The Internet, as a medium of communication, has risen in importance at a breathtaking rate. Regardless of your industry, it has become a key element of the marketing channels which are used to reach consumers of products or services. It is hardly imaginable that an organisation would exist without a website, so the general assumption is that your company has one and that you can be found on the web.
My favourite question when discussing a company website is “Why do you have one?”. Now you would think there is a simple answer to this, but amazingly it appears to be illusive. Mostly the answer is, “Everyone has one!” or “You can’t do business without a website.” Well, hold that thought for a moment . . .
My next question is, “What is the purpose of your website?”. This more often than not gets me a look which says, “Are you serious?” or “Whose idea was it to pay this madman to talk to us?!”
The problem I find is that most of the time the answer is vague, because nobody has really thought about this. When the website designer got the phone call asking him to create a website for you, he wasn’t about to talk himself out of a job by asking questions like these!
Which type of site is right for you?
There are a number of fundamental questions which you should be asking yourself before even thinking about paying someone to design a website for you – and the first thing to decide is what kind of site your company needs.It is logical to assume that for every website type, there should be a set of ‘best practices’ for the design, content, navigation and presentation – as a website which is designed with one type in mind, will not function satisfactorily if used for the wrong purpose.
In practise there are seven distinct types of website:
- Revenue Generating websites – These are designed to attract traffic and convert the visitors to customers online and in real-time. This is not ‘lead generation’ but a physical act of buying, where the purchase takes place on the web. A classic example of this is the airline industry, with EasyJet being one of the most notable. Other examples include insurance quotation sites, online supermarkets, theatre tickets, hotel booking websites and so on.
- Lead Generating websites – These are different as their purpose is to generate interest and a ‘desire to purchase’, but the actual transaction does not take place online. The action which visitors can take is limited to making an enquiry, so that an expert can contact the visitor for further discussions. Many of you who are reading this article probably have a website of this type.
- Reference websites – These contain in-depth information about specific subject matter and are perceived to be authoritative in their field. Examples include the BBC News, Wikipedia, government departments and so on. These sites are not selling products or services and are purely a reference source.
- Personal websites – You can still find individuals who own and manage personal websites which log and promote their opinions, or details about their hobbies and interests. However, these have more recently become what are now known as ‘Blog’ sites, a name which comes from the term weB-log.
- Directories – These are web-based directories which generally either specialise in geographical or industrial segments. They are a depositary for website owners to register, log and establish links to their own websites.
- Forums – These are informal ‘chat’ sites which focus on a specific subject of interest, with content being made up of discussions or comments from the contributors and members. Social Networking sites are in effect a type of Forum-based website, but with a specific mode of operation that permits ‘many to many’ communication via editable pages.
- Portals - These are websites which provide a range of information, products and services that can be accessed by members and non-members. Examples of these include Yahoo!, Wanadoo, the BBC’s website and so on.
The importance of updating
In most organisations the true cost of a website is not always realised, and the development and ongoing management of content is never really considered. Direct costs, such as design and hosting are known by the accounting department - but the hidden costs for ongoing management and updating are rarely given a second thought, yet are very necessary and can often be higher than the original setup charges.In many cases, websites are often not updated for many years after they go live and the cheque is handed over to the designers! Even worse, some organisations still think that is acceptable simply to copy content from their suppliers’ brochures and websites into their own site, without checking to see the style of writing, the word usage and the relevance of the content is appropriate. What happens then is that you end up with a website which looks as if it was designed by a committee that never met!
Websites are living documents, but instead of food, water and air they must consume fresh content in order to survive and be useful. This content should be original, relevant and written in a style which is harmonious with the entire site. It must also of course be checked for spelling, grammar, punctuation and accuracy.
What do you expect of your website?
Now that we have established what kind of website you have (or thought you had!), and the importance of keeping it updated, we need to understand what you want it to do for you. The general expectation from commercial websites is that they should generate revenue or leads, yet I am amazed by how often this ‘sales’ channel is neglected. So the next question I ask is, “Can you show me your last quarter’s website statistics?”Normally this is when I really see the “Get this madman out of my office!” look. Yet it is a perfectly reasonable question. If I asked you to give me the same information on the performance of your sales people or your telesales agents, you would be able to produce it in a flash, and most of you can probably recite it from memory! So why don’t you have the same information available on your most hardworking ‘salesman’? After all, unlike your sales team, your website doesn’t have holidays, take a lunch break, get stuck in traffic or go off sick - and it never goes home at night or for the weekend!
Let’s talk some specifics . . .
- Hits on your website = Cold calls. How many did he make?
- Visitors to your website = Appointments. How many did he attend?
- Bounce rate = ‘No thanks, you’re not for us’ responses. How many did he get?
- Website visit length = Appointment length. How much time did he spend in prospect meetings?
- Referring sites = Referrals. Where did his sales leads come from?
You need this data in order to ensure that your website is working for you, and that the money you’re spending to promote and manage the site is being used effectively. For example, by tracking your conversion rate, you can even identify which lead generation campaign is working most effectively. You wouldn’t spend money on other marketing activities without a detailed understanding of their impact and a clear measurement of their effectiveness, so why let your website get away with it?
What’s the solution?
A quality web hosting company like Cognisant Hosting will
provide you with all of this data and more. In fact, reports from
your hosting company are more accurate than Google Analytics – as
by Google’s own admission, Analytics only captures 60% of your
traffic.
The statistics which your hosting company can provide
come directly from the server, where no traffic can hide! These server
statistics can even tell you when Google, Yahoo or a host of other
search engines have visited your site. The depth of information is
mind-blowing and can be invaluable when planning and designing your
website, and when reviewing it on a monthly basis. In fact, if
you’re not carrying out regular ‘sales meetings’ with
your website, taking it to task every month, then you are quite
possibly wasting your money.
Next time we’re going to talk
about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). “What’s
that?” I hear you ask. Oh my goodness, we do need to have a
seriously long article!
About the Author:
Ali Zartash-Lloyd is Managing Partner at Cognisant Associates a business consulting partnership. He is a management graduate from the
University of Leicester and was European Director for major US and
Korean multi-nationals for over a decade.
