EZ-Net Systems Prospect Survey

Business Website Report

According to Answers.com there more than 20 billion websites on the planet in 2010. That's about 3 websites for every person on the planet. So what are you doing to make your website successful? If you think that your computer savy nephew who can code html is going to make your website the next ebay, here are a few questions to consider before you double his pocket money?

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Question 1

What is the purpose of your website?

Brochure Site Lead Generation Site Online Shop

The brochure site provides online support to your offline marketing. You will refer to it in your ads, because you pay for ads by the square inch, and acres are cheap on the internet. You will refer your webpage in Yellow Pages ads, business cards and brochures. An online presence adds your business credibility. Basically it is just an online version of a tri-fold a printer might do for you. There is nothing wrong with a brochure site, if this is all you want in your marketing plan.

The next step up is a lead generator site. Unlike a brochure site, you want it to generate business on its own. You want people to find your site while browsing on the internet, and having seen your site, feel compelled to call or email you. After that contact is made, hopefully a sale will follow.

The last option is that your website is a storefront where visitors to your site can actually purchase products and services. In other words, after finding your site, and viewing your content, they are compelled to "click here" to make a purchase.

There is a fourth type of website - the vanity site. But financial rewards are rarely connected to this type of site.

Of course a website may be a mixture of these three (or four) types, but unless you have defined your business model, the purpose of your site, it will be a waste of electrons.

Question 2

How will people find your site?

Offline - Public Relations
Offline - Networking
Offline - Cold Calling
Offline - Other
Online Strategy - Search Engine Optimization
Online Strategy - Links to Your Website
Online - Advertising
Online - Other

Comments (other ways):

You already know there are 20 billion sites, so the likelihood that a buyer will find it by chance are somewhat remote. And if you calculated the cost per lead on that basis, you would never build such a site. Your business website exists only for one purpose, to make you money - irrespective of the business model. It must pay its way. So if no-one visited your site, why would you pay for it to exist?

Therefore, you must have a strategy to ensure people know your site exists and that there is a reason they should visit it. How can you do that? There are two basic strategies, offline and online.

An offline strategy is based on all your offline marketing- ie advertising, public relations, networking and cold calling. In every case you would refer leads to your website where they can find out more about what you can do for them, and why they should choose you. Your website would build on your offline promotions giving further details of your service, educating your customer and creating credibility for your business.

An online strategy will be built around visibility. The key elements of this are:

Search Engine Optimization
A strategy to get links to your website
Online advertising

Question 3

What are you going to do to make visitors linger at your site?

The average website visit is 68 seconds. How many widgets do you expect to sell in that time? You must have a strategy to make people linger at your site, get to know you and see the value you can give them.

The three secrets for making people linger are CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT.

To get visitors to stay, you need to give them information that they want. This will not be information about you (at least not on the home page). Your goal should be to educate your visitor. Give them information they will not get elsewhere on how to solve the problem that caused them to search for you in the first place. If you website is just sales hype, your visitors will be gone in a lot less than 68 seconds.

Question 4

What do you want visitors to do once they visit your site?

Buy Something Call Me Subscribe with Email Bookmark Page Other

If Other, What else do you want visitors to do once at your site?

Many would say- "Buy lots of stuff from me." Well, in your dreams! Most people will not buy from you, or call you on the first visit to your site. They don't know you (unless an offline relationship has been established). And unless you are selling a commodity, that is the same on every site- eg CD's, and you are competing on price, you need to be able to establish a relationship. To do this, you need to give visitors a reason to give you a way to stay in contact. This could be by way of a newsletter, or through a free download of information requiring their email details. When you do this, it is essential you provide an unsubscribe option, because otherwise you will be spamming. And there are no rich spammers (although I believe there are rich people selling spam technology).

Question 5

How are you going to get people to come back to your site?

Lots of Quality/Content, So Visitors Bookmark
Add/Change Continually So Visitors Return
Provide Special Offers, So Subscribers Revisit

On average, four out of five website visitors will never come to a website. And if they only stay 68 seconds, it's going to take you several lifetimes to become an internet millionaire. To get people to come back you need to do several things:

Have sufficient quantity and quality of content, that the visitor will bookmark your site to come back for more
Continually add to and change the content to make visitors want to come back
Provide special offers to your subscribers that will encourage them to revisit your website
If your website never changes, why would anyone want to come back?

Question 6

How are you going to monitor the results of your website?

No-one can guarantee what is going to work for you. Therefore you have to measure your statistics. A good web host will provide you with a statistics package that will tell you how many visitors you have had, when they visited, how they found you and what they did at your site. When you make an offer, make a change to your site, or undertake some marketing campaign, whether online or offline, check the response on your statistics, and the conversions that you have achieved on your site. Do controlled experiments. Don't change too many things at one time, because you will never know what caused the change. Find out what works, and what doesn't. And when you find a good thing, stick to it!

Question 7

Are you really going to trust your 10 year old nephew to do all this?

Yes No

You may not be using your 10 year old nephew; you may be using a graphics design company instead. But don't confuse determining your website business model and marketing strategy with the color and movement of your website graphics. As a general rule of thumb, the flashier the website, the worse it is commercially. (Check out eBay and Amazon- how flashy are their sites? But is there a clear business strategy?) You will need someone to do the html programming, but almost certainly, someone who is good at that will not be good at everything else. A website is just another marketing tool. Like a brochure. Would you get your printer to write your advertising copy?

I don't suggest that you should not use a great website design company (or even your precocious nephew) to build your website, but don't let them be in charge of your marketing!

Name:

Owner:

Business:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip:

Do you currently have a website for you business?

Yes No

Website Address (URL):

Email:

Bonus Questions

Who are you going to trust with your business website?

My nephew who is good with computers
Just give me effects and flashy graphics
I want to spend thousands on professional copy
I want to control every aspect start to finish
Help me get started, I'll take it from there
I want help with every thing, startup, updates

Are you planning on creating or improving your website?

Yes No

What are you planning to do?

Create a new website
Improve my existing website
Develop a marketing strategy
I don't know what I need to do. Please help

When are you planning to make create/change your website?

More than 6 months from now
More than 3 months, but less than 6 months
More than 1 month, but less than 3 months
Within the month
I'd like to get started as soon as possible.

How much do you expect/intend on spending to get started with this?

When would you like to get started?

If you were selected for a vacation getaway, which place would you prefer?

Big Bear Palm Springs Las Vegas

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