So you have taken my advice and built an effective, content rich web site. Now you need to get customers to visit the site.
There are two parts to this strategy. First, get the search engines to find your site and direct traffic to you, and second, use your own resources to bring customers to the site.
First the search engines. Start by writing a good META TAG for each page. A META TAG is a segment of HTML code which is imbedded in each page. It is not visible on the displayed page, rather it is part of the code that defines the page, and it is one of the first places that the automated robots from the search engines will look when indexing your page.
Build a site map for your site. A site map is a web page that indexes every page on your site, and links to them. Not only is a site map useful for the search engine robots, but your users will find it helpful too.
Avoid the use of Flash and Java in your navigation menus. Flash and Java script may make your site pretty, but they probably don’t add a whole lot to functionality, and the search engine robots can’t follow links imbedded in them. You want to make sure the robots find and index every page on your site.
Second, the traditional methods. Plain and simple, mention your web site everywhere. Make sure that your web site is on your business cards, your letterhead, packing lists, invoices, signs on your buildings and your trucks. Have everyone in your organization create a signature in their e-mail program that includes your web site.
Make sure that your site is content rich, and a resource to your customers. If you have a customer contact you for technical information, instead of e-mailing the information, send them a link to the information on your web site.
Ask your suppliers or other friends in the industry to put links to your web site on their site, and offer to do the same in return.
Try to get e-mail addresses from customers whenever possible. Include a space for their e-mail address on account application forms, warranty registration cards, lead generation cards, and literature request forms. Collect business cards, which usually have e-mail addresses. Then use e-mail to give customer follow-up. E-mail an order confirmation, a notice of shipment, a backorder notification, a thank you for an order, and include your web page prominently in the e-mail.
If you offer training or seminars, have customers register on your web site. Same deal with warranties, have the registration form for warranties on your web site.
One thing to be careful of. Don’t SPAM. Make sure that there is a legitimate and useful business reason for every e-mail that you send.
Your web site is a powerful lead generation tool, and a good web site can be a valuable resource to your customers, one more reason to turn to you before your competitors. Build it, maintain it, make it rich and useful, then tell everybody about it!
Do you need help in building an effective, content rich web site? Call us for a free needs analysis.