1.    Is your site appealing to all your markets?

Do you have different potential buyers for different aspects of your products and services?
Is there content on your site that's designed for each of these?
Have you considered whether your Web audience might be different from your traditional markets, and if so, whether you can exploit that?
If you want more of this market, you must have the right materials to attract them.

2.    Does your content engage your visitors?

Would you buy from you?  Are you a good example of your typical customer?  
TIP: It is important to remember that your site should be written from your visitors' point of view, not yours.

Does your home page clearly recognize why the reader might be there - what's in it for them, and why they should care? What are the problems or issues that they might have, and how will you solve them?

People buy things because they need to have a need met.  Your job is to know what you do well and then show others how that will benefit them.  The benefits could be in meeting new friends, advancing a career, or learning a new skill.

3.    Can you make your case?

Do you do something that set you apart from everyone else?  If you claim you have the fastest widget, or the most informative site, or the friendliest staff, how do you communicate that and substantiate it?  Do you have clear content on your site? Do you have testimonials from happy customers? Awards you’ve won?  
TIP These are worth far more than your own promotional text, and they should be spread throughout your site, not relegated to a separate page that few visitors will go to.

4.    Are you ready for a close-up?

One of the most effective ways to get exposure is to work with the Media.  Using the web, you can have a Media kit available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Not only will it tell your story as you want it told, but it also makes the media more apt to work with you in the future.  Working with the media can also give you valuable, cost free exposure.  Do you have a Media Section?  Contact info for reporters or editors?  Downloadable images?

TIP Press releases are the foundation to any media kit.  Press releases that are written as “too sales-y” will not be published or aired.  It is important to know the topics, and copy that will get your release noticed. 

5.    Do you ask for the business?

Whatever the outcomes that you want from your site, you need to ask for it. Too many Web pages end weakly, with no clear calls to action. Don't make your visitors have to work to decide what to do next - they won't! Every page on your site should have a strategy - invite the visitor to interact with you, or go to the next page, but make it easy and obvious.  Is it obvious what your site is trying to do?


6.    Do you have a diversified promotional strategy?

If you have a website but no one knows how to get there, does it really exist?  If you have a website, but keep it a secret, it will stay that way.  Your website should be a part of everything you do.  It is important to integrate your traditional marketing with your online activities?  The two will complement each other.  Is your web address listed on every piece of collateral material you have?  Is it on your phone system?  Give away items?  Radio or TV ads?

TIP Your business strategy describes how you want to make money.  Your marketing strategy describes who it is that will be bringing the money.  Your promotional strategy describes how you will get the “who’s” to bring you the money.  As you can see, one is built on the other.  It is extremely important to have a clear set of goals and expectations.  That way all your efforts will be heading in the same direction and your chances of success become greater.   The vehicles (advertising, web, etc) are how you get your information to the customer.  Do you have a documented marketing, promotional, and business strategy?  How recently has it been updated?  If you answered 2 or more years ago, that's too long.

7.    What about follow up?  Are you reviewing your traffic analysis?

Last, but really key - your Website traffic reports will tell you what's working and what isn't. Where people go on your site and where they don’t.  Without this information, you're really shooting in the dark - what if you were to find that the majority of your hard-earned visitors never go beyond your home page?  Do you know the most popular pages on your website?  What about the length of time they spend on it?  Both are critical to giving you a clue as to what value people find in what's there.


This article was written by Samantha Rufo, President of nxtConcepts.

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