Arthur Freydin’s Blog

Online marketing, gadgets, business, and thoughts.

People today go to the web to research their options and to get answers to their questions. They want clear, accurate information and they want it quickly. This means that your website has only seconds to grab the attention of a potential client. How can you make sure that you’re getting the most out of your online presence?

1. Know your audience
   Are you targeting accountants or is your webpage geared for business owners? These two demographics are very similar but can have very distinct minor differences. An accountant may require more in-depth information than a business owner and this should reflect on your site.
2. What’s the goal of your website?
   The goal of your website will determine the actions that you would like your users to take. If your goal is to get the user to fill out a form, then build your site around that premise. If your goal is to educate the user, then provide plenty of content to help them in their quest – or link to more authoritative content elsewhere.
3. Analyze your traffic through web analytics
   Traffic on the web can come from many different sources including search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc), direct referrals (bookmarks or word of mouth), links from other sites, and many other sources. It is very important to keep an eye on traffic patterns to determine trends and create actionable reports. There are hundreds of online web analytics packages available such as Google Analytics to help you track your site traffic.
4. Keep your content fresh & unique
   Almost any site can benefit from fresh content. Updated content will keep your existing users engaged and will attract new prospects to your site. Blogs, newsletters, press releases, and company news are all great examples of content that keep users engaged.
5. Solicit feedback & optimize
   Your website is for your users, remember that. If your users are not happy then your website is not serving its purpose. The most sophisticated market research and web optimization guidelines do not consider your intimate user base which means that your website can not be truly optimized for your audience unless you hear directly from them! Consistently solicit feedback through surveys, site reviews, and comments. Don’t be afraid of criticism from your audience; they are the ones you built your site for in the first place!
6. Fulfill a niche
   There are over 570 million websites online discussing real estate. How would you feel if you had to compete with that many voices? People are also getting much more granular in how they search for what they are looking for. A person looking for “lease abstracting” is not going to search for “real estate”, therefore, now more than ever, it is vitally important to be able to fulfill that niche.
7. Maintain a transparent personality
   These days, an “online reputation” can be turned upside down within minutes through blogs, news outlets, and forums. Maintaining a transparent identity to yourself and your business associates personality and creates a certain comfort level for your users while mitigating reputation issues in the future. Your potential clients will want to know who they’re going to be working with and what values that person represents. This is your chance to virtually meet your clients and convince them that you are indeed the only choice in the industry – you don’t want to miss that opportunity.