I’m being facetious when I say “Don’t buy a website” because we all need a website. We need an online address to manage our reputations, build our businesses, and connect and grow our target audience. But before we ‘buy a website’ we need to have an internet marketing strategy. What is the purpose of our website? It should be one or more of these things:
- build brand awareness
- build brand loyalty
- educate the visitor
- engage with the visitor
- collect an email address
- process an order
- drive traffic to your ‘brick and mortar’ store
- learn about your customer
- learn about your business
- become more efficient
Once you have a strategy you can then move forward with a plan. It might look like this:
- Buy your business name URL
- Buy a mobile responsive website
- Optimize it for search
- Make sure all the features you need can be included or added later
- Make sure the site can evolve with technology, that it is open source
- Make sure someone you hire on staff can easily edit important text
- Make sure the site can integrate with your business if you are selling something
- Create a blog page
- Insert Google tracking code
- Include a Google map
- Include a Google Calendar
- Open business social media accounts
- Use a social media plugin to push your message from the blog to the social media accounts
- Invest in video
- Create a YouTube Channel
- Upload videos to the site
- Pay for tech support
- Post compelling original content multiple times weekly
- Engage with visitors and get them to sign up and follow you
- Track results
- Invest in paid ads
- Track results
- Dedicate one person in or out of house to manage your digital assets daily
There are a lot of moving parts that need to be installed and managed effectively which is why I say “don’t buy a website.” Of course we need a good website. But don’t buy a website and then once launched walk away and expect business to grow. Invest in an internet marketing strategy that includes a website with a purpose and an internet marketing campaign that’s updated daily. A website that gives the visitor what they’re looking for and gives you what you need; data, an email address, and ultimately a new customer, fan, or donor.
