by Chris Swemba

1. Target Audience: (Who Buys From You?)
The foundation of effective web marketing is the ‘who.’
Determining your target audience, their needs, wants, level of
knowledge, goals, etc is critical to creating a website that
will be effective at either lead generation or e-commerce.

2. Core Message: (What Exactly do You Offer?)
Flowing directly from who you want to target, is the question
of what you want to say to them. Your core message delivers
your value proposition in a clear and compelling way. Your core
message is not a mission statement, or an executive summary of
your strategic plan. Your core message is essentially a list of
the reasons that people do business with you – written from
their perspective.

3. Site Structure: (Is it Easy to Navigate)
Many websites are little more than on-line brochures. Visitors
are free to click between this page and that, reading a little
here and a little there. The result is that a site visitor
develops very little emotional attachment, and the ‘back
button’ is increasingly enticing. Sales people intuitively
understand that their message must be delivered in the right
sequence – A, B, C, then D, which leads to E. A website that is
carefully structured can accomplish this same effect, building
understanding and buy-in, step-by-step. At the end of that
‘presentation’ the visitor takes the next step willingly.

4. Calls to Action: (Ask People to Buy!)
Asking a site visitor to take the next step is the ‘call to
action’. This is the “contact us”, “join our mailing list”, or
“sign up today” option, which informs the site visitor of the
correct next step. Most people are grateful to be guided
through the process of evaluating a product or service, so if
you tell them that the next step is to sign up for a 30-day
trial, many of them will.

5. Lead Capture: (Get Their Contact Info)
Actually capturing contact (and qualification) information from
leads is relatively easy with today’s technology. Some simple
web scripts and an effective ‘off the shelf’ business database
are all that are needed. Many companies set up automated
responses, saving time and energy, and ensuring that their
sales people spend personal time with only the most qualified
leads.

6. Good Graphic Design: (Makes You Look “Bigger”!)
Unfortunately, many companies spend 90% of their web budget on
graphic design, and only 10% on ‘the other stuff’. Graphic
design serves two purposes: 1) to establish credibility, and 2)
to entice visitors to read your text. Credibility is established
when a company uses effective graphic design and ‘looks big’.
On-line it’s hard to tell, but poor graphic design leads
visitors to believe that your company is small. Once
credibility is established, visitors will spend some time
evaluating your specific message.

7. Site Promotion: (How Will You Get Visitors?)
Once your site has been optimized to maximize conversion rates,
using the strategies listed above, site promotion activities
should be used to drive increased traffic onto your site. Site
promotion ranges from listing your website on your business
cards, through expensive and time consuming Search Engine
Optimization strategies to increase your ranking on sites like
Google. The area of site promotion can be a minefield to those
new to web marketing.

Perhaps the 3 most cost effective strategies to investigate
are:

• Email Marketing
• Search engine submission and marketing
• Reciprocal linking

Each of these strategies are relatively inexpensive, and place
your prospect just one-click away from your website and
possibly a sale.
About The Author: Chris Swemba is the founder and CEO of
Kinetica Media, an internet marketing company that develops and
implements affordable internet marketing and website design
services. Please visit www.kineticamedia.com for more
information on our website design, logo design, email marketing
and search engine marketing services.

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