Everyday I advise a lot of folks on how to implement a web presence that can help them generate more leads and bring more traffic to their site. However, I'm discovering many businesses making the switch to Inbound Marketing still lack a vision of how their web presence or site design will work in achieving their company goals and dreams in 2010.
So how do you develop a vision for an effective web presence? It's a
great question, and let's be clear here - it certainly isn't easy.
Before you change your strategy or completely redesign your website in 2010, you should think about how you want
things to work first.
Here are what I would consider the most
pivotal pieces to develop your site around:
1. Site Optimization (SEO) - Optimization initially tends to go
hand in hand with any re-design that may be happening on your site today.
Start by thinking about what terms or keywords you want to align your company with. You're
then going to want to determine how to break out and build the pages on
your site and optimize them with your relevant keywords on an ongoing
basis.
Keep in mind that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Though your on-page SEO vision should be initially focused on the optimizing and building your site pages, also consider ongoing efforts such as how you plan to continually research keywords and
develop content in order to generate inbound links.
2. Conversion Avenues (Offers and Calls to Action) - Perhaps the
most important part of your internet marketing effort is the method by
which you actually convert leads. Your offers are the avenues that are going to attract site visitors to convert, so developing these should be a top priority. They should also have their own landing page on your site. I recommend envisioning at
least 8-10 different compelling offers which are produced in as many different media
mediums if possible.
Some free content offers you might want to consider are: informative whitepapers on your industry (as it pertains to your products), interviews industry leaders, and
webinars which offer valuable information to your audience.
It's also critically important to develop a vision around how to implement
calls to action within most site pages (certainly your product pages),
as well as within your blog posts. When you're ready to re-design your
site and incorporate some internet marketing best practices, calls to
action should be a big part of your game plan. Here are a few examples of effective calls to action to get you started.
3. Your Blog - Your blog shouldn't just be a shouting platform where you promote your own products and services. It should
incorporate and portray the spirit of your industry. Think about your
blog and where you'd like it to be in 3 years time. Picture it in your
head, draw it on paper, think about what you want your content creation
avenue to look like and feel like.
Think about the culture of your company - your products,
employees and life, and try to capture some of that in your blog, too. Imagine the types of people you want your blog to attract and encourage other writers in your company to speak directly to them on the blog.
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Developing a vision for a web presence and internet marketing strategy is somewhat like developing a high level algorithm for a program or initially wireframing a user interface. Once you have it in place, the actual building and implementation should be much easier.
By @adrianmott - Connect with me on Twitter!
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