Does Your Website Earn Its Keep?

by Barbara Casey

When I wrote this article in 2002, I had planned to call it "Do You Need a Website?" The "bottom line" of the article would have answered "Yes" -- because a website allows you to:

-- demonstrate your work
-- advertise your events
-- sell without a physical store
-- automatically collect prospect information
-- inform and instruct
-- show testimonials
-- create a client community
-- and so much more, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Websites offer a lot of space to explain what we do, how we do it, and the benefits to be gained by using our products or services.

So, yes, most of us need a website to stay competitive, to appear credible, and to explain our (non-mainstream) businesses.

Websites, however, cost money to write, design and host. You have to pay to renew your domain name every year. These are marketing expenses that are a part of doing business in this millennium, but a website, like any other marketing tool you use, has got to earn its keep.

You know you "should" have a website. How do you make sure it does its job of (a) attracting new business and (b) keeping current clients from leaving?

How does your business, or mine, make itself known among the millions and millions of sites on the world wide web? Word of mouth works to some degree; building an email mailing list helps; having your articles published in other peoples' ezines works quite well, too. But the main method is still having a top 20 placement in the search engines.

Did you know there are over one million websites for "coaches" and many, many thousands for "psychics?" It's tough to appear in the top 1,000 on these lists, never mind on page 1 or 2.

How much time and attention should we realistically spend on making our website a useful and profitable marketing tool?

A "passive" website that serves as an online brochure is not likely to reap many repeat visitors, but it can be a helpful aid for prospective clients to learn what your business is all about. It offers a "safe" way for individuals to "check the goods before they buy."

On the other hand, people are more likely to return to your site if you post new content periodically. The more familiar they are with your product or service, the more likely they are to buy from you or take a chance on using your service.

How do you get prospects to visit your site in the first place?

1. One key way is to always include your domain name on your marketing materials -- business cards, brochures, flyers, promotional items -- and in your display advertising.

2. Another way is to make sure your web pages are written with search engines in mind. Suppose your website centers around an intuitive counseling practice. You'll want to make sure the words "(your city) psychic" and "intuitive counselor" are mentioned a few times in the first few paragraphs on your home page. "Psychic readings" and "phone readings" are other likely keywords that people will use to search for you. Your keywords need to be relevant to the type of work you do... and niche keywords work best.

3. Make sure the title of your website includes the keywords that visitors are likely to search for. For example: "(your name) -- the intuitive counselor the psychics use" or "the psychic who specializes in career readings." Once you figure out the words folks are likely to use to search for you, you can tweak your website to gain a higher listing in the search engines.

4. You can boost traffic to your site by exchanging links with other websites. The more quality links you have coming INTO your site, the better you look to the search engines. Make it reciprocal with other websites whose themes fit with yours and everyone gains traffic. 

5. A fifth way of making people aware of your website is an e-mail newsletter. The "queen" of ezine marketing is Alexandria Brown. You can check out her famous e-book Boost Business with Your Own Ezine here.

6. If you're serious about getting a bigger "bang for your buck" from your website, there are many excellent tools to help you. Dr. Ken Evoy's "Make Your Site Sell" is one of the most respected e-books in the field. Make Your Site Sell is now free.

7. Learn how to create your own client-attracting professional website. Most independent professionals (consultants, coaches, trainers, writers, designers, financial and employment professionals, etc.) want a better web site - a web site that actually helps attract more clients. Robert Middleton now attracts all his new business through his web site. He gets over 1,000 new subscribers to his weekly eZine More Clients every month. And his web site generates in the neighborhood of $35,000 in sales of services and products every month. He's living proof that a quality web site with the right content and design can and will attract new clients to your business. And his Web Site Toolkit shows you how he does it. I own it myself.