Simon Paul Thurston

My previous posts mentioned the importance of using offline and online marketing for your business. There are however people who are not that convinced on the value of using online marketing.
This is why in this post I shall highlight why I feel it is important for every business to have an online presence.

The most obvious reasons for building a website range from generating sales to providing simple information to your potential customers. You have to decide why you need to use a website for your business. And above all else, your website must have a call to action.

Depending on the nature and size of your business, it may not be advisable to use the website to sell online as you may not have the staff to fill out orders or efficient customer service. On the contrary, in such situations, you have to use your website with the intention of providing information to your existing customers and generating leads which can then be followed up by your sales team.

Provide essential information to customers

This means you have to mention the store hours, any specials you have, directions of how to reach your establishment and most importantly a subscription form for capturing names and email addresses – this in itself is a little goldmine for your business.

With this information available online, you save the time you would otherwise spend answering phone calls from potential customers looking for these answers.

It is also advisable to use certain search engine optimization techniques within your website to ensure your clients find you online. This is because if you intend to provide information to potential customers, you have to be easily found when these customers make queries using your brand and business name, and being near the top of the search engines is all important to have maximum visability on the web.

Don’t think of the Yellow Pages

You would naturally think that approaching the Yellow Pages provider for an advert or perhaps a landing page is the best way to get found by customers. However if you ask me, this is not an advisable step to take.

I think you can fare much better at providing information to those looking for it by using a simple site built by a person who knows about site usability and how to use search engine optimization for improved page rankings – something that I do for clients in many different industries.

I also suggest that you utilize a easy to recognize and remember domain name so that you can establish a great online presence for your business. This is also something that I help my clients with, as it is often a stumbling block for many companies.

In my next post, I will talk about some strategies on choosing and using, search engine friendly merchandising in your website.