We recently sat down with Josh Melick, Co-Founder and CEO of Broadly, to discuss his experiences establishing a web presence for your business.
Josh often finds himself discussing the importance of a strong web presence for businesses. The former CEO of Broadly has over 15 years of experience in business management and operations, product development, and technology innovation.
Josh focuses on providing clients with valuable tools to get their company up and running online, whether they’re just starting out or are already established with an existing web presence.
Here are his tips on how businesses can be proactive in creating a web presence for their company:
1. Determine if your business really needs a website
Unless you’re just trying to drive some local traffic and sales, most businesses don’t anymore. Many companies use services such as Google My Business, Bing Places, or Yelp to claim their listing and provide basic information about themselves that Google and other search engines can index and include in results.
Even with SEO, most websites aren’t very successful at bringing targeted traffic to their site. Any business that’s serious about getting found online should be concentrating more on social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising, or local search engine optimization. However, there are some cases where a website is extremely valuable, such as a lawyer or financial services company. A website can be a potent tool for both branding and lead generation.
2. Identify your target market
You should develop some sort of demographic profile on the type of customer you expect to attract with your web presence, whether that’s by industry, location, age range, or any other defining factors. If your business isn’t set up to sell to a specific market, you should still have an idea of what kind of customers need to be targeted.
Josh recommends that businesses always start with a mobile-friendly site. According to a recent study by Google and Ipsos MediaCT, more than 50% of smartphone users will abandon a site that’s not mobile-friendly.
3. Determine what your business website needs to accomplish
Businesses should understand their goals and the metrics by which they will measure their success. A strong web presence can bring in new customers and help retain old ones, but it has to be done right. No business wants a poorly designed or ineffective website.
4. Develop a content strategy
There are all sorts of ways to bring traffic to your website, but the ones that really work are organic search, social media, and referral marketing. You should develop strong SEO campaigns while also using social media marketing to get your site in front of customers. When possible, it’s best if you focus on content marketing that will lead to high conversions. An effective strategy is also an essential part of your web presence success.
5. Know what you should spend
How much a business should spend on its web presence depends on what they hope to accomplish. A robust website might cost $5,000 or more if done right, but there are also affordable options for getting a respectable website.
Every business is different, and it’s important to develop an effective web presence strategy that fits your budget. As long as you know what you hope to get from your site and have a clear understanding of who you’re trying to reach, then the sky is the limit when choosing where to spend your money.
