| Internet Communications – panacea or pandemonium?
Websites that are crammed with words, overly busy images or links that either don’t work at all or don’t take the visitor to information they want are all too common. One of the most successful websites we have designed and built was achieved by reducing the number of pages by almost a third, with lots of useful links and documents sitting behind them. Over the past year the number of unique visitors to the site has risen by over 140% with the number of people leaving the site at a constant level. This proves not only that the site is stimulating interest from significantly more visitors, they are people who actually want to find out more. And this second element is what matters. There is no point in delivering thousands of people to your site if they do not do anything as a result because your site does not really meet their needs. The clever part comes in ensuring that whatever your website says is of value to them and, more importantly drives them to take the action you want them to, whether that’s buying your goods or services, applying for a job or downloading more information. And this applies to all types of internet communications. It’s all about what you say, who you say it to and how you say it and then measuring what happens as a result. So it’s pointless to create an enewsletter without a targeted distribution list or to send it out with a story simply to blow your own trumpet without any obvious benefits for the person reading it. The result is highly likely to be that they either switch off half way through reading it or, worse still, they unsubscribe from your mailing list so that you have totally lost the opportunity to communicate with them again.
Answering some simple questions may help you to decide whether you monitor use of your website effectively, but remember you must be totally honest.
Clearly there are many more issues that have to be reviewed to determine whether your website is achieving its objectives, but this should help you to start questioning whether what your site is giving visitors is appropriate and works in a way that is meaningful to them.
We appreciate that it’s difficult to do this objectively - especially if you have been involved in development of your current site. This is where our analytical skills and sophisticated reporting tools can be extremely useful. Contact Phew and our team will undertake a review of whether what you are providing to your target audience is meeting their needs as well as your objectives. We will recommend what improvements you could make and then work with you to deliver the site on time and on budget. After that we will monitor the site’s performance and, on an ongoing basis, recommend improvements and help you implement them.
If this sounds as if it might be useful, call 0845 125 9070 or email info@phewinternet.co.uk so that we can arrange a time to meet. |
