Today?s Business Success is from a new contributor, Kevin McNally, CEO and founder of Interactive Palette, and focuses on a topic we can?t learn enough about: marketing online.
Build a Better Business through Online Presence ?
Effective marketing is at the heart of a successful business with a prevailing online presence perhaps the most straightforward route to achieving commercial goals.
In fact, a company?s website is the first thing many potential clients check out before deciding where to take their business, so it pays to maintain one that provides consistent up-to-date information, is easy to navigate and in general positively reflects what your company has to offer.
A powerful website should focus on your specific industry and help to build your brand. Those in the photography trade already know that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words; as such current content is critical to a business website.? Here is where a Content Management System (CMS) can keep your website fresh and inviting.? All too often, businesses rarely alter their website, in large part due to the misconception that it will be a costly endeavor.? While it?s true that a complete overhaul of a website comes with a considerable price tag, adding a CMS is quite cost-effective and typically pays for itself in short time.
For the uninitiated, a CMS is a web-based interface that allows business owners and specified staff the ability to add pages, edit content, upload images and PDFs and make other changes to a website as needed.? This allows a business to maintain the most up-to-date information on projects, services and price information. It enables the capacity to post press releases, special offers, testimonials and useful links.? And perhaps most importantly for the photography industry, a CMS allows inclusion of a dynamic photo gallery of completed projects.
A website becomes much more search engine friendly with the use of a CMS, allowing for increased traffic and potentially increased business. Building wide awareness of a website is essential to the success of a business and with a few fundamental SEO (Search Engine Optimization) measures you can increase ?hits.?
In much the same way that real estate is defined by ?location, location, location,? in the world of websites a top ranking on search engines ?such as Google or Yahoo ? is king.
One of the best methods to increase search engine ranking is through the optimal use of keywords; that is, knowing what specific words or phrases people are searching for and then targeting those phrases on your site.? A website designer can conduct the appropriate research to determine and target those keywords and also provide further analysis to pinpoint the most important terms ? or terms ?with opportunity? ? that might help bring the right visitors to your site.
Website linking is another technique used by professional website designers to attract traffic to a site.? In brief, this mechanism interlinks words or phrases key to a business website to other relevant pages on the site.? In addition, consider linking images from your website to other important pages in the same way; this can attract traffic through ?image search? results.
While ?less is more? in terms of a company?s home page or contact page, a website?s news section is where content rules.? Instead of short paragraphs or brief press releases, it?s wise to include blogs or articles of about 500 words.? This approach not only allows for comprehensive information about your services or other newsworthy information, it also adds to that all important keyword total.? In fact, search engines are always on the look-out for expanded website content, so use it to your best advantage.
So, how can you gauge whether your website is doing your business justice? Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about a website?s traffic and traffic sources.? It allows you to measure sales and conversions and also provides insights into how visitors arrived at your site, how they use it and how you can keep them staying on it longer and returning more often.
Also, sure your company is included in Google Local listings ? think of it a modern day Yellow Pages.
The ?must have? list for better business is a website that loads quickly; that?s the best way to optimize traffic.? Keep in mind that if your website?s home page overdoes content, you may be in jeopardy of scaring off potential clients, so word to the wise ? pare content on the home page down to the essentials to allow visitors continued navigation on the website.
Speaking of navigation, make sure that information is never more than a click or two away; providing a variety of navigational routes will go a long way toward ensuring customer satisfaction.? Think image maps, hyperlinks and drop-down menus in addition to search engines?all say ?user friendly.?
Maintaining a few social networking profiles (such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook) can be a great way to promote your company to new clients, while at the same time keeping past and current clients in the know about what?s going on.
While a static website that provides comprehensive and consistently updated information is of great value, site owners can leverage their knowledge, add another dimension to their site and directly target audiences through podcasts.
In short a podcast is a digital media file, downloaded directly from a streaming Internet source.? Podcasts are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds and are hosted by individuals, businesses or organizations that want to share information. Podcast files are streamed and/or downloaded onto a computer, mobile device, MP3 player or iPod, etc.
Think of podcasting as having the ability to broadcast a personalized radio and/or video show directly from your website, thereby lending a ?voice? to your business. Podcasting is a way to showcase your expertise and can enhance your reputation as an authority in your field.? It is also a means of communicating in a much more personal manner than via a blanket email, e-newsletter or attached written document. Another plus to podcasting is its minimal cost; all that is needed is a microphone and Internet connection with RSS, a format for delivering regularly changing web content.
Essentially, podcasts are recorded and then distributed over the Internet, allowing you to reach new and wider audiences through your website.? Once listeners subscribe to a podcast feed, new podcasts are automatically downloaded to their computer or mobile device as soon as they are available, enabling your audience to listen at their convenience.? Since podcasting is an on-demand subscription technology, you can monitor your subscribers and have confidence that they are receiving the information you?re providing.
As a bonus, guests can be invited to participate in your podcast, providing an interactive and engaging element.
Podcasting not only showcases your expertise, it also shines a media light on your personality, giving your audience a sense of who you are and what your business can provide.? Moreover, podcasting allows subscribers access to information at their convenience.? They can listen when they want, starting and stopping content at will.
Having and maintaining an up-to-date website is essential to conducting business these days, but optimizing its potential should also be a priority. Through the use of proven mechanisms, traffic can be drawn to the right destination? your website.
?
Source: http://pmanewsline.com/2013/04/24/build-a-better-business-through-online-presence/
channing tatum Jennifer Aniston naomi watts Oscar Nominations 2013 Beasts of the Southern Wild 2013 Oscars academy awards
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.