Internet Marketing Information and Resources

Here’s an interesting question I hear quite a lot: Why doesn’t my website make money for my business? This is a useful question to ask if you have a business website, and it’s not making money.

In my opinion, it comes down to one or more of these 3 factors…

1. What is the #1 purpose of the site (the actual rather than intended purpose)
2. Who is attracted to the site and why do they visit?
3. What happens when those people arrive at the site?

The Site’s Purpose

A business website that sets out to make money must have one of the following objectives…

1. Generate a targeted business enquiry (i.e. lead generation)
2. Generate a sale direct from the site (e.g. shopping cart)

Most business sites achieve neither objective, even if they set out to do so. Instead they seek to inform, educate or otherwise satisfy some in-house need to boast.

A business website can’t afford to fart around with the latest design fad, or rave on endlessly about the site-owner’s knowledge, experience, qualifications or skill.

If the site’s purpose is to generate leads, the owner must make sure it starts doing that immediately. Right there on the home page. If you have a need to boast, start a blog and use it build PageRank. Then let it flow to the main site and help get it ranked in search engines.

If the site’s purpose is to generate sales, find out what the visitor is looking to buy and take him/her right to it. Immediately.

Who Visits and Why?

The site’s objective provides the owner with focus, and that helps him/her determine what needs to go on the homepage. To make use of that focus, the owner needs to understand who visits the site and why?

One simple way to find out is to ask visitors to complete a short survey. You can set up a free online survey here.

Once this is understood, s/he must ask whether the site’s visitors and their reason for visiting are consistent with the site’s objective. If they’re not, then it’s time to rethink…

• What you’re doing to get people to visit your site
• The site’s content

It’s often necessary to rebuild a business site to reflect the actual market required to achieve specific objectives (e.g. a specific sales target, or to attract the right kind of prospects from which to generate leads).

This process needn’t happen overnight. Allow yourself the luxury of moving toward your goal over time. In my opinion, site development works better when it occurs over time and toward a specific objective.

What Happens when People arrive at the Site?

What do visitors to your site see when they arrive? If the site has a sales focus, do they get immediate access to a method of finding the product or service they’re looking for? They should do.

If the site is meant to turn visitors into leads, how is information being collected? What is being said or offered that will make the right kind of visitor want you to contact him/her?

Whatever your site’s objective, it’s essential that the entire site contribute to the goal. This includes the site’s homepage. If your site’s homepage consists of nothing more than a fancy flash movie, get rid of it. If the design doesn’t allow you to say everything you need to say, change the design.

Let the site’s objective determine everything about the site, and consign pointless distractions (and uncooperative web designers) to the dustbin.