01Optimising your website

So you want your company online… but who knows you’re there?

Many companies have websites. In fact, take a look at your competitors – they probably all have sites. Look again – see how bad most of them really are. Now look at your own – what separates yours out from the crowd?

Even if you do have a great looking website, what use is it if no one knows it exists?

You need to make sure people visit your site – and that, in turn, those visits generate revenue.

Marketing websites has always been seen as something of a ‘black art’ – one which sees some companies charge their ‘expertise’ at astronomically extortionate rates. Thankfully, there’s no voodoo involved and you don’t need to spend a king’s ransom – not if you approach it in a clear and practical way.

There are, in fact, three key ways to get your website noticed; ‘natural selection’, ‘pay per click’ and a third way – good old-fashioned marketing. Here are our thoughts on all three methods...

1. Good Old Fashioned Marketing
 

Marketing your web address is fundamental. There really is nothing better than getting your web name – or URL – out there.

You need to make sure potential customers see your URL everywhere – on the side of your van, on every parcel that you send, on your premises. It should even be on every single letter you send out.

Why is this important? Well, you’re getting your name out there. People will start to recognise it and, if they want to find out more, they’ll instantly remember where to head – your website. Pretty much everyone is ‘online’ nowadays and the first thing many people do when they want to find out more about a new company or product is visit its website.

And it has to look good. It has to be your ‘virtual brochure’, with that professional edge to help transform online visitors into actual customers. Of course, you can get a website built for just £300, but you’ll end up with something that looks cheap and nasty.

An easy-to-use, content-rich site is a vital part of making people aware of your business. In this day and age, it’s just as important as a business card!

The good news is that the competition is pretty weak. Most local companies – those savvy enough to have sites – have let them grow old and out of date. By investing in a site that truly reflects your business you can blow your competition out of the water.

But what if you’re a bigger company? What if you want to become known across the county, across the country, across the world? Well, then ‘natural selection’ and ‘pay per click’ might provide you with further options.

2. Pay Per Click
 

Pay per click basically allows you to put in a bid for a word or two, ones which correspond directly to your products and services, and in return you get a ‘sponsored link’ at the top of a search engine’s results page. You then pay a set price – say £1 – every time someone clicks on your link.

Pay per click can be very useful, it doesn’t require any special set up and it is designed to just drive more people to your site. However, it can also very quickly get very expensive. STORM has seen some companies spend a staggering amount on this kind of technology – many thousands of pounds each month in some cases!

This isn’t the way forward. You can’t just throw money at it and expect a solution. Making pay per click work for you needs some careful planning and a thorough assessment of your requirements.

It is also worth noting that only 15% of users regularly hit those sponsored links, with 85% of people instinctively choosing to click on the links that have been generated ‘naturally’.

In general, pay per click does have a lower hit rate and it can be expensive, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t right for you. Every one of our clients is different and, if used correctly, pay per click could be a vital part of your website marketing campaign.

3. Natural Selection
 

Perhaps more of your budget should be spent on improving your ‘natural selection’? There are no spiralling costs and, if you score highly, your site will soon be climbing to the top of the search results.

And remember, 85% of all web users will always prefer clicking on a naturally selected link. What is a ‘naturally selected link’? Well, they’re the results listed in the main body of the page – not the ‘pay per click’ blue or yellow links at the top or side.

However, you do need to start on a firm foundation, creating a site that is built specifically to top the charts. It needs to be developed to be irresistible to the web ‘spiders’ that search engines like Google send out across the web. They look for things they deem important – regularly updated content for example – and if you appeal to the spider then you will, over three to six months, begin to climb the results table.

And, from around £200 a month, we can keep your site tweaked and tuned and maintain that high ranking for the future, further building upon your hits day by day, month on month.

The Ultimate Solution
There’s no magic solution to getting the most out of your website – you just need to talk to someone with an understanding of how the system works to help you develop a sensible, sustainable plan for success.

Normally we would suggest a healthy balance across the board. If any of the three methods are used too heavily it could throw your whole campaign out of balance, costing you more and securing less customer hits.

It’s not a case of just blindly choosing a few quick fixes – it’s about creating a plan you can afford and that will give you the quantifiable results you need to make your business even more successful.

At STORM, we know how to maximise your website’s potential, increase your hits and get you noticed by the people that matter – pote