Archive: January, 2012

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Building an Effective Online Presence from the Ground Up

planning online presence

An Introduction to the Series

An online presence can serve as a shop window, a sales force and a checkout – with seamless transition from one stage to the next.

Once a functional and effective website is in place it can almost automatically convert leads into prospects and prospects into sales without the need for much (if any) human intervention on the part of the company.

With the Building an Effective Online Presence from the Ground Up series I hope to provide an overview of the major stages and processes involved in evolving an existing business into a successful online brand. Although this series will undoubtedly help those looking to establish a purely online business from scratch – my focus is upon two different types of company:

1 – Established businesses who presently operate in a purely offline capacity but are looking to build an online presence.

2 – Businesses who already operate online but who are not experiencing the results they would hope for (and are willing to make radical changes to remedy this).

Having established my aims with this series it’s time to get started:

Establishing Viability

Before jumping headfirst into website creation it is essential to thoroughly consider the reasons why you’re building an online presence and what you intend to gain from it.

Establish Aims

If you’re a retailer then your primary aim will likely be revenue generation through e-commerce sales – for some industries however, the goals are not quite so clear-cut. Those who operate in the B2B arena may wish to build a website which serves as a sales brochure to elicit enquiries from prospective clients, whilst other organisations could well create a website purely for increased brand exposure.

Specific goals and aims must be established before anything else is done to ensure that all aspects of your website and online marketing are tailored to best serve the business and achieve your stipulated goals.

Establish Market

With goals and aims freshly established there remains the vital task of assessing whether the market exists for you to achieve a high enough volume of conversion (completions of established aims) to justify the cost of entering the online arena. Examination of competitor websites and use of tools such as the Google Adwords Keyword Research tool will help you to understand the demand for your product, service or offering. Essentially, the more people using search engines to search for terms (referred to as ‘keywords’) which are relevant to your industry: the more of a pre-existing market there is.

If there does not appear to be a significant pre-existing market, then you will have to be especially ruthless during the course of the next stage.

Establish Budgets, ROI + KPIs

Unless you have web design, web development and web marketing specialists in-house (in which case this whole series of blogs is unlikely to be of much use!) the creation and development of a website and the subsequent digital marketing services will require capital. How much capital is dependent upon a vast number of variables; not to mention your available budget. At this stage the services of a digital marketing agency are likely to be incredibly useful. Digital marketing specialists are able to outline the website functionality you’ll require to achieve your goals, the cost of website design, development and maintenance and the cost of SEO and other online marketing services to ensure success.

By consulting closely with a digital marketing agency – or indeed utilising your own experience you will be able to establish two vital acronyms: ROI and KPIs. The Return On Investment is essential – if you can’t foresee an ROI which offers definite benefit to your company then it may be necessary to re-think your aims and market. Key Performance Indicators serve as benchmarks – basically a series of targets which demonstrate that you are on course to achieve (or better) your desired ROI. Any digital marketing company worth their salt should be able to assist you in formulating and ultimately facilitate the attainment of KPIs spanning from website development through to 12 months from launch.

If the figures add up so far then it’s time to move on to the next step – Getting Online.

Home > 2012 > January

Guest Blogging: The Importance of Being Versatile

guest blogging questions

Guest posting is an essential aspect of becoming a reputed member of the blogosphere. The advantages of guest blogging include increasing traffic to both the blog owner’s and guest blogger’s website (if a backlink is credited to the guest author) as well as helping to build a rapport with other bloggers within the same niche.

When guest posting for other blog owners you have to be prepared to adapt your writing style and tone, so the ability to be flexible is a must. In order for the blog owner to accept your submission there are a few aspects of guest posting to bear in mind to enhance your chances of getting published.

Audience Analysis   

Analysing certain elements of the blog’s primary audience is necessary to have a high chance of getting your writing published. Understanding the audience may seem an elementary aspect of blogging, yet many writers fail to do this when guest blogging.

Things to consider regarding the audience of the blog you’re guest posting for are:

Audience Nationality – Understanding where the majority of the audience are based can help you to tailor your language accordingly. US English and UK English have different spelling variations, understanding this and adapting your language appropriately will save the webmaster some editing time, therefore making you favourable as a regular contributor.

Main Topic Interests – Many sites have a broad subject horizon, but some posts on the site will probably have been received better than others. To find the most popular subject area view previous posts and note the volume of comments and shares. Use this as a base for your topic idea, add a twist on the topic and even get controversial to spark discussion and shares.

Readers’ Level of Knowledge – You can refer to previous posts on the site to determine what the general level of knowledge the fan base has on your chosen topic. Are they beginners looking for how-to tutorials or are they seasoned experts who enjoy heated debates surrounding the site’s general focus? It’s important not to undermine your reader’s knowledge as this will come across as patronising, but overwhelming them can lead to confusion and disinterest.

Audience analysis is so important when guest blogging, the primary intention of a blog is to gain, sustain and increase readership so your guest blog post will have to appeal to the right people. If you’re ever unsure of the audience of a website, ask the blog owner – they will probably appreciate the fact that you want to entertain their readers and provide relevant information.

Website Analysis

Much the same way that the audience needs analysing, so does the theme of the blog. Blogs generally have a typical house style that must be adhered to when writing. Follow this checklist when guest posting to ensure you’re keeping with the style of the blog:

Level of Formality – This is one of the main reasons why guest posts are rejected by webmasters. Researching the level of formality is essential before you even put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). Is the blog attached to a corporate site? If so it’s more than likely you’ll have to maintain a rather impersonal, formal tone which is more factual or instructional as opposed to opinionated. If it’s a personal blog then there’s likely to be more room for movement in terms of adding personal opinion and in some instances; profanity.

Topic Research – If you have a topic idea that isn’t entirely unique and has been worn out in the blogging niche then it may be worth reconsidering your subject or adding an original twist. Blog owners aren’t interested in publishing generic, worn out topics. Popular guest blog locations will want unique ideas which will get their readers thinking, debating and sharing.

There are other elements of blogs worth inspecting before crafting a piece too. Typical post length is important, are the posts short and sweet or do they generally publish in-depth articles which include thorough explanations and how-to’s?

Guest blogging can be an excellent way to get involved with the online community within your niche. Researching your guest location before writing the piece can really boost the number of guest posts you get published. No one wants to waste hours crafting an immense piece of writing, only to find that it’s just not suitable for the website. If you’re ever unsure of the type of content a website will accept then ask! It shows you’re interested and care about their readership, earning you respect and trust as a writer whilst ensuring you’re writing something appropriate.