I wouldn’t be in the commercial I’m in if I didn’t firmly rely on the energy of a properly designed website. Used to its potential, your business’ website may be your brand’s greatest advocate. Consider your website in terms of a mighty skyscraper. Everything starts with the laying of a strong, solid foundation on which you build.
The Foundation – That is your brand, your identity. Before you hammer in the first nail of one’s “skyscraper,” your brand must certanly be clearly established and defined. FBISD Skyward Who have you been? What can you make/do? Whom can you serve? How will you make their lives easier/better? Also, remember that your logo will undoubtedly be associated with your brand. Could it be effective?
The Building – Now that your identity is solidified, you will need to create your website to be more than just an online billboard. Your site must provide information and content that is valuable to users. You, via your website, have to become people’s “go-to guy/gal” in your industry. You achieve this by posting content that answers potential questions beyond contact information. There are as many ways to do this as you will find different fields of expertise. John, the master of a home inspection company, uses his website to provide pages of informative content about the difficulties to look for when investing in a home. He does this in ways that seems to effectively read the minds of his potential customers.
Being an expert in his field, he’s well acquainted with the questions that homebuyers have, and he uses his website to proactively address them. John’s website puts him in the position of authority on these matters and entrenches him in the minds of his site users as someone who’s knowledgeable and trustworthy. Additionally, it gives his site users an experience that is interactive and illuminating. Also, understand that videos really are a extremely popular solution to convey information in your website. Consider the different “how-to” videos you can post. Consider videos offering demos of one’s product. The options are limitless, (although it is preferred that you seek your web designer’s guidance in this. If not done optimally, a movie could decelerate your website’s loading time.) And don’t underestimate the value and effectiveness of blogging! What better way to exhibit what you know about your business than to publish useful articles on a regular basis? Blogging provides your potential customers with information they will enlighten them, and it enables you to emerge because the authority in your business that you are. It is a win-win!
The Open Invitation – With a profitable website now set up, you will need allow it attract attention and draw people in! That great blog you’re writing will undoubtedly be even more effective if you promote it on social media marketing sites and in blog forums. That video you shot will take a lot of traffic to your website, as well as your business, if people see it linked on Facebook or notice on YouTube. Use your website to grow your email list by having an invitation to receive your newsletter or e-zine. Also, don’t be shy about directing folks to your website and your business by doing interviews on local radio or on Internet forums.