Blue Wave Concept's Blog

Difficult economic times mean that there are less dollars being spent. This means that as a business owner or business marketer, it’s critical to be sure that your market share is increasing. How can an effective website and Internet marketing strategy help to increase market share?

1. Be found when your prospects are looking.

2. Engage with your customers on an ongoing basis.

3. Maintain your relationship with your customers and provide excellent customer service.

An effective website can help with the first tip and position your business to be found when customers are looking. Unfortunately, many websites that were build in the last few years were created for beauty and not for function. The first thing that an effective website must do is to be found on the Internet by search engines such as Google.

One way to test whether your site is going to be shown when someone researches your services is to do a simple search yourself. Keep in mind, the more general your terms, the larger the field of players would be. A realistic search would be to use a phrase. For example, if I were searching for something that I offer, I would include a phrase such as “hubspot certified partner philadelphia” instead of “hubspot”. Using the latter would yield results are more likely helpful for Hubspot, than WebMarCom as a Hubspot Certified Partner. This is the way you should think about searches… not in the broadest context, but in a more specific context.

If you have identified that you are not coming up in the searches, then there are things that can be done starting with the architecture of the site. If you are a marketing manager or a business owner, it would be more efficient and effective to reach out to someone who works in the field to fix your site. You can also use the hubspot WebSiteGrader to get an idea of things that should be the focus of the person you contract with.

Contracting with someone and the scope of what you hire them for will depend upon how extensive your site is. The skills that you will be looking for include Seach Engine Optimization, website design, marketing experience, and inbound marketing. If the person truly understands your business, they will be a tremendous resource and aid in positioning your site, not just for search engines but also for lead generation.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that it’s not just about traffic. A website that gets a lot of traffic is only as effective as the leads it generates. So, the website should also generate conversions.

If you are not getting leads and conversions currently, you are missing the opportunity to increase your market share. Many businesses and consumers turn to the Internet to find resources. Having a Facebook Page or a Linkedin Profile are great because they are both discoverable in a Google Search. The question is whether they are keyword savvy and work to help your company be discovered. A great Internet marketing company will take a look at all of the social media marketing opportunities and help wordcraft your bio, and suggest social media accounts that can position your company as a market or industry leader and knowledge resource.

Try Googling yourself and keep note of the results. If you are not coming up when you try a search, you are missing the opportunity to increase your market share!

Setting the Tone

There are two key points to determine before defining the appropriate tone for your website.
Who is your target audience?

What is their age group?
Where are they located: urban or rural, domestic or international?
What sort of values do they hold: conservative, ethical, cautious, impulsive or economical?
More importantly, what do they want from you?

What does your website want to achieve?

Is it an e-commerce site designed to generate sales?
Is it a portfolio of your work?
Is it educational?
Does it offer an online community for users to engage with?
Is it meant to draw in new consumers, support existing ones, or both?

These are both points that should have guided the visual design of a website and, equally, they should be the force behind its content.

Forgetting the target audience or the ultimate purpose of the website sounds like an unimaginable faux pas, but it happens surprisingly frequently.

Developing Tonal Guidelines

Once you’ve determined your audience and your site’s purpose, you’re halfway to deciding on tone of voice. It may be helpful to consider the personality of an employee you’d want to represent your brand at this point.

For example, if you’re advertising housing for students, you want someone friendly, open and fun. If you’re selling organic fruit on the Web: you want your representative to sound healthy and ethical. If you’re describing services at a care home: you want someone kind, professional and understanding. You get the idea.

These adjectives are a good start, but they’re all subjective. The next step is to start defining what these adjectives mean and don’t mean.

Things to Watch Out For

Watch out for other basic inconsistencies that will blemish your hard work on tone. No matter how seamlessly professional your tone is, a typo or misplaced punctuation mark will make you look foolish.

Here are two tips:

A proofreader is not optional. Of course, the writer should proofread the first draft, but there is no substitute for a fresh perspective.
Edit without mercy. Cut, cut, cut. If you can identify unnecessary words, then remove them and get to the point.

Summary

To briefly outline the points we’ve covered:
- Tone of voice, used well, will strengthen brand loyalty and set businesses apart from competitors.
- Tone can be adapted according to the audience and platform, but ensure that the voice remains constant.
- The key considerations in choosing a tone of voice for your website are 1) the target audience and 2) the type of interaction you intend them to have with your site.
- Producing a tonal guideline sheet (example shown above) will help establish and maintain a distinctive tone of voice. Used as a reference by copywriters, it will yield consistent results, especially where multiple authors are involved.

1. Have a Mobile Version of Your Website

With mobile device usage skyrocketing, a mobile-friendly web site is practically essential. A mobile site means your customers can access information on the go, wherever they may be. It also means they’ll be more likely to share your site with friends, since they’ll be able to pull it up and show it to others, even when not at a computer.

As an added bonus, mobile sites can often be more accessible to those with visual impairments, or who may have difficulties using a mouse, but find touch displays easier to manipulate.

If you can’t afford to go all out and have a separate version of your site for mobile users, then at least speak with your developer and make sure they are aware that you want the web site as functional and legible as possible on mobile devices.

2. Provide Supplemental Information

Your users are looking for information. Period. Even if they’ve come to your site to make a purchase, they’ll first want to research their options and check out the details of what it is they’re buying. Consider making this task easier by providing supplemental information that complements your site’s primary content.

Take the time to provide your customers with information such as product manuals, warranty information, manufacturer contact details, sizing charts and troubleshooting guides. This not only says “We care about you,” but it also makes your site an invaluable resource that visitors will keep coming back to again and again for the life the product or service they purchase.

3. Use AJAX for Simple Tasks — But Don’t Overdo It

Implementing AJAX functionality (using JavaScript to load content into portions of your page without reloading the entire web page) can go a long way toward making your visitor’s experience on your site enjoyable. AJAX can make retrieving and browsing information faster and more intuitive, and it also creates a more seamless experience for the user. Be careful, though — too much JavaScript can slow things down and make interactions confusing, causing more harm than good. (It can also make bookmarking or sharing portions of your page more difficult for users.)

Finding the right balance varies based on the type of site you have and the products or services you offer, so it’s best to work out the details with your developer. Some examples of good AJAX usage include: loading and switching between product images and checking for and reporting errors in order forms or updating shopping carts.

4. Make It Easy To Get Help

Sometimes, no matter how much supplemental information or details about your product or service you provide, it’s just not going to be enough. Some of your customers are just going to need more help. Make it easy for them by providing answers to frequently asked questions (include links to additional resources) and by placing your company’s contact information (or help desk information) prominently on your website.

Your users should be able to find a way to contact you from every page, be it an email address in the footer, a phone number in the header or a button or link within the content prompting them to inquire for more information.

5. Keep it Simple and Keep it Organized

We’ve talked a lot about providing additional information, using AJAX to build a responsive website and prominently displaying contact and support information. With all of that in mind, it may seem like your website could quickly get out of hand, and without proper attention to detail, it certainly could. You don’t want your site to look cluttered or give your users a case of information overload, so it’s key to keep your site clean and well-organized. Work with your designer to develop ways to keep information accessible, yet unobtrusive.

If you’re building your own site, a good rule of thumb is to look at the design you’ve chosen and then ask yourself, “What can I remove to make this easier to use?” It could be an entire block of text or simply a background color or border. Once you start de-cluttering, you’ll be able to see if items should be shifted to other places in the layout, different pages or removed entirely. Keep revising until you have a site that’s clean, well organized and easy to navigate.