Seven Clues Your Company Needs a New Website

Seven Clues That
Your Company Needs
a New Website
7
By Mark Schmukler
Sagefrog Marketing Group
*
sagefr
marketing og
group

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YOUR COMPANY HAS A WEBSITE, BUT
WHAT HAS IT DONE FOR YOU LATELY?
ARE YOU GETTING THE TRAFFIC, LEADS,
AND SALES THAT YOU NEED AND EXPECT?
YOUR WEBSITE NEEDS TO BE OPTIMIZED,
PROFESSIONAL, COMPETITIVE, EASY TO
USE, AND EASY TO MAINTAIN. IF YOUR
WEBSITE IS NOT PERFORMING AS WELL
AS IT SHOULD, IT’S PROBABLY TIME FOR
A NEW WEBSITE.
FOLLOWING ARE SEVEN QUESTIONS YOU
NEED TO ASK TO DETERMINE IF IT IS TIME
TO REVIVE YOUR WEB PRESENCE…

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1. Does my website portray the image of a successful company?
Your website should engage visitors with a professional design, and should entice them to learn more
about your company, products and services. Your website should project the image of a company
your size or larger with a strong professional brand identity, design, layout, imagery and illustrations.
2. Are my competitors’ sites attracting more attention than mine?
Have you checked out your competitors’ website lately? Do they look more professional, successful
and up-to-date? Is their strategy and message clear? How does yours compare? Your website should
be comparable, if not superior, to your competitors.
3. Is my website content engaging and persuasive?
What are your company’s positioning, messages and value propositions? Is this information coming
through on your website? You may be confusing people which chases them away. Try talking a little
less and saying a lot more. Edit text to communicate your message in fewer, shorter, and more
thoughtful words and sentences. Using subheads and bullets can make complex information easier
to understand.
4. Can visitors to my website quickly find the information they need?
Your home page should allow visitors to easily identify their areas of interest and get to relevant
information fast with an intuitive user-interface, sitemap and well-organized content. Your site can
be creative and exciting, but it should not be perceived as inappropriate by people in your market.
If you have a lot of content and numerous web pages, you may want to consider drop down,
pop-up or fly-out menus making your site easier to navigate.
5. Is my website generating sales leads?
Every page of your website should have a call-to-action. Offer information that visitors find useful,
and they will most likely provide their contact information in return. Don’t be too selfish. You need
to “give-to-get”, providing “news they can use” so visitors will fill out a lead form.
6. Can target customers find my website using search engines?
Your website needs to be found. The practice of getting your website found is known as Search
Engine Marketing (SEM). Most people use web search engines and directories such as Google and
Yahoo to find companies. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can get your website to “naturally”
show up on the first few result pages of a search using relevant keywords and phrases. Search Engine
Advertising (SEA) is paid advertisements on search engines – typically cost per click.
7. Is it easy to update and maintain my website?
Most new websites offer content management and posting tools, enabling non-programmers to
quickly and easily update the more dynamic sections such as news, events, and other frequently
updated features. This is will help you keep your website timely and fresh.
The 7 Clues That Your Company Needs a New Website • © 2008 Sagefrog Marketing Group, LLC • www.sagefrog.com

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CONCLUSION:
YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD SUPPORT
YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY AND
OBJECTIVES BY ENGAGING, PERSUADING
AND GENERATING LEADS.
IF IT’S NOT, IT’S TIME FOR
A NEW WEBSITE.
MARK SCHMUKLER IS A MANAGING PARTNER AT SAGEFROG
MARKETING GROUP, A FULL-SERVICE MARKETING, INTERACTIVE
AND PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCY SPECIALIZING IN HEALTH,
TECHNOLOGY, AND BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING.
REACH HIM AT (215) 230-9024 OR MARKS@SAGEFROG.COM.

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