Web Development and Marketing – So Happy Together

Why a successful online presence starts with web development and web marketing working together.

 

For an online business to be truly successful, there should be a complimentary relationship between web development and online marketing. This is because web development and web marketing can influence each other greatly in either a positive way or in a negative way depending on your approach.

 

Let’s start here; you can have the best looking web site on the web, but if no one can find your web site then it’s all for not, right? On the other hand, you can have the most traffic on the web, but if it looks unprofessional and is difficult to use, your chances of getting a sale or a desired action from your users are slim to none, correct? The point being that an effective web presence requires a blend of form and function. Your web presence should portray your business accurately and in a professional manner, all while being very easy to use and accessible to all types of users. With all of that said, it also needs to be built to perform well in the search engines and be found by users searching for your products, services or information so people can benefit from how great and wonderful your site is.

 

So how do we ensure that your online presence is getting the best of both worlds? It’s fairly simple; make sure that when developing your web site or putting together your marketing strategy that you approach it so development and marketing are working together and in sync.

 

When you start to consider building a new online presence or modifying an existing one, think about how your desired functionality or layout will affect your ability to be found in the search engines and how it could effect the user experience. For example, flash and images and all that fancy design stuff are great for aesthetic appeal when done properly. When done improperly, these types of activities can potentially lead to important content on your site not being found in the search engines, not to mention excessive page weight (will effect the speed at which your site pages load for a user), and other usability issues. What happens if the person looking for your goods or services is visually impaired? Will they be able to still gain access to your content? What if a person trying to get information on your company is using a mobile device? Will your site load in a respectable amount of time and will the information display properly? These are just two of the many potential scenarios that need to be thought through when considering the development of a web site.

 

For some, web sites are viewed as just another place to display your information, but they can and should be so much more than that. Your web site is a business in itself: open 24/7/365 (for those of you with an unreliable host you may disagree with that statement!), and is often a potential client / customer / patients first impression of your business. Take pride in your web site and make sure you take the extra time to be certain your development team and marketing team are knowledgeable of activities outside of their specialty to ensure the best possible representation on the web! Too often we see businesses that have spent money to only have one piece of the puzzle solved. Having a web site done the right way may end up costing you more up front – like most things in life: you pay for what you get, but the savings in the long run and the return on your investment will be far greater if you have that perfect blend of form and function from the start.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and no one is short on things to be thankful for!

 

And speaking of thanks, we at Academy would like to thank Josh Best of TKG (The Karcher Group) for sharing these helpful tips with our readers!

Google Packs The House

American Marketing Association, Cleveland Chapter, brought Ted Souder, Midwest Travel Head of Sales to town to share Google’s latest marketing ideas. There was a terrific turn out and this was definitely our most attended event this year.  Why?  Because we all know Google is a search engine giant and we all want to know what they have to say.  Not only do they offer search, but they provide additional tools like Google Analytics that can help a business of any size really dig in and segment what’s happening with their website traffic.

 

Our topic for the evening was “The Digital Landscape, 10 Best Practices Shaping The Future of Marketing” and I thought our readers might enjoy reviewing these best practices.  Think about these points as they relate to your business:

 

1)     Data, not opinion – Use the math and science of marketing and let the data assist with your marketing direction – use the analytics

2)     Be ready online for what’s happening offline

3)     Don’t build it and hope they will come – promote online and offline

4)     Big Portals are Important (AOL, MSN) and so are niche sites

5)     Make video the centerpiece of your online strategy – it’s believed that every minute, 10 hours of video is uploaded onto YouTube

6)     Take social media seriously

7)     Tap into the wisdom of the crowd – the group is smarter than the individual 

     Be where your consumers are at the moment of relevance

9)     Keep your eye on how computer architecture is changing

10)  Be “always on” because your consumers already are

 

Ted gave us the following stat which I thought was really amazing regarding mobile. It’s believed that mobile will be as big as the web.  That’s a powerful prediction, don’t you think?  It was said that currently there are approximately 490M mobile internet users and that number is expected to grow to nearly 1B by 2011.  Are you planning for that and integrating mobile into your marketing mix? 

 

I’ll close by saying it was a great event that offered networking opportunities, good food (of course) and a focus on innovation, new ideas and improving our current business strategies.  Thanks Ted and AMA!

Turbulent Times?

I was thinking this morning about how much I keep hearing the words, “turbulent times”.  While attending the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) Conference recently, one of the topics of discussion was “Growing Yellow and White Pages in Turbulent Times”, which was an awesome presentation.  Yesterday, I attended the Cleveland Sales & Marketing Executives Luncheon where the topic was “Marketing in Turbulent Times” and enjoyed that delivery as well.

 

So if, in fact the times are turbulent what should we, as marketing partners, do about it?  I personally think these “turbulent times” provide a key opportunity.  Not that we should wait for turbulent times to employ these tactics, but here’s how I see it. During these tough, economic times, we have to be flexible, understanding and willing to move with the current.  Regular communication is needed to drill down into what is really going on with our customers. Really listen.  Have you surveyed your customers lately to see how you can help them?  Whether this is accomplished during a business meeting, luncheon, coffee or 9 holes of golf, we need to understand what they’re going through and deal with the fact that issues that were relevant to them last week may not be the “hot topics” this week.  We all know that change happens faster now and there’s a need to continuously monitor what’s happening today.   Business relationships are like personal relationships.  They call for communication, collaboration and working together for a common goal.  This type of effort shouldn’t be hidden away only until turbulent times present themselves, but should be how we conduct business on an everyday basis.

No, really, I simply couldn’t. I’m stuffed!

If your email inbox could talk would it sound something like that?

Ah email.  What a miraculous invention.  And what an absolute nightmare it can be at times!

A story an associate recently shared with me about one of his coworkers got me thinking.  The overworked individual had just returned from a much needed week long vacation.  Upon her return to the office she was greeted by 800 messages in her email inbox.  800!  I have anxiety attacks over the 40-something currently sitting in my inbox.  I can only imagine the sheer horror she experienced to log on that morning and hear “you’ve got mail” again and again and again and again…

I’m a bit anal.  I’m not too proud to admit that.  I like organization and everything has to have its place so 40 opened, already read yet uncategorized emails sitting in my inbox drives me batty.  It was with great joy that I discovered one of those 40 emails contained a valuable nugget of information and, quite possibly, the solution to my problem. 

I am referring to a MediaPost article written by Chad White, the editor-at-large at the Direct Marketing Association’s Email Experience Council.  http://blogs.mediapost.com/email_insider/?p=605.  Chad offers up some useful tips I’d like to share with you on how to become a better email user.

1.  Take Action.  When you open your email resolve to take one of the following actions:

     a.  Delete it or archive it.  If the message requires no action get rid of it or archive it for future reference.

     b.  Reply.  If you can respond to the message quickly, do so and then you can delete or archive the message.

     c.  Forward.  If you’re not the most appropriate person to respond, forward the message to the more appropriate individual within your organization.

     d.  Set a Reminder/add to your calendar.  If action is required at a later date set a reminder or add the event to your calendar if the action has to occur at a specific time or day.

2.  Respect Other’s Inboxes

     a.  Do not CC people unnecessarily

     b.  Forget the Reply All function if the reply is only intended for or relevant to one or two people on the email. 

     c.  Use descriptive subject lines.  Words like FYI, Reminder, Urgent and Action Needed will help the recipient prioritize the message and understand if action is needed and if so, how quickly.

3.  Organize Your Inbox.  Set up rules and folders so emails that you get regularly from a particular sender (such as newsletters and alerts) are automatically routed to the appropriate folder and won’t interrupt the flow of your emails.  Reserve your inbox for incoming messages that will require some sort of action.

4.  Manage Your Email Subscription Newsletters

     a.  Ensure your newsletters are delivered to you and not caught in your spam or detained folders by “white listing” them or adding the “from” address to your address book or safe sender list.

   b.  Update your preferences on those email subscriptions.  Oftentimes you have the option of receiving the newsletters on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.  Choose the option that makes the most sense for you.

5.  Moderate Your Inbox Exposure

     a.  Set your email program to check for new messages at an interval that works for you.  You may find you’re more productive if your email is delivered every 30 minutes versus every five minutes, for instance.

     b.  Don’t be afraid to shut down your email to give yourself uninterrupted time to work on important projects.

     c.  If you subscribe to RSS feeds check them once a day, or once a week, depending on how crucial they are to your job.

And finally, I’d like to add a couple of suggestions of my own here:

6.  Don’t Forget about the Old-Fashioned Methods of Communication

     a.  Pick up the phone.  Email makes sense for many reasons but let’s not forget about the personal touch, especially when dealing with customers.  I’d estimate 95% of my client contact is done via email but I most enjoy the 5% that isn’t.  In a thirty minute conversation ten minutes may be spent talking business but the remaining twenty minutes are quite simply bonding, solidifying and strengthening that client/vendor relationship.

     b.  Take a walk.  If communicating with a coworker within relatively close proximity, why not give his/her inbox a break and get a little exercise at the same time?  Talk a walk over to your coworker’s desk and share the information verbally.  That’s one less email in your sent folder, one less email in your coworker’s inbox and most likely, one less email you’ll receive from your coworker in response to your initial email.  Do you see the vicious cycle here?

Incorporate these steps into your daily email management and imagine the exhilaration you will feel when you have any empty inbox!  And now it’s time for me to do a little cleaning…