Don't Forget Your Website This Budget Season

September 23, 2009

As fourth quarter of 2009 approaches and the country moves from recession to recovery, businesses are optimistically starting to plan for next year. With a brighter economy on the horizon, it is imperative companies do not forget to set aside dollars to invest in improving their online presence.

If you took the year off from doing improvements to your Web site and online marketing, you're falling behind and must begin making proactive improvements to your Web site.

Offer Customers Functionality, Become Efficient

Web sites have grown past the stage of being an "about us" online brochure. Browser-based applications can serve both prospective and existing customers from anywhere, anytime as long as they have an Internet connection.  Businesses should look for ways to become more efficient, less dependent on shuffling paper, answering phone calls and manual data entry through their Web presence. 

Adding back-office business functionality to your Web site can go a long ways toward saving dollars through increased efficiency and may be a differentiator between your business and a competitor. Making things easier for your customers by offering them the ability to interact with your business online and at their convenience can go a long way, especially in a competitive business climate. 

If your Web site simply tells who you are, who works there and what you do, then the time has come to consider expanding the functionality to better serve your potential and current customers.

Be Social, Be Strategic, Be Smart

Social media marketing has exploded on the scene and has everyone scrambling to get a company presence on Twitter and Facebook. Although the medium is generally unproven as far as adding to the bottom line, social media marketing can't be ignored. Many companies have run out to get a Twitter account but have no strategy for using it. Smart marketers will step back, slow down and devise a strategy first. Key factors to evaluate include: 

• Determine if and how social media marketing can be a fit for your prospect and/or client base. It isn't for everyone.
• Figure out your social media personality. Are you the conscientious corporation showing goodwill to all, or a fun, less formal side to your business? Do you push discounts and generate new leads? Do you serve only existing customers? It's difficult to be all of these without contradictions.
• Social media marketing isn't free. This is a big myth created by snake oil salesmen claiming to be social media marketing experts. True, to get a presence costs nothing because the tools themselves are free (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube). But remember: "Time is money." To conduct a social media marketing campaign effectively, a company must have people spending time to stay on top of the effort. In most companies, that means someone isn't spending their time doing the jobs you hired them to do. If no one in-house can dedicate the time and effort, then outsourcing the day to day costs money. Don't fall into the trap of not truly evaluating all the clear and hidden expenses or the campaign will fail miserably.
• Ensure your social media presence protects the company's brand. Who's doing the tweeting, and do they represent the company's social media personality? Are the posts on topic and in the company's and customers' best interest? Too much posting or not enough posting can cause the initiative to go bust. And nobody's interested in following a deadbeat Twitter or Facebook account or someone who posts pointless, self-gratifying junk. 
• Develop a method to measure the success of this marketing channel. Why spend all this effort if you can't determine how it translates into new business or improved customer relations? Because everyone else is doing it is a poor reason to get into social media marketing.

Satisfy the Searchers, Track Results

Traditional search marketing is still a crucial factor and shouldn't be pushed aside for the hot, new fad. Just because you have a Web site doesn't mean people looking for your services will find it through the search engines. Searching by your company name doesn't count. We're talking about people searching for keywords associated with your business or industry. 

A solid, comprehensive, diversified search marketing strategy can lead to improved visibility to your site and improve lead generation. A well executed strategy can also provide you measurable analytics to determine what works and what doesn't and, in turn, identify tweaks to make to the campaign.

Failure to Plan = Planning to Fail

Most companies will likely be conservative as we head into 2010 to ensure that the economy is truly headed in a positive direction. Some businesses might decide to invest in small improvements to their sites and others may overhaul the whole thing.

Whatever your business situation is, don't look back this time next year and wish you would have budgeted funds to improve your Web site's functionality and visibility. Odds are that a competitor will pass you by with a bigger, better online presence. As businesses and consumers begin spending again, a strong online plan could provide a nice boost to your company's 2010 performance. 

In this business climate, if you don't plan and invest to continually improve your Web presence, someone else will. It's not a question of whether you can afford to make improvements. It's a question of whether you afford not to?