At L.A. Management we believe in a “Holistic Approach” to web site development and creating an online presence. You can no longer just build a website and hope to be successful on the Internet. You need a comprehensive marketing strategy that keeps up with the competition and improves your visibility. Your web site strategy also needs to be more interactive with your audience and content needs to be constantly evolving.
Components of a Holistic Approach include the following:
Web Development
- You need to begin with assimilating your brand across all communication platforms so that when someone visits your website the look and feel quickly communicates your brand.
- Navigation and usability need to be carefully planned so that visitors can find the information they are looking for. You also need the programming ability to deliver a smooth and seamless experience for your visitors.
- Conversion or data capture capabilities need to be built-in so visitors don’t just use your site as a source and then move on.
- Ongoing evolution of your web site needs to be calculated into your plan, whether you move on and change to a new platform overtime or build your site on a platform that is expandable and easy to keep current as business growth, applications and technology change the requirements of what your web site should be and how it delivers communication to your clients.
Content Development
- Good copywriting is at the core off all content development. If you do not have established content or have no one in-house who can provide this service you need to hire a professional copy writer with search engine optimization (SEO) experience to develop effective, compelling content that is rich in appropriate keywords while still communicating your message in a clear and concise manner.
- Photography should be professional and whenever possible personalized to your business. Professional headshots or personnel, facilities and products help connect your clients to your business.
- Video content is exploding on the Internet and is the easiest and most effective way to communicate your value and demonstrate your products. With the advent of YouTube and other video distribution sites you can have a broadcast channel to your clients.
Web Site Marketing
- Every web site requires at least basic SEO practices to assure visibility across the various search engines. Organic SEO positioning of your web site for major keyword searches is free and raises your web sites visibility and authority over your competition.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the paid placement of ads (Pay Per Click or PPC) , these are the “sponsored links” on search engines and other online advertising channels for specific keywords or phrases. The managing of these campaigns can be difficult and costly. An experienced online marketing firm can significantly increase your effectiveness and ROI.
- Social Media is the fastest growing segment of the Internet and includes content distribution, interactive discussions, audio and video. The community aspects of social media and the ability to communicate to an audience of like minded individuals and groups makes social media an unavoidable component to any holistic online marketing campaign.
- Content distribution to distribute your message on the Internet and to establish quality inbound links pointing back to your web site are critical. Blogs, Articles, Press Releases and YouTube videos are all effective forms of content distribution.
- Customer reviews – with over 80% of online purchases decided by online reviews you can no longer be passive. Today you need a pro-active approach to soliciting and distributing positive reviews on your web site and the many web directories where individuals are talking about your company.
- Mobile ready responsive design web sites assure that the exploding market in mobile and tablet visitors to your web site can clearly view your web site content and easily navigate to appropriate areas.
- Lead capture by developing calls to action and whitepapers are critical to assure that you capture visitor information.
- Email marketing is a cost effective tool to communicate with your audience and stay top of mind when they need your services. It is important to assure that your emails provide value – good information or advice rather that exclusively promoting.
- Maintain accurate and helpful information on business directories. Besides prominent listings like Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yelp, YellowPages.com, etc. you need to make sure that your specific industry listings are current and accurate.
In Summary
A holistic approach to your website development requires an ongoing, flexible and evolving platform and strategy. There are multiple channels to manage and update. Whenever possible you should be directly engaged in the process. Sites with content management systems (CMS) help empower the non-technical user to update their web site and interact with visitors to the site and social media pages.
As your business and online profile grows you need to have a team of professionals that work in concert to make sure your stay up to date, deliver your message effectively and maximize return on your marketing dollars.
There is no place where opportunity is so great to reach a large audience on an affordable budget. You just need to properly plan and bring together a team of experienced professionals to assure that you take advantage of this opportunity rather than squandering the opportunity to your competition.