How to Plan an Effective and Successful Small Business Website

Never in the history of advertisement has there been a powerful marketing and promotion tool like the internet. It is the most cost-effective and user-friendly marketing tool ever known to man. Rather than rely entirely on the yellow pages and the other mediums of advertisement, today consumers and marketers are taking their campaigns online, and are relying heavily and entirely on search engine searches.

It is because of the great potential that the internet has that most small business owners today are realizing that they need to create an online presence. This is done through a website, an effective medium that connects you to your target audiences. If you have not done so, this is high time you maximize efficiency and reduce costs in your marketing campaigns; it is time to connect with your target audience on a totally different level, hence you need to create a website for that. How?

1. First you need to clearly define your goals and objectives

It is of paramount importance to start your website plan with a comprehensive list of clear yet achievable objectives which will act as the blueprint and point of reference for your web designer. Remember, a web designer is not a mind reader hence cannot understand what you envision unless you are clear on your instructions.

In a nut shell, your goals and objectives have to describe the things you are looking to achieve with your website. Common objectives of a small business website include providing product support and round-the clock customer care, selling products online, providing information regarding the business etc.

2. Clearly define the target market

As any business owner will tell you, the secret to success is to clearly define who your target audiences are so you can be able to identify their needs and wants. Once you know what they want, you can then focus on exceeding their expectations. Be advised that it is highly likely you will have more than one target audience, so you should address all their expectations and needs accordingly.

3. Know about your competitors

Yes, competition is very stiff today more than ever before, and unless you know the level of competition in your niche, you cannot be able to design a website that will help you gain that competitive edge and become a force to reckon with in the niche market. It is important to know who your direct and indirect competitors are, check on their websites and know what they are doing different from you. Once you visit their websites, you can be able to know a thing or two about how they have planned their websites and how you too can go about the process.

4. Set achievable goals

You need to know how you will measure your website's success level, and the only sure way to do it is to set achievable goals that are in line with your objectives. Say for instance your main objective is to sell services and/ or products online, your goal should be like to sell at least 100 widgets each month. On the other hand, if your objectives is for the website to be found in the search engines, your goal could be something like to get at least 50 hits for your selected keywords. Setting quantifiable goals are a very critical part of any website marketing campaign as they can help gauge the level of success achieved.