You've got a professionally developed web site.
Now What?
Believe it or not launching the site is just the
beginning. A web site can get outdated within months! How can you maximize the potential
of your site? To keep it up to date and fresh requires constant maintenance. That's where
webmaster services come in.
You will require web master services in various
areas:
1. Promotion
Why did you create your web site? To have an
Internet presence? To generate new business? Well, putting up a web site is not good
enough. No one will find it unless it is indexed with search engines like Yahoo, Altavista
and others.
Web site promotion is not a one time affair
either. Being ranked on the 50th page doesn't help people find you. It requires
submissions to search engines, evaluating rankings, checking statistics, tweaking of meta
tags and resubmitting till the rankings are high. Once high, the rankings don't stay that
way either. Your competitor can oust you out of your top rankings at any time.
Good tools for analysis are required to see how
many people are visiting your web site, which pages they are hitting, from where they are
coming and which keywords they are using to find you. These tools may be integrated with
your hosting server or you can use free or paid Application Service Providers like
goldstats, hitbox etc.
2. Updating web site information
How do you give your web site a fresh and current
look? One way is to keep the content updated and relevant. This should be done on a
regular basis to ensure that your web site keeps pace with your business and presents
accurate information to your visitors. You may find that some of the sites listed on your
links page no longer exist. Broken links can reflect badly on your business. Outdated
information will need to be updated on a regular basis. Remember some of your customers
will only ever see your web site. The impression it leaves on them should be favorable to
your business.
3. Maximizing the impact of your web presence on
your business
Have a new and attractive offer? Display it
prominently on your web site. Utilize your web site as a marketing tool to generate more
business. Creating attractive banner ads may involve graphic design and copy writing
skills. You may decide to use a small and attractive flash presentation for this purpose
too.
4. Upgrading your web site
The best part of the Internet is that it allows
you to publish almost immediately. Your web site is extremely flexible in that it allows
you to test the waters and check out potential interest before spending too much time or
effort. If something is doing well you can expand that area of your business. This would
require constant analysis and creation of new web pages, content and graphics.
You may decide to start out with a simple static
web site and continuously upgrade it as your business grows and you see returns on
investment. You may also decide to develop certain areas of your web site to become
dynamic and database driven requiring less human intervention on your part and allowing
your visitors to interact with the web site. This may involve incorporation of detailed
reporting facilities and advanced systems of data capture from your visitors. Ecommerce
and online payment systems can also be added in phases.
5. Web site Redesign
Your web site may begin to look outdated. It's
time for a new look, more user-friendly navigation, a more web savvy logo and
easy-to-scan-through presentation of content. You may find that new graphic design and
flash development will add to your users experience. It's time for a redesign. This will
require, looking at your web site with new eyes, as a visitor would see it. Does it
communicate? Is it effective? What are your goals for the web site? Are they being
achieved? A redesign can sometimes be more complicated that the creation of a new web
site. You will have to decide how much of the old site to use and how much to throw away.
It's important to note that pages that are indexed with search engines should not be
deleted or their URL changed.
6. Stickiness?
What are you offering on your web site that will
motivate visitors to come back again and again? You will need to constantly publish new
and informative content on your web site. You may also decide to collect you visitor's
e-mail addresses and send out newsletters on a regular basis. People will come back only
if they sense a certain amount of activity in your web site pertinent to their interest.
Writing, publishing and promoting new articles on your web site on a regular basis will
also help you capitalize on the potential market.
Your web site is never really complete. There is
always going to be something you can improve or update. Realizing this is going to help
you truly maximize the potential of the Internet. As time goes by great new services and
products are being offered which can help your web site become more effective as they
would further enrich your users' experience. Keeping an eye out for these products and
services and integrating them into your web site will go a long way towards helping your
business succeed. Finding a competent web development and design company and signing up
for web master services is an essential step to helping you achieve these objectives.
Maintaining a web site is a labor intensive,
complex task which many organizations find difficult to resource. The work load is often
not sufficient to justify a full time member of staff but can be too onerous for existing
staff members to find time for in their work schedules. In addition, certain technical
skills (HTML, ftp transfers, graphics compression, search engine promotion techniques,
etc.) may not be available within the company.
That is our business and we can maintain your web
site on your behalf. We can do this regardless of your geographical location, providing
meticulous, professional services at hourly rates.
Ask Us for further
details. |
