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Alphatech5
Newsletter * *
ISSUE #179
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7 Steps to Building
a Successful Web Presence
Doing business in the 21st
century will eventually
require every company to have a website in one form or
another. Whether your site is interactive or simply
informational, there are steps you can take to ensure
you're on the right track to creating a successful web
presence, seven to be exact (at least from our humble
perspective).
While following these steps will not
guarantee a successful website, it is certainly an
intelligent place to start.
1. Perform a Business Analysis.
What is a business analysis? Simply put, review your
business requirements and your objectives. What do you
want to accomplish? How does your website fit into your
overall business plan? What... no business plan? Develop a
business plan first before you go any further into the
process.
Your business plan will be your
roadmap to success, so make sure the objective of your
website fits into your overall business plan. I'll say it
again, BUSINESS PLAN, don't have one? GET ONE!
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2. Perform some research, also
known as, the Research phase.
Research your competition and industry sites. See what
kind of competition is out there. What kind of marketing
does your competition engage in? Don't look to
"reinvent the wheel", take a look at how the
current market works; develop a list of pros and cons
about your competition and then make your web presence
work better.
3. Develop a concept and a
design.
Finally time for the creative and fun stuff! This involves
the selection of specific content, the layout of the site
structure and navigation and the overall "look and
feel" of your website.
Remember to pay special attention to
your navigational structure!!! If visitors can't navigate
your website or feel lost when doing so, your
"pretty" site will have been a waste of time;
don't go there, keep the navigation simple and for SEO
purposes, make sure your navigation is text based.
Although Flash driven websites look cool, they are not SEO
friendly and can create more problems than the
"coolness" factor they express (we'll discuss
Flash sites in another article ).
4. Develop your website.
When considering which technology to develop your website,
think cutting edge technology, not bleeding edge. Make
sure the technology you use, such as ASP, PHP, HTML, CSS,
will be useful for the next three to five years.
Database driven website are
ultimately the easiest to maintain through the use of a
content management system, but make sure the CMS you use
is SEO friendly. An SEO friendly CMS will utilize real
URLs, not strange looking query strings with lots of
strange characters and question marks. Search engines
despise query strings and rank these site accordingly.
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5. Choose a host provider and implement your
website.
When deciding on a host provider, make sure the host is
not only reputable, but has been in business long enough
that you can be sure they will be in business next year.
Also, ask about site uptime. If your site is down for any
reason, this will not only affect your potential and
current customers, but the search engines as well. If the
search engines decide on a given day to spider your site
and it is unavailable, it could cost you your rank.
6. Promote and market your website.
Register your site with the major search engines such as
Google and Yahoo. Initiate other marketing activities such
as an email blasts to prospective customers. Consider
"Pay per Click" advertising with the major
search engines and don't forget about a long term SEO
campaign to drive targeted traffic to your site.
7. Finally, maintain your website.
Probably the most important long term step is continuing
to provide current and relevant information on your
website. Keep your site content current to encourage
return visitors and give them something to return for!
Related to SEO, search engines just LOVE sites which
provide new content on a regular basis and rank such
websites accordingly.
Overall, remember, your website is not just a
marketing tool, it's a business tool, and it should be
generating a revenue stream for your business.
About
The Author
Article by Matthew Mckernan - About
the author, Website
Design, Search
Engine Optimization/SEO, Web
Development.
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