Top 3 Web Design Strategies for 2010

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last 10 years, you know that the Internet is an increasingly important marketing weapon for your business. Unfortunately, it’s also a complicated, confusing, and often expensive medium. Many traditional marketing and advertising principles do not apply and new online marketing techniques are constantly being developed.

Yet you can’t afford not to maximize the potential of the Internet, especially if you’re trying to make every penny count. So here are my recommendations for the three most important Internet Marketing strategies for 2010.

The first and most obvious recommendation is to start marketing online (with or without a website) if you’re not doing so already. I meet a lot of business owners who think that because their customer base is local, there’s little marketing advantage to having a website. While that may have been the case several years ago, it’s no longer true.

A recent study from comScore and TMP Directional Marketing indicates that the Internet has trumped the Yellow Pages as the first place consumers search for local information on products and services they want.

It’s not about shopping online - it’s about researching products, services and businesses on the Internet before heading out to the local store to make the purchase. According to BIGresearch, 92.5% of adults regularly or occasionally do this.

If you’re not marketing online - using email, a website, or both - you’re losing out on business. It’s that simple.

My second recommendation is to add a lead capture or opt-in form to your website. If you’re not trying to gather contact information such as an email address from people who visit your website, you’re leaving money on the table.

Many of your website visitors will spend very little time on your site. If they don’t find what they’re looking for, or they decide not to buy today, they’ll probably click over to your competitor’s site. Your chance to capture that person’s business may be lost forever.

So making an attempt to build a relationship with site visitors so that you can encourage them to visit your website or store later on is a strategy you cannot afford to ignore.

The best way to collect names and email addresses from website visitors is to offer them something valuable in return. A simple link to "Newsletter" or a suggestion to "Join Mailing List" doesn’t cut it, especially if it’s buried at the bottom of the page or hidden inside a long list of navigation links.

Instead, invite them to join your "Preferred Customer Discount Club." Offer a free sample or coupon. Give more detailed information that helps a customer better understand your business philosophy and appreciate your expertise, such as a report on "Top 10 Estate Planning Mistakes." Display your opt-in form prominently and on more than one page of your website.

Email marketing, when properly and legally done, delivers a $51.45 return on investment (ROI) for every marketing dollar spent, according to the Direct Marketing Association. That fact alone makes it an Internet marketing "must" for 2010.

Finally, make it a priority to update your website’s look and content. If it was built by your nephew in 2004, trust me, it needs updated. Web conventions and expectations have changed, even if your business hasn’t. If your site sports a headline touting a "Fourth of July Sale 2008" and it’s January 2010 - you’ll lose customers!

Your website may be the first introduction of a potential client to your business, so you need to make a good first impression. Website visitors expect and need current information, and it should be professionally and attractively presented.

Adding fresh content also helps with search engine rankings, since Google and other popular engines assign higher rankings to sites that are updated often.

Implementing these three basic Internet Marketing strategies for your business is almost certain to pay off in more customers and more sales, more often, in 2010.

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