Though more and more businesses realize they need a website in today’s at your finger tips online information age, there is still a lot of misconception that surrounds having one. A major misconception is that “once I have a website, the money’s just going to start rolling in.” That’s just not the case in most instances. If you do nothing to promote the website, it ends up being like home gym equipment: It’s there, but nobody’s using it. What we tell people is that you can have the best website in the world, but that doesn’t mean your target market is going to find it. To get the best return for your website investment, you really need to use a number of strategies to drive traffic to the site.

Consider hiring a company that specializes in search engine optimization. You know…the guys and girls that like to do all of those mathematical algorithms. You can achieve more consistent higher rankings on search engines when you have specialists working for you.

Collect the facts, and then use them to your advantage. This means have analytical tracking installed on your website such as Google Analytics. This will provide you with data on what keywords and phrases are doing well, and those that aren’t so you can put your dollars towards those bringing you more leads and sales. You will also be able to track what pages your users are most interested in, and which ones seem irrelevant. Additionally, you will know how long viewers are staying on the site and where they are exiting. This gives you information to make adjustments to your website so that you will continually improve it’s relevance and increase your overall business success.

Utilize e-newsletters, blogs, and social networks. All of these strategies are cost-effective ways to promote repeat visits to your website. They help keep existing and new or potential clients aware of new services you are offering and breakthroughs in your industry. These mediums will help you establish your company as experts in your field. Additionally, blogging is a great for “being found” on the internet because search engines are more likely to pick content that is updated on a regular basis. Beyond these advantages, social networking is a new dimension of “word of mouth” marketing that creates an easy organic way to significantly increase your business network through popular mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

An html email advertising campaign will also help drive users to your website while cutting out printing and postage costs. Expenses are always an issue, but with the budgets being dramatically cut in the midst of our economic woes, html email ad campaigns are a cost effective way to advertise and promote your website and your business in general. In our experience, these campaigns are usually more narrowly targeted to a known database, and typically have significantly higher response percentage rates than traditional direct marketing efforts.

Don’t overlook the obvious. Your website address should be on every piece of printed traditional marketing and advertising piece you produce. Every business card, brochure, and print advertisement should have it clearly indicated. It’s a permanent part of your contact information and should be mentioned when you are out talking and networking with people face to face. With a healthy mix of traditional and electronic marketing that makes sense for your company, you will be sure to get the best return on your website investment.

Feeling overwhelmed about managing all of that? We’re not gonna lie. It takes quite a bit of time and discipline to master managing lots of marketing strategies. Maybe time you don’t want to take away from your day-to-day operations…and you can’t yet afford to hire someone to take on that responsibility. Effusion Creative Solutions offers a new service to help alleviate this problem. You choose an annual, biannual, or quarterly plan and we will analyze the statistics of your website and other electronic campaigns then suggest modifications to content/navigation/structure to keep your website and collateral relevant and fresh. Following an internal review, Effusion will present you with statistics as well as proposed recommendations. Using your feedback and our own approved recommendations, Effusion will implement all of the discussed updates/strategic changes. Essentially, we become your marketing department…only you don’t have to pay for benefits, workers compensation, and employment taxes. What a bargain!