Make Your Website Better

This morning at a business networking breakfast, I spoke with a real estate agent who was thinking about how to make her three web sites different from and better than the gazillion other realtor sites out there. “What do I do? Where do I begin?” she said. These are the same questions that were on the minds of the three dozen folks at the workshop I co-taught last week.

Where do you begin? First, it isn’t with the “gadgets.” RSS feeds, Flash animation, podcasts have their place. But they won’t engage your visitors unless you’ve laid the right foundation first. And that foundation is your current, up-to-date marketing plan. Wikipedia provides a thorough outline of a marketing plan , and there’s also a good outline with links to definitions in the Marketing section at QuickMBA.com.

It’s well worth the time involved to do this work before you begin work on your web site. The clarity that the process gives you will help you know what to say, what content to offer, and what action to ask for from site visitors. Over the years that I’ve been consulting with clients, I’ve seen a direct connection between the depth of client commitment to providing thorough answers to a wide variety of marketing questions and the success of marketing activities. You know more about your business than anyone else. And you may be surprised at how much you know when go through the process of constructing or revising your marketing plan.

I wish that I could offer some magic here. If it seems tedious to go through this process, get a team together at your business. Or form a Mastermind group where each member can work on their own plan and advise one another. Or (perish the thought) hire someone to give you a hand. Whatever route you choose, the effort will pay off and vastly improve your ability to reach your goals.

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