With millions of small business web sites competing for visitors, how do you stand out and get the results you’re looking for?

When asked small business owners about their understanding of web marketing activities, the reply is straight forward – “Yes, we have a website.” However, having a website and marketing on the internet are two very different things. Although having a website is an important pre-requisite to web marketing but is only the beginning is meaningless if nobody knows about it.

Technically, a website is simply a collection of documents, images, and other electronic files that are publicly accessible across the internet. In order to achieve online marketing success you don’t just need a website but you need a ‘Killer Website’.

Our web design service encompasses all the steps you need to take to reach your target market online, attract visitors to your business, encourage them to buy your products or services, and make them want to come back for more again and again.

What do I mean by ‘Killer Website’? Put simply, your site needs to be designed to meet your online objectives and should be developed with your target market in mind and not to please the artistic geniuses of you and the website developer.

Killer Websites are the ones that are designed around the:

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• Objectives of your business
• Needs, wants, and expectations of your target markets and customers
• Products and services offered which are of interest to your customers

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Things have changed dramatically over the past ten years in terms of website design and development methodology. Back in the days it was quite acceptable, and the norm, for a small business owner to pack up all of its brochures, ads, direct-mail, news releases, and other marketing materials in a box, drop it off at the Web developer’s office for a web site to be developed. The Web developer would then take all the marketing material and cram it onto a web site using the latest and sophisticated HTML codes and graphics designed to win awards but sadly not the customers.

Gone are the days and it is you, the business owner, who needs to take the centre stage here. Don’t worry I am not asking you to learn any web site programming language but simply to make sure that you know (or should know) what your objectives are more clearly than your Web developer is aware of the same. If you don’t articulate these objectives and discuss them with your Web developer, it is impossible for him or her to build a site to achieve your objectives!

The primary objectives of your website should be to:

1. Sell the Benefits of Your Products / Services

Remember you have only 3 seconds to tell a prospect how your product /service is going to solve their problem and benefit them. Stick to this and you will convert those visitors into sales.

2. Sell Your Products or Services Online

Your web site, not only should give information about your products or services online, but should also provide the option of taking the next step easily for your prospects. The easier you make it for them the more likely they are to buy your products or services.

3. Providing Customer Service and Support

You might decide that the main reason for your business to have an online presence is to provide more comprehensive customer service by providing an easy way for your customers to get answers to their questions quickly and easily.

4. Providing Company Information

It is important to provide as much information as you can about the company including ways your customers can contact you, location, business trading hours and any other information pertaining to your target market including a media kit.

5. Creating and Establishing Company Identity and Brand Awareness

Another objective might be to create and establish company identity and brand awareness online. This should always be done in conjunction with offline marketing activities and should have professional and consistent features such as prominent logo, imagery, and colour scheme.

Secondary Objectives of your website that should not be ignored at any cost are:

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• Have a search engine friendly domain name, structure and design
• Drive significant and continuous stream of traffic
• Incorporates permission marketing (Opt-ins) to send e-mail, newsletters etc on a regular basis
• Incorporate “stickiness,” with compelling and search engine friendly content and copy
• Converts those visitors into paying customers
• Track and measure performance using web analytics for continuous improvement

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Every element of your Killer Website should relate back to your objectives. When you decide to update, add, or change any elements on your Website, examine how these changes relate to the primary and secondary objectives you have identified.

If there is not a clear match between your objectives and your intended changes, you might want to reconsider the changes. It’s amazing how many small business Websites have been developed without adequate planning or without ensuring that the Website ties in with the company objectives.

Other important housekeeping issues that you should consider not only to comply with legal requirements but also to ensure that you provide a safe and secure experience to you visitors are:

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• Website hosting and server security
• Anti- spam compliance
• Privacy
• Data protection
• Accessibility

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We cannot emphasise enough how important is it to lay proper foundations of your website to achieve success and business objectives. To discuss your website requirements please get in touch by calling 01789 204772 or 07915661875 or simply by filling out the contact form here and we will get back to you as soon as possible.