Most organisations approach web marketing the wrong way. For years the conventional wisdom was to get a cool URL and build a hot site in the hope that potential customers will flock to them online. Unfortunately we still see this thinking every time we sit down to design a website for a client. Too much time is spent on the colour, the font, the logo or some very random but apparently “cool” idea.

As inbound marketers we believe that websites should be treated very differently. Yes, its important to get the layout, look and feel right…but its more important to get the content and conversion right. And above all, its important to get the INBOUND part of your web presence right. This is what will bring visitors to your site, not the hot graphics and Flash animations.

Start thinking about your total web presence and think of your website as the landing pages. If you want to attract qualified traffic to your site you need to start spending time where your prospects are: social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, industry blogs and networks like LinkedIn and Foursquare. Crucially, you need to be found on the first page of Google, Bing and Yahoo for relevant searches.

Finally, you need to start producing compelling content for your organisation. It could be distributed via YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr or numerous other outlets, even your website or blog. Great content has a multiplier effect because it attracts people and will be shared with others. A simple re-tweet by someone with a decent number of Twitter followers could generate a lot more traffic for your website than that hot graphic you’re trying to agree on.

Spend less time on the web design process and more time generating content, joining conversations and participating where your customers are.

If you’d like to find out how Inbound Marketing capable your website is, submit it for a free report at NLYZR

By the end of the 1990’s most businesses had a Web 1.0 website. They were basically glorified brochures and they cost a lot. Then in the mid 00’s Web 2.0 begin to emerge. Sites were more interactive, linking and sharing became de rigueur and the power of the Internet took on a whole new meaning amongst the smart online operators.

However, for much of the business world Web 1.0 sites are still being pumped out at an alarming rate. The boss realises he needs a website, or a new site, and then either the company IT person or contracted web designer dutifully bangs out a digital brochure. Build it and fill it with every detail about the company’s products or services and they will come.

No they won’t.

Your company doesn’t need a new website, it needs a great web strategy. Done well, businesses can derive an amazing number of benefits from its online presence. In fact, it’s arguable that you could build your entire marketing strategy around your web presence.

How? Let me explain.

You must immediately cease thinking of your online presence as a destination. That is merely part of its potential. A great web strategy allows you to find new customers, obtain information, broaden your geographic reach, streamline operations, improve customer relations, lower communication costs, generate PR and free publicity, look like an industry leader and…..have complete marketing measurability.

Find new customers
Excellent search engine optimisation (SEO) means that your site(s) will be found by more people who are making relevant searches around your industry. This can be as narrow or as broad as you desire. Whereas, most businesses are relying on potential customers to type in their URL or name in order to reach their site, good SEO delivers potential customers who are interested in what you have to offer but haven’t necessarily heard of you.

Obtain information
A proper web strategy can deliver a startling amount of invaluable information. Electronic newsletters can be tracked and measured in any number of ways. Site analytics can tell you wonderful information about who is visiting, what they are searching for and what they like on your site. Simple site prompts can have visitors leaving contact details.

Broaden geographic reach
This was part of the original promise of the Internet…..international businesses from the lounge room. Its still possible, but you must be realistic about the market you are trying to reach. Nonetheless, by concentrating on a niche rather than your broader industry you can become a leader in a much wider geographic market. Your online strategy can allow you to effectively network and market to that niche.

Streamline operations
The number of potential savings here can be staggering and too extensive to explain in one post. But needless to say, if your online presence is at the centre of your operations you can share information, market more efficiently, reduce travel costs, and complete projects in record time. This list goes on, as do the efficiencies.

Improve customer relations
When you start thinking of your online presence as an ongoing dialogue rather than an advertisement, you begin realising the potential to build goodwill amongst your people and customers. By creating an online resource for customers and potential customers you will have them visiting regularly and developing a better understanding of your services.

Lower communication costs
Spending a fortune on media and PR? The right web presence can reduce those costs quickly. If your search engine optimisation is right you will have a lot of relevant people visiting your site(s). If your site(s) are good you will have increased sales and enquiries. You can hit the right markets quickly and cost-effectively online and then measure the results immediately.

Generate PR
The PR industry is under serious threat from online. Why pay someone a fortune to send press releases to the media and hope for the best when you can reach the people you want with the right online communications? And then have those people extend your reach by linking and posting about your story! It can be so powerful. PR is short for public relations, and a good web strategy can be exceptionally effective for yours.

Free Publicity
The right web strategy can deliver free publicity in so many unexpected ways. Strike the right chord with your content and suddenly it can be spreading like a virus across the web. Mainstream media are now monitoring blogs and conversational sites for news, information and fresh perspectives. This can lead to interviews and profiles on TV, radio, press or even other online sites, raising your professional profile and credibility. Our own agency has benefited enormously from the free publicity our online presence has delivered.

Measurability
The Holy Grail for many marketers is measurability. So many forms of advertising and marketing see a lot of expenditure, which can be hard to measure in results. Online strategies can be measured in a number of ways and in amazing detail. Measure the traffic to your sites, the origin of the traffic, clicks through, search terms, electronic mailing hit rates and then, of course, sales. The level of sophisticated measurement can be staggering.

As you can see, your online presence has amazing potential. By changing your thinking from building a site as a destination to creating a total strategy, online can become the centrepiece of your marketing efforts.

If you’d like to know more about creating your ideal web strategy contact us here at Sticky.

Dolphcom was the very first website we built using the principles that have since become the GetSticky system.

Dolphcom owner Andrew Parker asked Sticky to design a new website for him to facilitate the growth of his business. The site had to be able to facilitate online inquiries, be easy to upload video to and perform substantially better in online searches.

We were excited when the Newcastle-based whale and dolphin swimming adventure company Dolphcom achieved immediate SEO success with the launch of their new website.

Dolphcom’s previous website, while visually attractive, was difficult to update and performed woefully in Google and Yahoo organic searches. Analysis of all key search terms revealed that Dolphcom did no better than the fourth page in most searches, and much lower in others.

Sticky designed a completely new website to suit Dolphcom’s criteria and then applied our search engine optimisation process to the site. Within 2 weeks of launching the new website, Dolphcom was ranking on the first page of Google and Yahoo searches for relevant search terms and web traffic had doubled.

Andrew’s recent trip to swim with the whales in Tonga can now be viewed on Dolphcom and plenty more sensational content is continually being added to the site.