Level2wo

What Should my Website Contain and Why?

Now that it is relatively easy (for some go-getters, anyway) to throw up basic websites that look almost professional, there are a few things to think about before you put a check mark next to the website portion of your business plan. Below you’ll find some topics/elements that you should consider about your website, and your business in general. Paying close attention to these website tactics and the overall strategy of your website goals and business goals will substantially increase not only your business activity but will improve your customer/client experience(s).

What’s your website’s primary objective?

Is your website a lead generation tool? Is it your business card in an online format? Is your website a picture-heavy, pretty hobby you set up one time and have ignored ever since? Your website content and structure and navigation depends heavily on the answer you have for this question. One of the great and free ways to improve your website is by looking at your main competitors, and seeing what works for them, what you like about their site, but especially what doesn’t work and what the negatives are about their website and the experience you had while surfing the site. Learning from other website mistakes is a great tool that’s free to execute.

Have I built a Search Engine-Friendly site?

Do you know if your site is even searchable by search engines such as google, Yahoo!, and MSN? Are you executing all of the right tactical actions that need to happen in order to rank your site and keywords appropriately in the search engines? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’re probably handicapping your business footprint online. Search Engine Optimization is about content, links—both one-way links and reciprocal links, Meta Tags, Title Tags, Keywords, and more. Make sure you read up on SEO practices. There’s a lot to learn, but it’s helpful. Level2wo can also point you in the right direction, or perform all of these valuable tricks of the trade (although I wince at saying ‘tricks,’ because it’s more hard work than anything else).

Is your website aesthetically pleasing for users?

Designing websites is not as easy as some may think. A lot goes into designing a website; way much more happens after the navigation, UI, and structure of a site is completed. Designers are a special breed, often incorporating the technical functions they have to have to put everything on the page with the aesthetic saavy most of us lack. Designers have to have a good eye for what is visually appealing in general, but in particular to the visitors of your site. The days of throwing up words and pictures and a quick call-to-action are long gone.

Does your site make you a Thought Leader?

Staying abreast of contemporary trends in your industry is crucial to your success. Keeping your face out there while doing so is probably just as important, at least in terms of driving business to your company via thought leadership. You always want to provide information to your target audience, because they’ll continually look to you and your website for information they deem valuable. If you can’t write it yourself, get someone else to do it—someone like Level2wo (yes, blatant self-promo), who has the experience to write your content and knows what keywords to use and where to use it.

Are you able to make changes and updates?

Obviously this is a key to any website success. Without fresh, regularly updated content, your site is a static billboard. Content Management Systems (CMS) are crucial to being able to have an ever-changing, valuable website. Yes, Level2wo does that too! Usually we set up contracts so that you aren’t overly-charged for each and every little change you make during the year.

A Few Questions to Ask Yourself Before Sending Out that Direct Mail Campaign

• Do all your pieces have a headline?
• Is your marketing specifically targeted at your prospects and customers?
• Are you providing the prospect/client a benefit that will compel them to act?
• Are you talking about their needs and not yours?
• Are you being specific enough in the claims you are making?
• If you have salespeople that are going to be calling down on the list, does your Direct Mail piece help them qualify the leads they will get?
• What are the metrics you will track?
• Is there a call to action that is clear for the prospect or customer to understand?
• Are there clear contact details included, and if so, are they easy to access?
• Are all of the answers to typical questions asked by prospects included in the piece?
• Are you positive you know who your target audience will be?
• Have you provided client testimonials in the piece?
• Are you keeping the dialogue going with your prospects and customers throughout the year?
• Are your marketing messages consistent?
• Are your marketing pieces interesting? Would you read them?

Making sure you have good answers to the above questions will ensure that you’re at least covering your DM checklist to the best of your marketing abilities. These are all crucial elements to effective Direct Mail campaigns, and you should make sure you have good answers for all of these questions. While this marketing checklist is not all-inclusive, it’s a good start to keep you on the right path to writing and creating effective marketing pieces to send to prospects and installed-base clients.

Marketing Plan Basics

Marketing plans are crucial for any business, but especially so for a few poignant reasons: Marketing plans help you, the small business owner, not only understand your target market better but they help you get a better grasp about your own business, your weaknesses and strengths compared to your direct and indirect competitors, as well as figure out the tactical aspects of how you are going to reach your target audience. While I won’t go into any real depth here in terms of what should be in each section of your small business marketing plan, I’ll lay out the basic elements of the plan. Remember, you are free to add or subtract any of the marketing plan elements—it’s your plan! If you have any questions, feel free to post them on the blog. We’ll answer your questions as soon as we can. Thanks, and stop on by any time for marketing tips, tricks, tactics, strategy, and general marketing information.

Marketing Plan Outline

I. Executive Summary

II. Brief description of product or service to be marketed, with challenges

Situation Analysis

a. Company

b. Customer

c. Competitor

d. Collaborators

e. Climate

f. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

IV. Market Segmentation (meaning your audience—who are they, how old, etc.)

V. Alternative Marketing Strategies

VI. Marketing Mix

a. Product

b. Price

c. Place (Distribution)

d. Promotion

VII. Short & Long-Term Projections

VIII. Conclusion

IX. Appendix

The above can serve as your general Marketing Plan outline, but obviously there’s plenty that needs to go into each section of the plan. Check back for more marketing plan tips.

Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Company Website’s Search Engine Ranking

1. Write lots of keyword-rich content that is relevant to your business and customers seeking your product or service. Content is probably the most important element of your website, so make sure you’re writing at least a page a month.
2. Make sure search engines can easily crawl your site. Make sure there are text links, tagged navigation icons, and a site map, that allow for bots to get around easily.
3. Register your website URL with all of the major directories (including paid directories such as Yahoo!), search engines, and any websites relevant to your product or service.
4. Make sure you Meta tag your page titles and include appropriate keywords in HTML text.
5. Create an internal link structure using hyperlinks to provide more impact to your keywords.
6. Create inbound links from relevant sites—both one-way links and reciprocal links.
7. Have a blog on your site or externally (with a link to your site) where you write at least weekly
8. Never, ever perform any SEO tactics that would be considered “Black Hat SEO.”
9. Try not to have too much Flash on your Home Page or landing pages.
10. Refresh your content as often as you can, and always continue building links, content, and awareness in general for you business and website online.