So I have been developing web sites for over 12 years and I need to vent.  I have some of the greatest clients in the world, but some of these people drive me up a wall.  As the internet has grown, so have the amount of tools we integrate for people to take over the content of their sites.  The issue here is that we develop a design with a specific marketing message and that message gets obliterated by clients who don’t know how web sites work and how the messages are perceived by their visitors.

In most cases, these clients who are trying to make their sites “better’ end up deleting all of the graphics we created and (because they don’t know graphic design) end up replacing the graphics with all text.  These people don’t have a clue about how the combination of graphics, text, and flash animation ALL combine to create a cohesive message.

The only solace I have is in the fact that these people are paying money to have the tools created and the web sites designed.  It takes every ounce of strength I have to not reach through cyberspace and strangle these people who ruin the work we’ve done because they think their methods are right.  All I have to say is good luck and hopefully your message gets out and you don’t ruin your brand.

Let the experts do what they do and you do what you do to be successful.

This is a commonly asked question and something that people get emotional about.  A lot of businesses don’t want a “template” web site design.  A template is defined as a predesigned concept for a web site that comes with the files and the original photoshop files and HTML files.  You can customize the template, but the odds are that there is another web site or other company out there that uses the same design.  So is it good or bad to use a template?

In my opinion, the end goal for your business is what matters most.  In other words, your goal is to generate business and if you don’t have a huge budget for web design, then you might want to consider using a template.   If there is another design out there (in the billions of web pages), then it wouldn’t look that good for your company.  What are the odds that a client or prospective buyer would see a similiar site as yours?  In my experience, pretty slim.

If you use a template, the name of the game is still to create a message that will convert to business.  Just because you have a template will not diminish that message.  You need to have a web designer that understands marketing to help you use that template and add text and images that will convert traffic to business.  Just a design won’t do anything for anyone.

So, my answer is that I think templates are good for a lot of companies, but the message in the design is more important than anything.

If you have Google Analytics installed on your web site (which you should if you want to do any internet marketing at all), you will see a statistic called a bounce rate.  This statistic is defined as the number of people that visit your web site and leave immediately.  Obviously, the higher the number, the worse off you are because it means higher percentages of people are flat out leaving your web site and not viewing information about your company.  The longer they stay on your site, the more chance you have of getting business and generating sales.

So, the question is “How can you reduce your bounce rate?”  Well, the number one answer is to ask yourself “Who am I marketing my business to?” and “If I am potential customer, when I go to the web site, is there enough information for me to make a purchase?”  Take a step back and look at your web site like a potential customer.  You need to decide if there is enough information about your products or services to call and make a purchase.  If not, you need to change the homepage.  Some basic ideas for the homepage:

• Ask questions about problems that your product or service can solve
• Point out your benefits big and bold so visitors will understand what separates you
• Put a lot of calls to action on the homepage
• Make sure it’s easy for a visitor to find information they would need to make a decision

Once you have changed the homepage, review the statistics every month and determine if the bounce rate is going down.  If not, make some more changes until you have maximized the potential of your web site.

Web 2.0 is a buzz word companies have been throwing around over the past year.  What is it and why should you be involved?  The basic definition is that Web 2.0 provides a new way to run your business through the internet.  In my opinion, the first wave of the web has been complete.  The first wave included businesses that knew they just had to have an internet presence.  Therefore, companies spent thousands of dollars just getting 5 and 10 page brochure web sites built just so they could point customers and prospective clients to a place to see their business.

In my experience, web site design is a part of your business’ marketing department. Too many times, we see web design pawned off on the IT department or other department where the staff do not know anything about marketing. As a business, you need to make sure that all of your marketing materials are consistent, professional looking, and tell a story. Why should your web site be any different? Make sure that your web site is handled by the same people that handle your marketing materials to maintain that consistency.

As far as using your web site as a marketing tool, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• When someone comes to my site, can they figure out what we do within 2 seconds of viewing the site?
• Does the web site touch on a problem the visitor might have which will result in an action?
• Can the person reach us through the web site easily?
• Are there are a lot of “calls to action” like phone numbers, forms, buy buttons?
• Does the web site match your marketing materials?

If you see that your web site does not answer the questions above adequately, it’s time to look at a redesign.

The beauty of the internet is that a business can track anything and everything when it comes to your buisness marketing.  Gone are the days when a business just sends out a direct mail piece or radio ad and crosses their fingers hoping that business would start coming in.

The internet allows businesses to create and send marketing materials and track the effectiveness through a web site or multiple web sites.  The following are ways to integrate traditional media marketing with the web.

Using Multiple Web Site Addresses
Through Godaddy, you can buy a domain name for $9 per year.  You should purchase a separate domain name for every campaign that you run.  Then, when you send out a direct mail, use a different web address for that campaign.  You can create a new mini web site for that campaign and track the visitors to that domain to determine the effectiveness of the direct mail piece. On a cheaper level, you can create a redirect from that domain to the main company web site because we can still track how many people typed in the web address even if it redirects.

Using Google Analytics to Track Conversions
You can set up Google Analytics to track a visitor from when they get on the site until they submit a form or complete a transaction.  So, if you send out 1,000 mail pieces and 100 people visit the site, that’s a 10% conversion to visit.  If 10 people fill out a form or make a transaction, that’s an overall business conversion rate of 1%.  Google can track all of that and will be able to create a report that can be compared to other campaigns.

If you use your web site correctly, you can determine the most successful marketing campaigns and focus your marketing dollars on similiar campaigns in the future.

In the last blog, I went over 5 ways to generate traffic.  Well, I decided to follow that up with 5 more ways to generate to your website..  Here are some more for your review:

1) Local Search Engine Directories
If you have a local business, you need to make sure your web site is listed in Yahoo! Local and Google Local.  Google Local is a simple process and they will mail a card to your business address to verify your location.  Yahoo! uses the database from infoUSA so you need to be listed there first

2) Links from Other Web sites
If you are in a specific industry, you may want to contact other people in your industry and try to get links from their web sites to yours.  This is an easy way to get some traffic from other businesses in your industry.

3) Ebay Store
If you sell products, one of the best ways to get exposure is through eBay.  You can list products you have for sale very cheaply and then drive people to your web site once they check out.  You will then be able to market to those people.

4) Email Marketing
Try to develop your own list of customers and send them emails with specials or new services you have to offer on a monthly basis

5) Traditional Media
You can always get back to basics and advertise in magazines, through radio, direct mail, etc.  Just remember to add your web site URL to everything you do