It seems that in today’s marketplace everything has an “e” or an “i” in front of it – e-commerce, iPod, e-marketing, iPhone…. You’re on the web, great, but how do you differentiate yourself more than 10 billion web pages on the Internet. Here are some quick suggestions.

Website Tune-up
Does your website need a tune-up or a full remodel? Here are a few questions to help you identify if you need a tune-up or a remodel:
- Is your site cross-browser (Explorer, Netscape, Firefox) and cross-platform (PC and MAC) compatible?
- Does your site have statistics monitoring?
- Are your site’s colours, fonts, layout consistent with your current branding?
- Is the content logically organized? (i.e. navigation in the same place on every page)
- Can users get information within two or three clicks?
- Is the main purpose of the site immediately clear from the home page?
- Are your online messages consistent with offline messages?
- Do all components of the site function well – links, forms, scripts, video, audio, etc.?
- Do you have online devices (shopping, chat, registration)? If so, are they relevant to the site.
- How easy is it to find the site on major search engines? (Google, Yahoo, AOL, Excite, Lycos, MSN. Yahoo)

Remember the only time a website is perfect is the day it is launched.

Search engine success
You’ve reviewed and updated your website – great, however if you do not optimize your site you are missing one of the most cost effective means of attracting customers to your website. Eighty-five percent (85%) of the Canadian internet population conducts at least one online search per month. On average, Canadian web surfers conduct 40 searches per user per month. 1

So, how do you differentiate yourself? Here are some elements that your site should have:
- Indexation with search engines
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Keywords in the content, on image descriptions, in hyperlinks and embedded in coding
- Links to your site from like-minded sites

Building e-relationships
A strong online presence can provide a more intimate relationship with customers than other traditional marketing methods. E-newsletters are being created for about everything – wine, beauty products, dog walking services, etc. E-newsletters have an open rate of between 70% and 87% 2 but make sure that your content is up-to-date and relevant. Don’t just send for the sake of sending, and don’t over send e-news. On average, a send rate of once every two weeks is acceptable.

1 comScore Networks
2 www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 8:16 am and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.