This is part five in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub," "part two: the impact of design," "part three: the need for do-it-yourself content tools," "part four: the power of blogging," "part five: keeping it simple," and "part six: driving the right traffic with Internet marketing." In this article, we're going to discuss how to establish goals for your website.

Call them to action.

To truly get results from your website, you need your website visitors to do more than just browse around your web pages. A "call to action" is a basic component of any sales and marketing strategy, and since your website is likely a sales and marketing tool, it needs a call to action as well. Since a call to action represents the action you want your website visitors to take, I like to refer to it as the "goal" of your website.

What do you want me to do?

It's amazing what you can get when you simply ask. Without any call to action or goal, website visitors will simply look around a bit and then leave your site. But ask them to fill out a form and hey, they just might do it.

You need to determine what is the most important thing for your website visitors to do. Do you want them to purchase a product? Do you want them to fill out a form so you can contact them directly? Do you want them to sign up for an email newsletter? Do you want them to make a donation, sign-up for an account, download a particular file, or leave some feedback?

There are lots of actions that visitors can take on websites and you need to figure out what is the most valuable action to your organization.

Build your site around your goal. 

Once you've determined your website's goal, you need to build your site around it. You must make it extremely clear and apparent that you want the visitor to complete your action.

As an example, let's just take a look at our company website, the website you're on right now. If you look at our home page, can you tell what the goal of our website is? The large "let's talk" button right in the middle of the featured area is designed to lead visitors to our contact form so we can establish a relationship with them. On every internal page of our website, the "let's talk" button is also prominently displayed at the top of the right-hand column. You'll also find lots of other links to our contact forms contained within the content of our site pages.

Do you need to make adjustments?

So, our website's goal is getting our visitors to contact us. What's your goal? Does your site make its goal obvious? If not, how can you improve upon your site's design and content to make its goal more prominent and get your call to action in front of your website visitors?

To truly get results from your website, you need a clear and prominent call to action or goal. In our next post in this series, we'll discuss tracking results, which can only be done effectively if you have a clear goal established.

This is part five in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub," "part two: the impact of design," "part three: the need for do-it-yourself content tools," and "part four: the power of blogging," and "part five: keeping it simple." In this article, we're going to discuss how to get the right traffic to your website through Internet marketing.

The right traffic

Driving new visitors to your website is critical, but the idea is not to get as many people to your website as possible. It’s about getting people to your website that need what you have to offer. This isn’t a new concept. It holds true in traditional marketing as well as new media. You want to get your brand in front of your target audience. I recommend developing a plan using the following four steps.

Define your target audience

Defining your target audience sounds simple enough, but it can be more difficult than you think. You need to list out descriptions of the types of people that make great customers for your business. Where do they live? What languages do they speak? How old are they? How much money do they make? Where do they shop? And, perhaps most importantly, what sites do they visit often when they use the Internet?

Find your target audience

Once you've defined your audience, now you need to figure out how to find them online. Ask yourself — "When my target customer goes online, what do they search for? What phrases do they type into search engines? What websites do they visit when they are looking for what I have to offer." You might want to also consider specific questions about major web communities such as — does my target audience use Facebook? Do they use YouTube, Twitter ... etc.? Try to identify as many places on the Internet as possible where large numbers of your target customers can be found.

Engage your target audience

Now comes the fun part. Get in front of your target audience online. There are four main ways to do this.

1. Search engine optimization — optimizing your site to show up in the natural or organic search engine listings when users are searching for the things your target audience searches for. This process can be complex, but extremely valuable. If you're not sure where to begin, it is often best to enlist the help of an SEO company for guidance.
2. Pay-per-click advertising — using tools like Google Adsense to put your ads in front of people who are searching for the things your target audience searches for. This can get you on the search engine listings faster than SEO and can be a good jump start to your campaign. You can also use this type of advertising on social networks like Facebook and really fine-tune the target customer.
3. Banner advertising — identify websites that your target audience frequents and consider purchasing banner ads directly on that site. This is generally most valuable for niche segments where you can purchase inexpensive ads on smaller sites to reach your audience. Often on broad segments banner ads can be very expensive and might not be your best route.
4. Social media interaction — choosing to engage your target audience personally through the online social networks you have identified as important to them. Jumping in is the best method when engaging your audience in this way, but be careful not to do too much too soon. Most people get suspicious of someone who suddenly shows up out of nowhere and starts throwing as much information as possible at people. So, take it slow and build your reputation and presence in the community and your connections will naturally follow from there.

Monitor and modify your plan

If you are doing Internet Marketing, the most important thing to remember is it doesn’t happen overnight. Successful campaigns take time and lots of work to generate results. One of the most important things you can do to ensure success is to continually monitor and modify your plan over time. 

In future posts in this series, we are going to discuss setting goals and tracking results. These activities are critical to help you determine if you are having success in your efforts. The nice thing about online efforts, however, is that everything is measurable. By driving traffic and monitoring results, you can have great success in marketing while keeping your costs as low as possible.

If you have questions about online marketing or anything discussed here, we'd love to help. Contact us and one of our Internet consultants will be happy to speak with you.

This is part five in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub," "part two: the impact of design," "part three: the need for do-it-yourself content tools," and "part four: the power of blogging." In this article, we're going to discuss the importance of keeping things as simple as possible on your website.

Don't try to do everything

Personally, I have a lot of experience with this one. I'm the type of person who wants to do it all. I also used to work in churches full-time, and the churches where I worked were the types that always wanted to do it all as well. So, I've learned first hand the downside of trying to do more on the web than you really need to do.

The problem with this type of technological ambition is that there is a cost (both time and money) involved in maintaining everything you develop on the web. Adding online stores, email marketing strategies, user forums, custom applications, social media integrations, and other online activities will increase the effort required to support and maintain your online presence. Certainly, we're not saying you should never utilize these tools. Sometimes they can provide great benefits. We simply believe you need to nail the basics of a website first and count the full cost of any "extras" you choose to add.

Focus first on what you need

This is why we're proponents of keeping things as simple as possible. There is a core set of "stuff" that most every website needs to do well. That's the basic stuff we're covering in this series — quality design, easy-to-manage content, online marketing and analytics (watch for future posts). Doing these things and doing them well will meet the web needs of the vast majority of small to medium businesses and organizations.

Beyond these basics, you need to count the cost and weigh it against the potential benefit of any additional online effort you're considering. In addition, you need to make sure you are nailing the basics before you attempt to branch out into larger and more complex things. Certainly, there are all kinds of possibilities and there are businesses who will benefit from additional online endeavors. That's great. The point here is just to keep things as simple as possible. Focus first on the basics and let things grow from there if needed.

This is part four in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub," "part two: the impact of design," and "part three: the need for do-it-yourself content tools." In this article, we're going to discuss the power of blogging on your website.

A blog by any other name ...

When we talk to small businesses, we often find they're not too interested in "blogging." But, if we ask them about posting articles or news stories on their site, they are generally very interested in that. The truth is that blogging is nothing more than consistently posting articles on your site. Perhaps the term "blogging" has acquired some connotations that aren't appealing to small businesses. Nonetheless, blogging, or whatever you want to call it, is something that all businesses should consider.

Impressive benefits

Blogging can help you get results from your company website by doing the following:

1. Establishing you and your business as an authority in your areas of expertise.
2. Encouraging your site visitors to return often because of your regularly updated content.
3. Building a dedicated readership for your content through RSS syndication.
4. Making search engines pay attention to your regularly updated, keyword-rich content.
5. Giving you a more personal voice through which to speak to your clients and customers.
6. Encouraging your customers to talk back and interact with your website by leaving comments.

These are just a few of the key benefits of blogging on your company site. So, what does it take to make it work?

Slow and steady wins the race

Content is key. If you want to be successful blogging, you have to commit to generating new content regularly. My recommendation is that you post one new article per week to start. Even if you think you can post more, hold yourself back to one per week and see how it goes. You'll discover that it's harder than you think to generate new content every single week, but if you can do it, it well worth the time invested. A consistent, steady stream of quality content is all it takes to be successful blogging.

What should I write about?

You can post anything you want to share with the world. Here are a few ideas:

1. News about your company
2. Official company announcements
3. "Get to know you" articles about employees
4. Opinions on events or happenings in your industry
5. Commentary on articles that others have written
6. "How to" articles to help your clients and customers
7. Posts featuring pictures of your company activities or employees
8. Posts soliciting feedback from your customers, encouraging them to speak back to you in the comments.
9. Information about giveaway and other special promotions

How do I get started?

As we discussed in part 3 of our series, you need do-it-yourself content tools in order to blog successfully. Your website needs to be running on a platform that has blogging built right in. With a weekly flow of new content, you need the ability to post articles yourself. If your site is already running on one of Element Fusion's content management systems, you're all set. If not, or if you need help getting started, just let us know and we'll be happy to talk with you more.

This is part three in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub" and "part two: the impact of design." In this article, we're going to discuss the importance of being able to manage the content on your website yourself.

Dynamic content is happy content

The content on your website needs to change. It needs to change regularly. "Why?" you ask. Well, if you'll think back to part one of this series (or click here if you'd rather just read it again), you'll remember that your website should be a hub — a hub of information, communication, and archiving. It's impossible to use your website as a hub if your content does not change.

Plus, there are other reasons that regularly updated content is important.

It's important for your site visitors

When people visit your website for the first time, they'll be impressed if the content is fresh. On the other hand, if the most recent news item is two years old and there's information about last year's events, they will start to wonder if your organization has it all together. Perhaps even more importantly, if content isn't fresh, your visitors aren't likely to return. Why would they unless there is new and useful content for them to consume.

It's important for search engines

Humans aren't the only ones who love fresh content. Search engines like to see that a site is active and changing as well. It helps the search engine to know that your site might be worth the attention of those who are searching. Regularly updated content like blogs and calendar are very beneficial to your site's search engine ranking.

Do it yourself or you're not likely to do it at all

If you have to pay someone every time you make a change to your website, logic tells us that you're going to try and update your site as little as possible. That's why do-it-yourself content tools are so important. By giving you or someone in your organization the ability to update content at any time on your own, these tools encourage you to make changes to your content and to take hold of the benefits discussed above.

So, if you're looking to get real results from your website, do-it-yourself content tools are a must. If your site is running on one of our products — WaterCMS, SkyCMS or LightCMS — you've already got everything you need to manage your content. If you don't yet have the tools you need, let us know, and we'll be happy to discuss the options with you.

This is part two in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one, the website hub." In this article, we're going to talk about the importance and impact of website design.

Design inspires trust.

First impressions matter. It may be cliche, but that doesn't make it any less true. When you go in for that job interview, taking time to present yourself will pay off. In the same way, presenting your business in the best possible light is well worth the investment.

Your website is one of the first, if not the first, connection points your company or organization will have with those you are trying to reach. I don't think it's overstating to say that your website can make or break your first impression. Just ask yourself — have you ever made decisions about a company based on its website? I know I have. When I do research on the web, the quality of a site's design speaks volumes to me.

Design makes things easy to use

In addition to building trust, quality web design also makes things easy to use. If a visitor can't figure out how to find the information they need on your site, you will lose their interest and likely their business. Professional web designers specialize in blending great looks with ease of use. They know how to present things and make them easy to navigate, quick to load ... etc. This is a special talent that requires more than just an eye for good design. Therefore, it's important to employ the help of an experienced web design team when putting together your website.

Design is critical

Quality web design is critical for a website to get results. When implemented correctly, a good design will grab your visitors' attention, gain their trust, and guide them easily to the information you want them to find. Without the critical component of design, it is very difficult for a website to get real results for your business or organization.

This is part one in our series on "Getting results from your website." In this article, we're going to talk about using your website as a hub.

What is a hub?

One of the first steps any organization or business must take toward getting results online is to recognize that the website should be the hub of as many of their activities as possible. What do I mean by "the hub?" I mean that the website should be the first thing you think of when you are trying to accomplish something. Let's look at a few examples.

The hub of communication

Communication is an obvious place to start. Your website should be the hub of your communication. Lots of businesses have printed marketing materials. Print is sometimes needed, but you ought to also have those same pieces electronically available in pdf format. Then, you should put those pdfs on your website and refer to their location on the web as the primary location. If anyone is looking for any document that you make publicly available, they ought to be able to find it on your website.

If you email the pdfs to people as they request them, that's not using the website as the hub. If you email them a link to a place where they can find all of your documents, that could be even better. Why? Because it keeps your employees and your customers thinking of your website as the central place to find the information they need.

The hub of other activities

But there's more than just communication that can be carried out online. What about support? Where do your customers go when they need support? Perhaps your website should have a support page that aggregates all of the support information they need into one place. Perhaps your should have a form users can fill out to request support. Whatever resources you provide, determine if you can provide them effectively through your website.

How about archiving? If you are a non-profit or a church, this can be especially important. You have lots of public documents such as minutes from meetings or official records that need to be archived. Do you store them in files in your office where people would have to physically come to your location to find them? Why not archive them on the web and train yourselves and your members to view your website as the central place to find the archived documentation.

Push the limits

These are just a few examples. Your business or organization will have lots of additional needs that might even be specific to your line of work. The point of this article is to get you to think about your own organization and find the places where you can push more emphasis toward making your website a hub. Make it the first thing you think about when you're looking for a new solution. The more you do so, the more your own people and your customers will begin to regard your website as something of great value — and that is the first step toward getting results online.

When Element Fusion opened its doors in 1999, the Internet was a relatively new space for businesses. Many businesses had no website at all, so our role was helping them to recognize the need for a web presence and assisting them in getting up and running online.

Today, most businesses have websites. A presence on the web is common and expected. However, many struggle with using their websites in ways that truly get results and add to their bottom lines. At Element Fusion, we've seen our role change from convincing businesses they need websites, to teaching them and empowering them to truly get results online.

We want to help you get results from your website. So, we've created this multi-part blog series that will teach you how to do just that. This post is a brief overview. You'll want to stay tuned to the blog for future posts which will cover issues such as:

1. Using your website as a hub
2. The impact of design
3. The need for do-it-yourself content tools
4. The power of blogging
5. Keeping it simple
6. Driving the right traffic with internet marketing
7. Establishing goals
8. Tracking results
9. And more ...

Keep an eye out for these articles over the next few weeks. Each one will include the series title, "Getting results from you website," in the headline. We'd love to hear your thoughts about each post in the comments.