Business Websites Advice Portal

If you are running a website for a buisiness it must achieve one of five specific goals. This portal is here to help you achive those goals and to avoid the high charging cowboys that would rob you of them.

The Five Specifc Business Website Goals

If your "webmaster" or "web desinger" (or whatever the person that you hire to work on your website calls themselves) does not explain how you will meet some or all of these goals with your site then I would suggest that they are not worth further consideration. These goals are key to your business regardless of weather you are a smll start-up, a multinational or a not-for-profit organisation. They are the five global rules for business websites.

To ensure maximum clarity a glossery of terms is being prepared.

1. Improve the reputation of the organisation

The first and foremost aim of anywebsite is to ensure that people think more highly of the company as a result of the site's existence. This requires that people not only are able to find the site but visit it, look at it, read it's content and believe what it says. It should promote a possitive message about the company to a real audiance.

You website manager should be able to provide you with access to processed log files and statistics showing the visitors and sources of visitors to the site. You should expect to see a flow of visitors equivilant to or grater than your desired share of the current market.

Company news, free downloads and pages with a high profile in social media or news sites such as Stumble Upon, reddit, blogs, industry forums or your marketting niche's equivilant would help here. The use of "site feeds" also helps in this aim.

2. Increase the number of sales or leads

With almost no exceptions sales and leads are the life blood of an organisation. Without these there is no purpose to running a company. Likewise without these or someother tangable benefit what purpose does a website serve?

To increase both sales and leads your site must draw prospects (traffic) and then aim to convert a high a number as possible in to solid leads and paying clients. To do this requires that people not only find the site even when they are not expressly searching for it but look at it, read it's content, respond (possitivley) to it and take up your call to action.

This may seem obviouse but in Kent where I live almost all of the people I have ever heard request a website want a pretty light show. This is only good if that light show impresses people into then buying something. Sadly a large percentage of "web designers" do not even know to tell you this as they specilise in light shows and pretty pages and not business solutions.

3. Increase Brand Awareness

Brand awareness sells products. Not directly but it does sell. Take for example the Coca Cola with it's distinctive red cursive font. The brand is so strong that it can be placed on any product and that product will sell more readily even at a higher price.

Companies with a large youth or fasion market often use their sites not to sell anything but to simply intertain people. Some companies will expend a lot of money giving away products just to raise awareness. Due to this very reason I was the first person in Kent to own a Toshiba Portege Notepad PC (costing around UK£1,600 when they first came out) which I was given as part of a promotional contest run by Toshiba.

To achive this aim requires that people not only find the site in large number even when they are not expressly searching for it but also read it's content, respond (possitivley) to it and remember the expirence years later. I will probably never forget my expirence with Toshiba because their product (which cost me nothing) is now my primary work tool.

4. Improve business to customer communications

Aside from the message of the brand itself a busienss website needs to be able to communicate with people. Whatever your message you will need to bring people to the site in order to communicate with them. Once they are there you must then find a way to effectivly communicte. Simply putting up "a few pages" will not cut it.

Take for example my message that not all "web designers" are worth the price you pay. In order to communicate this message I have taken the time to create an entire portal on the subject. Of course I hope that you will hire my company to develop your site but my aim is to enlighten you with the truth so as to redeem the industry from it's deservedly poor reputation and arm you with insight so that you can make an informed choice.

Corporate blogs are a fantastic way of creating a site with business to consumer communication. They will also increase your business website's ability to meet the other four goals. The secret is that meeting any one of these five goals fully will go a long way to meeting the others too.

To achive this goal requires that people not only find the site in large number even when they are not expressly searching for it (much like a number of other goals) but also read it's content and take on board what is being said. Your message will need to be seen at least three times and as many as forteen before a person will remember it so causing the vistior to return is vital. Site feeds and mailing lists are the best tools you have avilable but do not forget that social media, "viral marketting" (word of mouth) and plain old "stickiness" are part of the plan too.

5. Understand the market (customer to business communications)

The fifth goal is perhaps the least well understood of them all. Many businesses that are doing well see no reason why they should spend time or money finding out about the people that are buying their goods or services. After all, they argue, we are already selling as much as we can.

The wise manager knows that the key to sustained growth and profits is to understand the market intemetly. It allows you to react faster and take advantage of new trends sooner. Here at least, I hope, I am merely "teaching grandma to suck eggs".

Communication with custoemrs and potential customers means that you need to illicit a responce from them. To do this you will need to provide a reason for customers and presepective customers to visit your site, to draw them into a conversation and if possible engage with them on a one to onbe basis.

Forums, blogs (with comment systems), polls, members areas or any form of social interaction should help to provide this feedback. I will not lie to you - this is the hardest goal to achive but also the most valuable enabling you to meet the other four goals more easily.

A question to ask

The next time you meet with your website person ask them to break down exctly how your site will meet these five goals. Ask them how the site has been designed for you to achieve these marketting aims. Inquire also about the traction you have gained (or failed to) over the last year with search engines and social media.

If they mutter, try to change the subject or start reteating into complex jargon then they probably don't have an answer for you. My advice would be to locate a website manager that knows what he or she is doing. One that will give you the tools you need and then show you how to use them.