website designer to make even the smallest changes. Successful Internet marketing today relies on a dynamic website with fresh content added often, and having an antiquated website that only your designer can change will just not work anymore. Your new website should be on a platform that lets you add content quickly and easily.
Your website is most often one of the biggest marketing expenses your business will encounter. Don’t waste it with an inferior website that doesn’t support your business objectives.
Marty Dickinson is the founder of HereNextYear, Inc., a full service Internet marketing company in business for over 10 years. His specialty is Internet marketing solutions for the small business owner, speakers and authors. Visit to see what HereNextYear has to offer and to learn more about their innovative new website packages fully integrated for ease with social networking and other Internet marketing strategies.