It is amazing how many people who have websites for their business ask this question. They do not understand why they are not seeing a drastic change in their business just by putting themselves on the web. They think, “Billy from We are Web Designs said all I needed to do was get my business on the web and I would see results”. Well in this day and age it’s just about having presence on the web, there are many other factors.

Let’s start with design, when was your site developed? How is the user interface? (by user interface I mean how easy it is to navigate through the site and find what you are looking for) Would you say that it has a modern look or can you tell what year it was made. You should be asking yourself these questions all the time. With the age of the internet you have to be constantly be upgrading your look. I am not saying that you need to redo your website every year but you need to change with the tides. Think about your favorite websites, is your site up to par with their design? Not only are you up to par with design but is it easy to get the information you are providing? Are you sending a clear message?

I have been reading lots of marketing books lately and they are all saying the same thing. Consumers have changed the way they buy things. Push marketing is no longer effective, we cannot tell our customers to buy our product because they need it, we need to use the pull method. The pull method is to draw the customer in with information, and lots of it. Think about yourself as a consumer for a second, when you decide to buy something now, like a digital camera, do you just go to your local electronics store and buy the first one on sale or do you research all of the latest trends and then you research who has the best deal, not just in town, but on the web. Well this is what everyone is doing. Consumers want to look for the information on what they are buying and they want to be able to get the information at any time. So what should your site do? It should draw people in with readily available and easily accessible information. When they go to your site they should be able to find what they are looking for in two clicks of a mouse. If the information is further than that they will move onto the next site. Same thing goes for look and feel of your site. If they do not like the way it looks than they will also move onto the next one. Isn’t it amazing how many things you have to think of when developing you website (this is why there are professionals, this is what they know so you don’t have to!)

The last thing that has impact on people coming to your site is finding you on the web. This subject could take pages and pages to talk about, but I will be brief. People need to be able to get to your site easily and fast. Here are some things to think about: what kind of domain name do I have? Is it long, or confusing? Is it hard to spell? What do I talk about on my homepage? Do I have any content on my homepage? Have you searched for yourself through a search engine like google or yahoo? What page were you on? These are just a few of the things to think about.

People do not realize all the different things that account for their ranking on a search engine. This type of marketing is called SEO, or search engine optimization, and the whole point of SEO is to get your site on the first page of the search, because as we all know, no one really moves on to the second page. We are talking prime real estate here people!

Since SEO is such an extensive subject and even I am yet to have a full grip on it, I will wait to expand until next time.

bookmark

Being in Bakersfield for almost a year I have come to some conclusions, working for Jupiter Labs for a couple of months has given me some more conclusions on Bakersfield. I want to touch on one of them today: Bakersfield and the world of websites.

Bakersfield is a fairly old community, with “home-town” feelings and outlooks. When it comes to web, they might be quick to think of spider webs more than the “world wide web”. This scared me a little when it came to having to talk to Bakersfield business’ about the internet and what the web can do for their business. I thought to myself, how am I supposed to persuade these people that a website can do wonders for their business and reputation when over 50% did not even know how to get onto the internet let alone that business’ had websites. So out came a new strategy, before we can get folks to see the value of a website they need to understand the “world wide web” and what it’s capabilities are. That is what we set out to do, show people what the web means and then show them how to use it to their advantage.

We showed business’ that there is a whole new marketing strategy out there, and that if they wanted to bring in new generations of buyers to come that they were going to have to jump on the wagon. See times are changing and the new generation of buyers no longer look to that dusty ‘ol phone book in the closet to find take-out or a new doctor, they go to the internet. They have found new ways to find the information they need to buy what they want. The main reason that the internet is more appealing than that phone book is because it is fast, easy, and always there and up-to-date. And for the new generations if it is easier and faster why would you use anything else? They are using their old phone books for door stoppers or “strong man” challenges in their backyard, one thing we know for sure is that they are not using them for information.

Okay so let’s say that I am an old business in Bakersfield, I have made my place in this town by putting in hard work, selling a good quality product, and by creating a good reputation, what is a website going to do for me? Well ask yourself some questions: What is my customer base? Do I have mostly new customers or old loyal ones? How did my customers come to hear about me? How can I get new customers in, and how can I target a larger area? All of these questions can be answered with a website. Let’s examine how by answering these questions…

Let’s define our business for answering purposes. We are a dog boutique, that specializes in toys for all different kinds of dogs, dog clothing, and custom dog tags.

So what is my customer base now: any dog owner (in town, or has heard of my company before) What could it be with a website: ANYONE

Most of my customers are old, who have come here before, I only get new customers from advertising (local TV/Newspaper), word of mouth or walk-ins. Potentially with a website most of your customers could be new because of the exposure on the internet. You are not just getting the greater Bakersfield area with your TV and newspaper ads. You are getting anyone and everyone is has access to the internet.

My customers mostly have heard of me through a friend or some kind of referral, I do get some people who have seen my commercial or saw my ad in the paper. Like I said previously with a website now anyone can find you or hear about you, what larger target area could you get than that.

Now I have shown you some obvious reasons why and how a website can help your business. It’s pretty easy and painless, you just need to do a little homework and find a web design or development company that knows what they are doing and has your best interest at heart. There is a next step, once you have a website for your business, you then need the knowledge to know: is it doing anything for your business, am I sending the right message, ARE PEOPLE FINDING ME?

This last question about “are people finding me?” is probably the most important and this leads into Web Marketing, which I will talk about in my next blog. I also want to talk about the world of web design and what is out there.

bookmark

I know what your thinking….. sounds like a cool job title, however I know for a fact that these guys who have it on their name badges whether you live in Bakersfield or San Diego put their blood sweat and tears into making it eye candy for us. I can remember a few years ago when flash was considered the coolest thing on the web. I’m not say it’s not cool, but for search ability for major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com its terrible. I consider the best site out there are a good blend of design, texture, and simple java scripts. It’s like looking at a page in 2d format verses 3d it makes a huge difference when your surfing that page either looking at content or pictures.

bookmark