Dallas Internet Marketing

What’s In a Website?

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This is part three of the Business Owner’s Guide to Internet Marketing. The other posts in the series are:

• Introduction
• Is Internet Marketing Right for My Business?
• What’s In a Website? (This Post)
• Internet Marketing Opportunities
• Why Search is Powerful.
• How do Search Engines Work?
• What is SEO and What are Opportunities for Your Business?
• Pay Per Click Marketing and Opportunities for Your Business
• Relationship Drive Internet Marketing

One of the most basic ingredients of an internet marketing campaign is the company website. In our previous post we looked at the influence the company website has over customers of all ages. In this post we break down the ingredients of a successful business website.

Its important to point out that every company has their own goals and agendas that they are trying to communicate through their website. One company, an ecommerce clothing store is focused on online transactions. A university might focus on visitors filling out an inquiry form or making a phone call. A unique jewelry manufacturer may have their agenda be more about brand awareness than pure leads from the website.

With that in mind there are some common elements that can either hinder or empower the achievement of the company goals.

Common Element #1: Achieving Credibility

Whatever your overarching company goal with your website, one of the crucial ingredients to reaching your goal is using your website to develop credibility in the eyes of your potential customers.

Credibility gives you the power to change visitor attitudes and behaviors.

So how do you develop credibility?

Researchers at Stanford University have been studying what are the common ingredients to a credible website. Consumer Web Watch (a division of Consumer Reports) commented on the results of the Stanford study:

“The data showed that the average consumer paid far more attention to the superficial aspects of a site, such as visual cues, than to its content. For example, nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes.

Quality web design and attention to detail, or lack thereof can quickly build or destroy the perceived credibility of your website and your company.

Here is a more in depth look at the factors that had big influence on achieving credibility or stealing from it. The column on the left lists the different components survey participants commented on, the column on the right shows the percentage of survey participants who commented on that particular component.

The study then details four types of credibility. Think about ways your business can maximize on the opportunities available to you:

1. Presumed Credibility
2. Reputed Credibility
3. Surface Credibility
4. Earned Credibility

Presumed Credibility

Presumed credibility is developed from presumptions we already hold. Examples that play on our previous assumptions and increase or decrease credibility are:

Increase Presumed Credibility

1. Website has a .org domain name
2. Info is updated consistently
3. Company has a recognized brand name

Decrease Presumed Credibility

1. Site has an out of date domain name, or one lacking authority. (geocities, or sitename.blogger.com)
2. Info rarely updated
3. Unknown company

Reputed Credibility

Reputed credibility comes from trusted third party references.

Increase Reputed Credibility

1. Your doctor recommended it
2. The website won an award
3. A website you liked linked to the site

Decrease Reputed Credibility

1. Your friend said it was horrible
2. The local newspaper said the site was down for three days
3. A political group you don’t like endorses the site.

Surface Credibility

Surface credibility comes through inspecting the site with our own eyes.

Increase Surface Credibility

1. Site looks professional
2. Site is from an organization your recognize
3. Articles on the site reference other trusted sources

Decrease Surface Credibility

1. Site looks confusing
2. The organization has no presence outside the web
3. The site uses many animated features.

Earned Credibility

The site is credible because of our past experience with it.

Increase Surface Credibility

1. You get a quick response from a customer service question
2. Site is easy to navigate
3. Content is fair and balanced

Decrease Surface Credibility

1. The site has broken links
2. The site takes a long time to download each page
3. You’ve seen factual errors in the site

The big takeaways here are to emphasize the credibility builders that your website has, and to try and limit the factors that you don’t have.

Common Element #2: Useful Content

We have already seen that the primary tool customers use in deciding about a product or service is the internet. Thus your website can become your strongest company tool in shaping customer sentiment about your company and customer action.

Here are some questions to ask about your company website

• Does your content match your business goal?
• Does it clearly communicate the message you want to send?
• Is it in your company’s clear, unique voice and not a generic slop of words as nondescript as your morning oatmeal?
• Does it connect with where your potential customers are in the buying process?
• Is it written towards their needs or yours?
• If you are a local business, does it have your address, phone number, store hours and driving directions to get there?

Common Element #3: Site Structure

To be honest, when we use the internet, we have very short attention spans. Given too many choices, or unclear directions we hit the back button and move on. Tim Ash, who is an industry leader in conversion marketing (the idea of turning visitors into customers) has come up with his list of the 7 deadly sins of websites in regards to conversion marketing. They are:

1. No clear call to action – What are you looking for your visitors to do? Is it clear?
2. Visitors are given too many choices- Are you guiding the visitors through your site, or are you forcing them to wander aimlessly through choice after choice.
3. Asking for too much information- Do your forms ask for more information than is necessary?
4. Too much text- Do you expect your visitor to read all of it?
5. Broken Promises- Is your website about what you said it was about in your titles or your ads?
6. Visual Distractions- Are gratuitous graphics distracting your visitors?

To conclude, regardless of your industry and your website goals, there are several common elements that can help you achieve those goals. Be honest, don’t be afraid to say that your “baby is ugly.” Is your website hitting the mark in building credibility, meeting customer needs with useful content and converting visitors to customers?

If not, you should think about taking your website for a tune-up or perhaps even a new model.