When designing a website one of the most fundamental rules is ensuring that you’re designing with your target audience in mind. If the site doesn’t appeal to them it’s less than useless. The most obvious example of this is the Bunurong Memorial Park. As someone who has recently lost a loved one I can assure you: “NEW GRAVES SITES AVAILABLE PHONE 9788 9488 NOW!” in huge letters ain’t gonna get my business.

I’ve been building websites for a long time. Over 12 years in fact. In the early days it was relatively easy to put up a site, let a few search engines know about it and voila - success! This was at a time when the web was new and the competition was lacking. It was a great time but not one I expected to last. And it didn’t.

These days having a website is no guarantee of success. It takes blood, sweat and… yep you guess it marketing to make your online venture a success. Unfortunately too many people still think if they put a site online the masses will flock to them. And then wonder why they don’t. It’s also a myth that people like to perpetuate. Put a site online and you’ll be making millions within days.

In reality your website needs to be carefully planned, built and marketed just like any other business venture. Start by defining your strategy and determining how you want to make money from your website. Make sure you choose a web designer who understands good design principles, usability, SEO and internet marketing. And last but not least develop your marketing strategy.

I’ll go over some of these strategies in future posts but for now at least consider:

• Web Design - build a website that focuses on calls to action and conversions. Pretty ain’t enough.
• SEO - make sure you build a search engine friendly website from the get go.
• Pay Per Click Advertising - look at PPC advertising. It is a great way to drive traffic while you are waiting for your SEO results to kick in and long term can be a useful way to drive additional, targeted traffic to your website.
• Online Newsletter - send out a regular newsletter.
• Blog - start a blog.
• Network.
• Write articles for both online and offline publications.
• Get links to your website.
• Join online forums.
• Write e-books.

This list is by no means exhaustive but it’s a good start. By creating a marketing strategy and working on it steadily you’ll achieve the online success you’ve been searching for. Good luck!

My Business magazine just published my third article: The Essential Guide to Business Blogging. Again it’s in PDF format but I thought I’d post it anyway. We’re currently re-designing this site (yes I know it’s taking a while) and I plan to include an article section but for now I figure PDF is better than nothing. Hope you enjoy it.
My next article is due soon and I’d love some topic suggestions. Anyone?

Social Media Marketing is currently the BIG thing in search marketing. I’ve heard both positives and negatives for it but until now now have not delved into it too deeply. Luckily
Miriam Ellis-Loraditch of Solas Web Design has taken the plunge with a great article talking to a number of search marketers, including me, about their experiences with Social Media Marketing.

There’s some great stuff in it and it’s well worth a read.

I had another article published in My Business magazine recently. You can read a PDF version here: Seven Sins of Website Design.