| The management of a corporate web site
>> online brand management determines the strategy in regard to the
look and feel and the concept of the site. The task however of the
web site management covers deeper and various fields of the
Internet, like its technology and the usage of innovative methods,
the distribution of information with focus
- first to serve the users
- and second to build a stabile online presence that complies with
the branding guidelines and expands the number of revisiting users
and registered users.
Purpose of a web site
A web site that is launched stands for
>> the brand as such, supports and contributes to the perspectives of
their owner by promoting the company and raising therefore brand
awareness, additionally it is serving as a direct communication
channel. It informs customers of news and events taking place,
promotes new products, sells products. More over a professional web
site generates Return Of Investment because when a web site only
costs and does not have a healthy traffic rate or does not lead to
increasing sales, sign ups or bookings, then it definitely needs
attention and actions.
There is no lay back time after the launch but thorough care is
required. Online promotion is truly necessary and investing into
online marketing is plainly necessary. Just like in a real business
that has to be taken care off, when the doors are opened, the
online business needs maintenance, improvements, adjustments to the
demand of clients and promotional effort to be acknowledged. The
medium Internet offers us several methods to promote a web site
effectively:
Web site submission:
- The web site is >> submitted to search engines and web directories.
First rule:
Only quality web directories are selected to advertise your web
site. The PageRank of the web site your advertisement is placed on,
is of importance but promising new directories well looked after,
have also a very good effect. PageRank is visible in >> Google toolbar, the web site will not be considered popular if PR
is zero and therefore will have a harder time to be displayed in
the search results. However you have exceptions and pageRank also
grows with age of a domain, when targeted and interesting content
is offered, because users like to place a link to it, to inform
other users of what they have found. - Registering listing in paid directories like Yahoo (US $299.00 as
an annual fee is required) proves very beneficial for web
integration and adds to the exposure and credibility.
All clients receive a submission report to inform them at which
directories and search engines the site was registered. Directories
take from 3 days up to 6 months to place the actual link. Visual
Orange has no influence whatsoever if the web site is accepted
because this depends on its content, its structure and if it is
interesting and promising to be successful.
Search engine optimization
Serves that the web site is displayed in the top 10 pages of search
engines. Following has an impact
- programming / scripting and structure of the site;
- file naming of the pages;
- image naming;
- meta data (title, keywords, description tag);
- if search engines can read and follow the navigation;
- respecting W3 standards;
- existence of landing pages for AdWords campaigns
The better a web site complies to the above mentioned requirements,
the lower are the marketing costs. The more search engine friendly
a web site is built, the faster are the results visible of the
search engine optimization efforts. To restructure a web site and
newly code the navigation to make the pages accessible to the bots
takes time and costs money. Therefore it is smart to start with
search engine optimization when a web site is planned and designed.
User tracking and web analytics
For management of the web site a user tracking and web analytics
service is highly recommended. To monitor the actual usage of the
site and the user behavior and which keywords are most successful
is visible in the reports this service delivers. It clearly shows
- How user respond to the changes implemented
- If the number of users is increasing
- Which search terms did users use to find the page
- Where do they come from (country, city)
- The percentage of the bounce rate
- Do changes to titles and keywords effectively stimulate targeted
traffic
- Accurate measurement of AdWords campaigns
- Identifies click fraud
- Lets' you identify undesired users.
Link building programs
Link building is essential and contributes enormously to the
display of a web site in the search results. Search engines assign
popularity rates to web sites.
