OCEANSIDE, December 3, 2014 / PRNewswire / Smart business leaders and managers know that companies with excellent processes get better results. Yet, most companies fail to follow a proven process or system for marketing on the Internet.
“A company website and the Internet can drive success or failure when it comes to increasing sales, getting more leads, and retaining customers and clients,” says Thomas Young, author of “Winning the Website War” (Indie Books Intl, 2014). Young’s latest book introduces business leaders to a four-step process for getting results from their web marketing efforts.
“The purpose of the four steps is to take the complex area of website marketing, with its many action items and options, and make it more simple and easy to follow,” says Young. “These steps form the foundation for how websites win online battles for market share and attract visitors that convert to sales. The book also provides business leaders with clear direction on how to build a successful web marketing team within the structure of the Four-Step Process.”
Young is a business owner, consultant, speaker and author. He is president and owner of Intuitive Websites, LLC, a Colorado-based website design, development, and marketing firm. He has been a Vistage speaker since 2001, is a Vistage member, and part of the team that recently redesigned the Vistage Village website. He has presented around the U.S. and Canada on Internet marketing and web usability, and is the author of “Intuitive Selling.”
Here are the four steps Young recommends:
1. Step One: Strategy
This first step sets the direction for all website marketing efforts. It is important to be clear on the objectives for the website and how conversions take place online. A written strategy that clearly defines the approaches to be taken by your marketing team is best. Strategy answers the all-important questions about why your company is marketing on the web and what you expect to gain. This web marketing strategy is spread across all web marketing channels and may also include offline strategies that coordinate with online marketing.
2. Step Two: Website Design and Development
Step two is the process of designing and developing your website and web presence. This step actually encompasses two areas: graphic design and the technology used to market online. These are combined into one step because they must work together to drive results and are both a tangible expression of your web marketing strategy.
3. Step Three: Traffic Generation
Step three comprises all the activities needed to bring visitors to your website. This step gets a lot of attention and many web marketers put step three at the top of the list of web marketing activities. In reality, there is no need to send traffic to a website until your strategy is well-defined and your website is a clear expression of that strategy. This is also important because driving traffic takes time and money.
4. Step Four: Monitoring Return on Investment (ROI) and Tracking Results
The final step brings the first three together and is the most important. This involves a process for tracking web marketing results in your web stats and meetings to review web marketing efforts, online conversions and a method for tracking ROI. From this step will come modifications to the web marketing strategies and action plans to improve conversions and drive a strong, measurable ROI. In this step the priorities are set for the team based on clear data and feedback from website users.
“These four steps should become second nature to the business leadership and the web marketing team,” says Young. “Remember to follow these steps in order and to not put the cart before the horse and start driving traffic before you are ready to convert web traffic into customers and prospects.”