Translate your Marketing Concept to your Web Site

If your small business is marketing oriented, you already have ideas about your target markets, what the needs and interests of those in the target markets are and how you have positioned your company to best satisfy those needs. Most companies fail to translate these concepts to their web sites because their web site people are not oriented towards the market. Rather than try to teach marketing to your web site designers, there are a few clear and basic requirements which you can give them so that your site is more likely to reach your target market, appeal to that market and re-enforce your market positioning.

1. General Design

Give your web site people all your other advertising material and tell them that, in general, you want the same colours, the same logos and the same overall look and impression. You may want to up-date all your advertising material at some later time and you can then include and actively integrate the web site material but, initially, the function of the web site is to re-enforce what you're already doing.

2. Title

The title of your web page is programmed in the "head" section of your web page code in the "title" tags. It appears at the top of your browser and in search engine listings but not on the actual web page. It is important because search engines use it to determine what the web site is about and because it is what potential customers see when they look at search engine listings. It should contain the most important words regarding your positioning in your market.

3. Meta Tags

Meta tags tell the search engines what your site is about and determine how it gets listed. Tell your web site people what key words to use and give them a brief site description. The key words have to include words already used in your title and the description should use most of your key words again to re-enforce your positioning.

4. Home Page

This is a key part of properly positioning your web site in the search engines and in the minds of potential customers. Your key words and words from your meta tag site description should appear again in the text. A simple page with a few clear images and text blocks indicating what you do and why it is good value is best.

A good site for further re-search is LuckySearch. Down the left side, you find a box to test your site's listing on the major search engines. Once you run this test, there is a "Site Analysis" button. Of course, there is a sales pitch to get you to sign up with their service but I've found these free features quite useful and they'll help you with what I've discussed above including writing meta tags for you.

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