The outcome of these analyses was a series of briefings about the trends that were taking place. Web pages are no longer the big dog in the online marketing kennel. A traditional website is more like one husky on a dog sled team. Most companies have not kept pace with the changes in the online marketing universe.
You may want to take a hard look at the time and money you have invested in your present website. Ask yourself, “Am I getting a measurable pay off from my Web presence?” If the answer is, “I don’t know” or “No,” then you will need to rethink your online business presence.
Our research has revealed that in today’s noisy market, a company wanting to maximize the impact of online marketing will want to consider what we call the “dog sled team” approach. Here’s how it works:
First, you will want to have a basic website with a URL that is easy to spell and is easy to remember. If you have a URL with a misspelling like “sumer” for “summer,” bite the bullet and get a new URL. Your technical adviser can explain how you can redirect to the new URL from the existing URL. As part of this website revamp, you will want to look at hosted content management services like SquareSpace.com and Weebly.com. The days of the hand-coded, proprietary websites are over. The cost is prohibitive for most companies who cannot afford the fees for changes or full-time programmers on the payroll.
Second, you will want to have a blog because it functions like your own, personal newswire. You broadcast information of your choosing. When you post a story, that story is blasted out to relay servers. From the relay servers, the stories go into Web indexing services to individuals who have an interest in the topic you write about. The idea that is revolutionary is that content finds the people who have an interest in the subject. The blog requires content, and you can write it or you can hire specialists to create that content for you. You put your name on the content and the stories help position your company as an important source of information about your business and your expertise. Your blog gives you your own Associated Press-type news channel.
Third, you will want to have a Facebook page for your business. The Facebook page includes some of the content on your traditional website, short headlines that link back to your blog, and other information created by your staff or the “friends” of your company.
What is revolutionary about this approach is that the standard website is a place where you can park basic information, fact sheets, product specifications and profiles of your sales contacts. The blog gives you a way to pump out information each day or more frequently of interest to your customers and prospects. Your salespeople can send a story to a prospect or invite those whom you meet at a trade show to visit your blog and leave comments. The Facebook page makes it possible for you to build the social presence of your company.
Facebook combines elements of a traditional website and a blog, but it has its own, unique social dynamic. When you combine these three online services, you are amplifying your online presence. Once you have the basics in place, you will be able to keep your presence fresh. You may want to create short audio or video programs, post pictures of your new products or create a small application that makes your content available with one click from an Apple iPhone or another mobile device.
The key point is that the website is no longer able to drag your marketing program from point A to point B alone. You have to give your big dog some helpers. With that shift, you will have a more agile marketing program and you will be able to cross the finish line more quickly than you did when you relied on your website.
Stephen E. Arnold is a consultant. His website is www.arnoldit.com. His new Google monograph about Google’s nontext initiatives will be available in September 2010. A sample chapter is available at http://www.theseed2020.com/gbt/