Marketing on the Internet requires a whole new set of skills. Start by reading this extract from Successful Internet Marketing, by Veronica Yuill. Or buy the book here.

Using the web to promote your business

What's in this chapter for you

• Creating and promoting a Web site
• Getting traffic to your site -- and keeping it
  
• What makes an effective Web site?
  

The Web is certainly the most visible part of the Internet – and also the part surrounded by the most hype. Unfortunately it’s also the place where many have come to grief! In this chapter we’ll identify the pitfalls, and give some pointers to creating and maintaining a successful Web site.

Creating and promoting a Web site

 The number one reason people visit Web sites is for information.You have to give people a benefit for visiting your site. I find many new clients don’t fully understand this– they just want to put a straight sales pitch online. That won’t cut it on the Web, and I’m not afraid to say so. 

– Andy Toklas, freelance Web designer

Before you even start on your Web site, put yourself in your customers’ shoes and ask yourself some hard questions:

• What makes your business special?
• What’s in it for the customer?
• Is your site worth coming back to?

Let’s look at these questions in turn. They may not be as simple as they seem. After asking these questions, you might even decide that a Web site is not appropriate for your business, or that you are not yet prepared to allocate resources to maintaining one.

What makes your business special?

Yes, it’s your ‘USP – Unique Selling Point’. If you haven’t got one, or don’t know what it is, you should! Identify it, and make it the key to your site. But make sure it’s not something vague like ‘lowest prices’ or ‘best widgets’– it needs to be specific and backed up with evidence.

 Definitely no waffle on the front page! It should state clearly what product or service you are offering, and what the benefit is to the customer. How will it help them? Why do they need it? It’s so easy for people to surf off somewhere else – you’ve got to grab their attention fast. 

– Will Forester, Internet marketing consultant

What’s in it for the customer?

As Andy says, you must provide a benefit for your visitors. Not only has the site got to look good and present a professional image, it has to provide hard information. ‘Content is king!’ is a mantra on the Web. This doesn’t have to be anything huge or complicated, but you should be able to think of something suitable. Be prepared to give away something for free. It’s the starting point for building up a relationship with your visitors.

Is your site worth coming back to?

 To keep our site fresh-looking we change the front page at least every month, highlighting special offers and seasonal gardening tips. Sure, it’s a lot of work, but it definitely pays for itself in repeat visits – and sales. 

– Peter Leadbetter, online gardening supplies retailer

If you want to do business on the Web, you need people to return to your site, and spread the word about it to others. For one thing, most people won’t make a buying decision on their first visit. And if you look at ‘off-Web’ marketing, exactly the same principles apply. Large companies don’t go on showing the same television adverts year after year – people would get bored with them if they did. If your site remains unchanged month in month out, people will stop returning. And eventually you will run out of new visitors to keep the flow of traffic up!

Good design and planning pays dividends

• When planning your web site, make sure you budget for the ongoing work of keeping it up-to-date.
• The design of the site should make updates and additions as easy as possible -- otherwise they won't get done.
• Link directly to new items from the front page (for example with a 'What's New' icon) so that visitors can see immediately what has changed since their last visit.

Do some research on the Web. If your competitors have Web sites, visit them and look at them with a critical eye.

• What do you like about them?
• What don’t you like?
• How can you make yours stand out?

You must have answers to these questions before you put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) to start designing your site. A serious Web designer should certainly ask you these questions, or ones very like them, before starting work. But they are equally important if you are doing it yourself.

Copyright © 1999, David Grant Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Order the book online now!