![]() |
Marketing Information |
|
|
Refresh Your Web Site
So you have a Web site. And so does most every business these days. But what you really need is a way to set your business apart from the competition, an online presence that will keep clients and prospects coming back again and again. As usual, outstanding content may be your solution. While clear, well-written content is vital (see my June 2004 newsletter for tips about this), fresh, well-written content may be even more important for bringing new and repeat visitors to your site. Fresh, or regularly updated content, can help you and your business in several ways: 1. Higher rankings. Frequent updates can help your site rank higher in search engines, making it easier for Web surfers to find you. 2. Regular visitors. Often-refreshed content can keep your site interesting, giving visitors a reason to check back frequently for new information. 3. Updated appearance. Adding new content on a regular basis makes your site appear current. When a Web site's most recent update is from August 2002, visitors may question whether the company is dependable or even still in business. 4. Enhanced reputation. Regularly freshened content can help establish your company as an expert resource for your target audience. By providing frequent updates and useful information, focused on your target market, you'll keep them coming back for more of your expertise and eventually, to buy your products and services. Keeping content fresh sounds like a big job, you may say. Just how often am I supposed to be updating my siteˇ's content, you may ask. While the answer will vary depending on your industry and your target audience, regularity is crucial. Some sites add fresh content daily, while others do so weekly or monthly. Even quarterly updates are better than none at all. But the more frequently you update your site's content, the more likely you'll be to reap the benefits above. So how do you keep your content fresh? Actually, there are a number of different methods, and the ones that work best for you will again depend on your industry and your target audience. As you determine what your 'fresh content' strategy will be, consider these options. * Industry news. Make your site the resource of choice for people in your target audience who want to stay updated on the latest news in your industry, community, or product suite. If you keep up with industry news yourself, try posting the most interesting items to your site. If not, hire a writer or project manager to brose the news for you and post it on a regular basis. If you want a continuing update of recent news, consider using an RSS feed, which delivers news about your chosen topics on a continual basis. * Company news. Keep visitors updated about what's going on at your company by posting press releases or other company news on your site. One of the most effective methods of communicating company news and keeping visitors interested is to publish a case study or success story on your site each month. A case study that details how your company has helped solve a particular problem for a client can be a powerful tool in convincing other prospects to work with you. * Informational articles or reports. Most every business employs experts in its field. Utilize the knowledge of your experts to publish online articles or reports that will offer helpful information for your prospects while convincing them that your company is an authority in your field. * Newsletters or Weblogs. Publishing your own regular newsletter or Weblog (also known as "blog") can be an excellent way to keep Web content fresh and relevant. With a newsletter, each new issue can be easily uploaded to your site, instantly adding fresh new content. Many small business owners host blogs on their own sites, and their content is freshened each time they add to their blogs. The best method for updating your Web site content may be one of the above or a combination of them. Regardless of the method you choose, the important thing is to keep that content fresh. It may be your only chance to set your Web site apart from the competition. Nancy Jackson of The WriteShop helps companies better market their products and services with powerful written communications including Web content, newsletters, brochures and custom publications. Subscribe to or read back issues of her FREE monthly newsletter at www.writeshoponline.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
RELATED ARTICLES
Make Your Marketing Solve a Problem You may be engaged in a marketing activities that are working against you. Or, at the very least, are making sales more difficult. Trigger Button Marketing Sometimes, experiencing bleak sales is a matter of failing to find your prospective customers' trigger buttons.By trigger buttons, we mean anything that the customer would find of peculiar value. The Fundraising Letter PS: 25 Powerful Things To Say There (Includes Examples & Samples) Donors read postscripts. This is a sad but important reality in fundraising. Networking Magic YES-- it is true that Networking is an art that must be mastered. However, for those of you that are new to the networking game and the art of mastering it, please READ ON. Knowing When To Charge More and To Charge Less More And MoreIt was notable that when I started my business twenty years ago, I came up with a certain "minimum" profit I wanted to make. Within a very short time I didn't feel that profit was enough and I gingerly started to charge more. Improving Lead Generating and Conversation Rates: Think Like a Farmer John's a freelance photographer in Ohio who called to tell me of his frustration with the advertising and promotional campaigns he has tried in the last couple of years. Each time he does a promotional mailing to his list of 10,000, he is lucky if he gets one or two inquiries. A Successful Solution: 10 Things to Consider A provocation for the coming year, decade, century or millennium.By now, you've set a working direction for the year, established clear-cut objectives. Deciphering Marketing Lingo: Whats the Difference between a USP, Single Message and a Tagline? Maybe you've heard these different marketing terms, maybe you haven't. Either way, let me help to clarify the difference between them, because you should have all three if you want to market successfully. Natural Marketing for Full Business Success Is your mind muddy on marketing? Do you wake up each day and say, "I get to share myself and my great message with others" or do you say, " I have to market, or I will fail."Natural marketing refers to the action you take to get the word out about your service and product that rings true to your heart. Boost Your Direct Mail Response Rates with Mapping Technology On Superbowl Sunday, Domino's Pizza delivered more than 900,000 pizzas-and mapping technology helped. How do 60,000 pizza outlets serving 3 billion pizzas per year compete in an industry where reputations and dollars are dependent on "fast, hot and delivered to the door?" Global Positioning System (GPS) technology!Here's how you can use this great invention to increase your direct mail results--even if you've only got one store with local customers. Supply And Demand And Marketing According to Dough McCormick, Chariman and CEO of iVillage, Inc, "Technologists focus on supply but they don't understand advertising is focused on demand. Just because we have an available ad doesn't mean we have to sell it. Trade Show Display Booth - A Marvelous Contact System Trade show booths are one of the best direct contact systems with end consumers. The face to face meeting opportunity with customers can provide some excellent results?provided you have a good communication strategy in place. Let It Ring Telemarketing has its place in the marketing arsenal. But telespammers - like their digital counterparts in the email marketing world - really make it tough on the legitimate follow-up telephone call from a company with which you have a relationship. How Architecture Rendering is Part of the Impact Cartoons have gone from celluloid to digital. Movies have gone from cinematography to computer graphics imaging. Love My Dentist I love my dentist! When is the last time you could say thatabout yours?True, dentists do tend to get a bad rap (remember Steve Martin's sadistic character in the movie, Little Shop of Horrors?). But even real-life visits to the dentist aren't high on the list of relaxing things to do. Break Even On Your Next Direct Mail Campaign...And Still Generate Huge Profits With direct mail, you can break even and still claim success. The reason for this can be understood only when determining the lifetime value of each customer brought in and the likelihood of those customers responding to subsequent offers. 10 Awesome Ways To Attract More Orders 1. Create a free ebook directory on a specific topicat your web site. Pamphlets and the Money They'll Put in Your Pocket People are making a fortune on pamphlets. If you go into an airport you can purchase a pamphlet for around $6. The 3 Unknown Steps of Marketing Success To be your own marketing expert you first need to know where to begin. It's no good learning how to be a good copywriter, if you don't know what medium is best to promote your work through. Niche with Passion and Reap Your Financial Rewards One of the keys to creating a successful business is finding a market niche that is small enough to corner the market but big enough to make money. Let me tell you about a few people who have done that well, and why it works for them. |
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |