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Posted: 25/01/2011
Small businesses have several big challenges when trying to establish a worthwhile web-presence. Typically they do not have the in-house skill to build and maintain an effective web-site or on-line presence and secondly they do not have the rest of what we call “the three foundations of growth” developed sufficiently to be confident in making the necessary investment.
Simply put, there is no point in having a huge neon sign that can be seen by the whole world if you do not have the production capacity or sales ability to cope with the traffic. That is why our clients ask us to help in three areas: Web effectiveness, Customer and Prospect management and Sales process management. A lot of stress can be generated for the business and those who run it, if one of these areas is working well without the other two being effective. We are often asked to hold off from creating more traffic until the internal organization can be ramped-up and organized for higher volume.
The objective of any form of advertising is to increase sales volume and eventually profitability. On the web, that volume comes from generating leads of the right kind, leads that predictably convert to profitable business. You can imagine how the conversion process and making it as efficient as possible, increases profitability. Qualification of leads begins with how you tell your story, how you describe your unique capability, publicly and consistently. To do this you will need an attractive website and search engine optimization to attract prospects to your business.
An online effectiveness program has to focus on several key concepts:
1.Being on the first page of an organic search result is essential and can be achieved over time by SEO (search engine optimisation)
2.Choosing a narrow enough focus for your company so that there is not overwhelming competition for that search term
3.Telling your story, emphasizing your keywords on your index page and in your blogs
4.Creating a succinct positioning statement that directs your marketing and sales process with a consistent message
5.Converting interest into leads through a clear ‘call to action’ that delivers a benefit that your best prospects will appreciate
6.Integrate leads from your web-site directly into your CRM for immediate response and follow-up in a managed and measurable environment. In large scale operations this also includes automated allocation of leads to sales teams through a workflow process.
In the current world the internet has become a key component for how we socialize, do business, and communicate. It is vital that your company is part of that. Contact Us, if you want to discuss how we can help your business grow.
Peter Coy | President | Prodigm Inc. | Toronto
petercoy@prodigm.ca
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