That’s a good start, but don’t stop there. Your website can be one of the most effective marketing tools you have. It is by far one of the best values as well.

In the past, if you wanted to do business you’d get a yellow pages ad, for thousands of dollars, and then you took out ads in the paper also, maybe canvasing and area with fliers or something. You knew you had to spend the money because that is how you were found. You put it in the budget and organized your business around it.

But for some reason people approach things without the same business commitment. People seem to think that spending as little as possible is somehow going to achieve a satisfactory result.

It seems to me that if we think about our websites in the same way that we used to think about our yellow pages ads, we’d realize that for it to be truly effective for us, we will need to spend a little time and money getting it working for us. Only then will we get the return we are looking for. The difference is that you will spend far less and get far more through your website than through a yellow pages ad. Sorry little yellow book sitting in my drawer unused, but you just will.

The key is not to simply hang your website like a sign then walk away expecting customers to just show up. It just doesn’t work that way. What this means is that someone needs to do the work necessary to make sure your website is designed correctly (structurally), is optimized so people can find it (Search Engine Optimization) and is easy to use (usability) so that your website can be found by people looking for your products and services and when they get to your site, they find what they are looking for and hopefully take the next step.

You Get What You Pay For

If you decide that you are going to manage your own website yourself, be prepared to spend a lot of time learning about website design, search engine optimization rules and writing content for the web, which is very different than other writing you may do. You must learn all this so that your site will perform effectively. If you don’t, your website is not going to be effective and you will have spent your time for a less than desired result. You might not like this next statement, but it’s not the websites fault if it’s not working for you.

Think about this. If you hired someone to do your website and they could not get it to where you want it, or couldn’t make it look how you want (EG: to match your branding), you’d fire them, right? Well, maybe it’s time to fire yourself.

Don’t Skimp

One of my challenges, surprisingly, is to convince business owner not to skimp on their marketing efforts. This is a bit odd to me as your marketing is what prospective customers use to decide if they are going to take the next step and move forward in doing business with you. Is it really worth saving a few bucks to take that chance? You don’t want people to look at your website and think “This says they’ve been in business for a week” do you? Or to simply hit the back button because they couldn’t find what they were looking for?

I see people with those paper brochures that they printed themselves. Cheap? Yes. (Actually maybe not when you look at what ink costs). Easy to update? Yes. Effective? Not really. So, is that a good use of your money and resources? Is it a good business decision? I see the same thing with business cards people get for free from certain companies as well. A bunch of people have the same business card because they’re all picking from the same templates.

Not Like The Old Days

Keep in mind that we’re not talking about the same kind of dollars that yellow page advertising cost. I’ve heard of people spending $5-30k per month! Yes, you read that right, per month. A brand new website doesn’t cost near that and if you have a website, you can get it hosted and professionally managed for around $40/mo.

It’s not personal, it’s business

If you want a professional result, you need to hire a professional. Just make sure you define your goals and make the necessary choices to achieve them. You may take your business personally because it represents who you are. I understand that, but when you need to make a business decision, keep your emotions out of it. Find someone you trust and see how it goes. If they can’t get it done, choose someone else.

Ok, so you’ve started giving your customers little nuggets, maybe some insider information or extra articles that you don’t just give away to everyone. Perfect.

Getting More Meaningful

Your customers are just like you; They have opinions they’ll happily share with others.  They might even want to get involved with various charitable causes.

While this next suggestion is not intended to be a direct selling tool (meaning that you do this for the purpose of selling in some artificial way) it may increase sales.

This is more about showing your company to be honestly interested in your customers and the community.

Get them Engaged

The internet is a great place to connect with your customers and to offer information about what you’re doing. Right now the two places to do this that are getting lot so media coverage are Facebook and Twitter (these links are to my pages so you can see what I’m talking about). NOTE: Feel free to become a fan (Facebook) and Follow Me (on Twitter).

You may have heard the term “Social Media” and these are it.

In the end it is simply a way to build relationships with people. The fact that you are using a non personal computer to do it seems a little contradictory, but the words (posts and comments) aren’t written by the computer. You and your customers will be engaging in conversations ranging from products reviews to where you went sailing. Take it as far as you like, but be sure to find out the best way to utilize the social media opportunities.

Facebook on Steroids

Keiran Murray of Extreme Networking 101 teaches the best Facebook Webinar around (if you live in the Tacoma area they have in person classes as well I believe). If you want to use Facebook to it’s fullest potential, get in that class. Oh, and be committed to actually putting into practice the things you learn. They make it fun and easy and you can even build your Facebook page during the class!

Using Facebook will give you a predesigned platform to connect with your customers. There is no subscription free and it’s all there already. You can start with just having your photo and a company logo. Facebook has everything else built into it. Of course, the more effort you put into it, the better it will be and the greater the potential benefit.

Twitter

Twitter is a bit less interactive. It’s more of a way to get information out quickly for people to access. While they can respond it just isn’t quite as nice of way to build relationships in my opinion. However, before you write it off, consider that it might be the way to get a customer to take a next step to visit your website or Facebook page. You can send out tips, tricks and offers, all the while continually pointing them to your website. If you consider that as it’s purpose you may find value in it. And remember, it costs nothing but  a little bit of time to write little posts regularly.

Causes

Beyond day to day communication, using your website, Facebook, etc to draw customers to charitable causes is a great way to do three things very efficiently

1. Get people involved with the event/cause
2. Develop a stronger bond with your customers
3. Long term profits (This is residue benefit that comes to companies that honestly give back)

Getting involved

You help the cause, your customers feel good about helping. How great is that? And if you sponsor the cause/event you get to be face (driving force of the cause) that your customers will associate.

Develop a Bond

Does the idea of developing actual deeper relationships with your customers seem weird to you? Why, because you feel strange charging them at that point? Having close/strong connections with your customer is good for both you and the customer. They get to know you and that way they don’t have to go out and “take a chance” with the next guy. They can relax because they know you’ll take care of them.

Long Term View

By becoming involved in the community you are setting yourself up to experience long term profits. It does take time and you should find a cause that you are truly interested in. Something you might support regardless. Over time, people will respond to your commitment and you will gain credibility all around. Unfortunately sometimes we feel funny tooting our own horn. We want to donate with the “christian ideal” of not letting anyone know about it. There is not contradiction here. Don’t tell how much you’re giving, but by being an advocate for the cause you are merely drawing others to it.

Conclusion

By having these things hooked into your website you can quickly make updates/changes with very little cost. Let your website get to work for you. By investing a little creativity, and yes a little money too, you can turn your website into a revenue/referral source.

Of course you’ll want to start tracking these things, but that is another article….

You’ll remember last time we covered a couple basic uses of your website and one slightly more advanced one (specials and coupons). We even talked about creating a way for your customers to get even more special offers by opting in to receive your marketing materials.

Take it further

Along with have specials or coupons, you have something that might be even more valuable to your customers: Your expertize.

You may not feel like an expert, and I can totally relate, but have you ever been talking with someone about your industry, business, interests and found that you knew far more than they did? That is what I am talking about. Don’t assume that expert means that you know everything there is to know about a subject. The fact that you know more than your customers can and should be exploited.

Don’t take that the wrong way, I’m simply saying that your customers will benefit from what you know as much as what you offer (product/service). Use this fact as a way to develop your relationship with your customer a little bit further.

You can offer “legal bribes” that will provide free information to your website visitors and will provide you with their name and email and you’ll know that they accessed the information. Now you can follow up with them  because you have a nice reason to. Send them an email is a few days asking if they got what they needed, had any questions or how about a second download of similar or related information? Any fusion marketing opportunities for you? (Fusion marketing would be other companies that offer complimentary services to yours so you can share them with your customers for added value).

So, what is this legal bribe anyway?

Well, that all depends upon what you do and how you do it. I can throw out a few ideas just so that you can see what I’m talking about, but you’ll need to figure out how it might apply to your business. As always, feel free to contact me. I love helping business owners generate ideas.

E.g.,

• 10 things to prepare for winter (works for cars, house, wardrobe or skin/beauty)
• 5 mistakes you’re making with your marketing (or whatever)
• Recipe of the month

You see, they are simple and may seem simplistic, but to your customers it might be the perfect fix to satisfy their addiction.

Take it easy

Also, break things down so that they can be offered over time. This helps you in not having to scramble for content ideas but it also helps your customer because then they aren’t overwhelmed with choices. Take a list of 20 things and make 4 lists of 5 things. Or only offer one idea a month and just be a little more thorough with your presentation, offering a fuller explanation.

In doing this, you will become a resource for your customers. They will look to you as a place to get answers. And when it comes time for them to buy, they’ll already know you, so you stand a better chance of making the sale. Of course if you offer special discounts to customers who have registered, you’re kind of priming the pump. While you should be mindful, keep in mind that giving a coupon/discount is not losing profit margin it is buying business. You aren’t marketing hoping to win business, you are buying business directly only paying (with a little profit margin) for those that act (buy from you).

Looking ahead

In Part III we’ll show how you can involve/engage your customers to create an even stronger bond with you. I can’t wait.

Job done, right?

Maybe.

Your website is one of the most powerful marketing/selling  tools you own. For the money there is no better way to accomplish the task(s) you set for it. Once in place, it never sleeps, takes a break or complains. It performs the task perfectly every time, never day-dreaming about being out on the open road.

Where to start?

Think about information that you offer your customers on a regular basis and consider making that information available on-line.

• What are your hours?
• Where are you located? (you can even give directions and a map).
• Got any specials?

Websites are perfect for this kind of information because it give it out when your customer (or prospect) asks for it. The moment they want to know your hours or location, your website is there to give it to them. I will assume that if you have a site, you have this information available and very easy to find. If I can’t get the answer within one click, your site is not built right.

The Next Step

But what about the third example up there. Do you have any specials or coupons that you offer regularly? By having this on the website, you give the customer the ability to “find that good deal” that we all seek when we shop. Tell people to check out your website for the latest deals you’re offering.

• Buy one, get one half off
• 10% off an oil change
• Bring in your last receipt and get some discount of special thing

Now your website is being anticipated by your customers as a place to provide you savings, a deal, etc. And while it’s doing that, if your offer is aimed at existing customers you will build customer loyalty. Remember, it’s something like three times cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one. Reward them.

Extra Special

You can even add another layer to that and offer something for everyone to get (some coupons or whatever), but offer even more to people who will “register” (this solution does not require a special database program. Please contact me to learn more about implementing this functionality) . That is to say that they give you their name and email address and now they get your monthly, weekly, etc, special offers that you don’t offer on the site. They are special.

This way you get to market to them and they get to save money. Say it with me, “It’s a win-win”

Can I ask, how’s that working for you?

Are you getting lots of new customers? Are people finding your site, learning what they need and then calling you or sending you a contact through your email form?

If your website is not performing like you want it to it’s time to do something different. If you keep doing the same thing you are going to have the same result, aren’t you? Most people do it themselves because they feel that it either costs too much to pay someone else or they need updates to happen in a timely manner and the guy they’ve worked with was hard to reach and never got back to them.

The problem with doing it yourself is just that, you’re doing it. Think about it for a minute, you are a professional and an expert who makes money doing what you do (hopefully). You’re pretty good at, you enjoy it, whatever. Why take time away from that to work on a website? Worse still is doing it after hours and taking time away from your family. Would you recommend that you’re customers could do just as good a job doing what you do for them?

And for what?

You see, most people’s perception is that having their website managed professionally is going to cost a ton. After all, most pro web shops charge something around $70-80 per hour. They figure that each time they need a small change, they’re going to have to think about, “How much will this cost me?” And for most out there, you’re right on the money. That is how it works.

The other complaint I hear all the time, and I can’t even fathom this, is that their web guy is hard to reach and doesn’t get back to them in a timely manner. The last update I sent him took two weeks, and on it goes. Are you kidding me? How are they still in business?

That is what is so great about the Envision Design Solutions website management service. It covers both of those concerns because you can have your website and email hosted and get all your website updates handled for a low monthly fee. You need a photo added or a new email listed? No problem, it’s included. I want a button that people can click to download a top ten list of recipes. You bet, included.

As far as timeliness goes, our contract guarantees that your update will occur in no longer than one business day and often much sooner than that.

The other benefit of having website design and management done by Envision is that you get a professional making sure that everything is put together the way it should be to get maximum results. It may look easy, but there is a lot to it. Everyone can type in word or use their web builder tool, but if you don’t know about ‘Meta tags’, the ‘Title’ tag, ‘H1s and H2s’, ‘title’ attributes, ‘alt tags’, ‘keyword linking’ and on it goes, then your website will not perform as well as it could in the search ranking battle for page one.

Envision Design Solutions would love to hear from you to talk over what your website needs to be a success.

When the president of the school contacted me recently to discuss their new marketing focus and the functionality they are hoping to implement over the next year, it quickly became apparent that a redesign of the look and feel made sense.

Over the past few years the school has been changing its focus from local (people who either knew the school or knew current students) to something regional and, indeed, international. I’ve been told that they may have as many as forty students from Korea this fall.

Because of this, it made sense to take the website’s look and take it to what I call, “The Top Shelf” of the market place. That is to say make sure the site had a best-in-class look, layout and color scheme; clean and professional. This is because the prospective students and their families will be using the website’s of schools to help them make a decision about which schools to investigate before coming into town.

The Update

So, not only are the colors up to date, we updated their logo, but made sure that we’ve encorporated their school seal in a number of places to maintain the connection with the history of the school.

The homepage has changed the most with a focus on offering a lot of relevant information at a glance. It now functions better as a portal for the entire site offering both internal and external links, news and event information.

We added a sitemap footer to allow easy access to every page on the site as well. NOTE: To see it, go to the Tacoma Bible College web site and scroll down.

What’s Next?

Some of the features they want to include in future development are focused on their international students, including having the site available in a number of languages. Also, they also want to add a weekly devotional and even develop a way for students and faculty to collaborate and share ideas through a discussion forum or blog.

Chris Shockley is owner of Envision Design Solutions and has been building websites for over 12 years. He can be reached via the web: http://www.EnvisionDesignSolutions.com/contact.php