Your company website is one of your most important marketing tools.   Online marketing (e-Marketing) tools such as social media, e-Blasts and many more, including websites, are rapidly becoming the preferred marketing method.   Not having a website is a mortal sin and having one that is not right can really hurt your business.  For a website to be effective there are some things to consider.

A website should be constantly under construction.  You should be able to update your site easily in real time.  CMS platforms (Content Management System) are the best way to achieve this since you can make changes to your site from anywhere at any time easily without the need of a webmaster.   There are a few good CMS systems that you can use in the market and they are not expensive at all and some are FREE.

Are you being found in the search engines?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a must for any website.  You want to be found and in order to achieve that you must have the correct keywords, description, etc. (Meta Tags).   Most CMS platforms have Meta options.  If you are not familiar with SEO it is well worth it to consult a professional to point you in the right direction.

Are free website offers a good business solution?

There are many limitations including SEO, management, expansion, relocation, etc.   Mainly they can be ok for personal use such as a personal page but for business use they fall very short of fulfilling the needs.

Do I have a Dynamic Site?

No matter what your industry is your site can be a Dynamic Site.  A Dynamic Site is one that interacts with the customers or potential customers.  Depending on your particular business you can implement newsletters, blogs, e-blast advertisement, customer service, etc.   This brings visitors and customers to your site and lets you interact with them.  A static site just sits there in virtual no-no land hoping to be found by the search engines.  Again is like a physical place of business you want to advertise and bring customers and potential clients to your store or office creating traffic, increasing revenues, no different for your website.

Traditional Marketing strategies are going away very fast.  Online Marketing and Online Sales are the way of the future, also keep in mind they are a GREEN product.   A lot of companies are reluctant to make the move. Afraid of change?  The concept is easy; look at it like a physical establishment in a different reality.  Everything that applies to a physical store, shop or office applies to the website, if you can think of it this way you are on the right track.

We invite all of you to get a discussion going.  Please submit your comments at the end of this article, Thanks.