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A 7 Step Web-Marketing Plan

Step 1.
What to do: Attract more Web-visitors. How to do it: Decide what niche to fill by defining what your audience really wants.

The number one priority of any website marketing initiative is to attract more website visitors that in-turn creates more sales leads and ultimately more sales. In order to attract these visitors you need focus on a niche audience that will find your website material relevant enough to either pickup the phone and call you, or at least send you an email inquiry. Most websites try to do too much and say too much and as a result visitors loose interest. Design your website so that it focuses on the key information that propels your visitors to make the next move - contacting you.

Steo 2.
What to do: Have Web-visitors stay longer. How to do it: Make your website more compelling by utilizing storytelling techniques.

We know from recent studies that the amount of time visitors stay in a sales environment is the most important factor in determining how much they will purchase (Paco Underhill, founder of Envirosell, 'Why We Buy'). To get visitors to stay longer you have to offer them something more the usual sales hype. Sales presentations that revolve around stories and anecdotes are one of the best ways to capture people's attention and keep their interest.

Step 3.
What to do: Have Web-visitors retain more of your marketing message. How to do it: Treat your customers as an audience and speak to them with Web- audio and Web-video presentations.

The longer people stay at your website the more likely they are to remember your marketing message, but the way you present your marketing message is the critical factor in penetrating their consciousness and implanting your message in their heads. Visitors can spend a lot of time at your website getting frustrated because they can't find what they need or can't understand what you are offering. Treat your customers like a real visitor to your office or showroom and speak to them with Web-audio and Web-video presentations.

Step 4.
What to do: Get Web-visitors to respond to your call to action. How to do it: Make it worth their while: to get something, you have to give something.

Now that you've got people to come to your site, you want them to respond to some call to action. Many websites just present the material but never ask their visitors to actually do anything. Ask your visitors to telephone, email, fill in a survey, or do something that will start the beginning of a commercial relationship. And since web-visitors are so jaded, make sure you make it worth their while by giving them something in return: a free newsletter, special report, or a complementary analysis of their needs.

Step 5.
What to do: Get Web-visitors to pass on the information to friends and colleague. How to do it: Make your information viral and provide more than just a sales pitch.

The power of the Web as a sales and marketing tool is its ability to connect you to a network of people connected to your web-visitors. If the information on your website is informative and instructive and if the presentation is creative and entertaining then people will pass it along too their network of friends and colleagues. With the click of a button web-visitors can send a email to everyone they know suggesting they visit your website, but only if your site is worth the visit.

Step 6.
What to do: Implement your corporate personality. How to do it: Deliver a definitive image and attitude using multimedia techniques, especially cost-effective Web-audio.

So many websites are just plain boring. Having a website just because everybody else has a website is not a very good reason for the expenditure and effort involved. So if you're going have a website, make sure it's a good one that displays your corporate personality. Make a statement with your presentation and one of the best ways to make a statement and connect with your audience is with cost-effective Web-audio.

Step 7.
What to do: Garner a positive reaction. How to do it: Make sure Web-visitors find what they're looking for by utilizing appropriate information architectures.

When web-visitors leave, your site you want them to leave with a positive reaction to your company. Having an under-performing website that ignores the human element and doesn't delivery the information people need in a way they can understand, is a sure-fire way of creating a negative reaction or no reaction at all. Make sure Web-visitors find what they're looking for by utilizing appropriate information architectures.

Jerry Bader is a principal partner of Ontario-based MRPwebmedia (http:// http://www.136words.com, http://www.mrpwebmedia.com and http://www.sonicpersonality.com).He can be reached at info@mrpwebmedia.com, Telephone: 905.764.1246.