Compared to most other forms of business or personal marketing, a Web site is very inexpensive. Like all other types of marketing you tend to have more than one type of expense to add to your budget. In the case of a Web site, there is a minimum of three types of expenses accrued: creation, hosting and maintenance.

Web Site Creation

As is the case with all other marketing types, you will need to pay to have your Web site created, unless you can do it yourself. This creation cost can be as low as a few hundred dollars or soar into the thousands. A simple business-card style Web site contains just enough information about you or your company to give potential clients a means to contact you. These sites can often be created using free or low cost third party tools. You will quite often settle for using the preconfigured graphics and templates that the site construction agency provides you. While limiting your expense, this also limits the appearance of your professionalism. Anyone that spends a lot of time on the Internet can easily spot a cookie-cutter Web site, so although they may be a great way to get your site online, they aren’t a very good means of creating a permanent Web presence. So even if you are using a free or low cost site creation software, if at all possible, spend a few hundred more dollars to have professional graphics created for your site. It will definitely pay for itself in the long run.

The larger and more complex your site becomes, the more you will find a need to have a professional join your team. A web site can become a full time job in some larger companies, or even require a full time team for companies as large as Microsoft or Hewlett Packard. If you are planning on your site growing from something that you can do yourself, into something that will require the services of a developer, you need to make sure that you start working with a professional early. Otherwise, much of the work that you have done to get started, will be wasted. That wasted work, becomes wasted money.

Web Site Hosting

The second cost for your Web site is hosting. There are a variety of sources that you can host your Web site with, to keep it available and online 24 hours a day all year long. These sources can range from $6 or $7 a month for small sites, to a few thousand for elaborate sites running Microsoft SharePoint or advanced programming solutions.

Web Site Maintenance

The third cost for your Web site is maintenance. Regular maintenance ensures that your site stays current, that links aren’t broken and assists in maintaining a good standing within the search engines. The amount of maintenance that your site requires is based on the activity of your company, and the goals you have set out in your Marketing plan. Depending upon the platform your site is developed on, you may be able to do much of the maintenance yourself. In the case of blog posts, you can set up a team of approved staff that is required to post one blog article each month. Or have the employee in charge of marketing and public relations post a minimum of three news releases every month. By taking on some of the site maintenance yourself, you can lower the maintenance costs and reserve your hired professional for more complex site changes.

Laying out the Budget

Although these figures are very rough, and dependent on a variety of factor including the rate at which your developer works, and the per hour cost or per job cost that they typically charge, I thought it might help you with determining how you want to get started with your Web site. Keep in mind that a good developer will be willing to work with you. They will be able to implement a CMS for a business card site, so that you can keep down your content creation costs for the kickoff of the site. If you do choose to go with this hybrid solution, be sure to talk to your developer about how you can ensure that what you are building today, can easily be expanded to meet your future needs. This is where a well thought out Marketing Plan can be a life saver.
Business Card SMB Web Site with a Developer (First Year)
A standard business card web site typically has three pages including a home page / introduction, contact information page and a products / services page with minimal written content, graphics and cross linked content.

Small Full Service SMB Web Site with a Developer (First Year)
A small full service web site typically includes a variety of pages that provide in depth details of each service or product offered, a history of the company, a portfolio of previous clients, a shopping cart for physical goods or downloadable software and can be built upon a variety of platforms such as shopping cart software, a content management system or even on separately created HTML pages. We will assume that this is a store with ten large product descriptions and a full store built upon a CMS system. Using a CMS system dramatically reduces the time investment in creating a site.

Marketing on the Internet is more than simply creating a Web site. You need to understand how your message reaches your customers. You need to provide information using their vocabulary. You need to be able to answer their questions, preferably before they recognize that they have a problem. You need to be the expert that they are looking for; the person they trust to be there when a problem arises.

Identify your Customers
To do all of this, you must be able to identify your customers. For some organizations this task is easy, while for others identifying customers may be quite difficult. When identifying your customers there are the main questions you will ask yourself about each visitor:

• What are they buying and why are they buying it?
• How does their position affect their need?

To help answer these questions, look at the following example for a Pizza Restaurant

On the first look a Pizzeria caters to everyone, and while that may be true, there are specific groups of people that use their services more often than others: singles and teens, busy families and party organizers

1. Singles and Teens
   • What are they buying and why are they buying it?
     Pizza, Pizza, Pizza. This is your group of hungry individuals on a limited budget that either don’t want, or don’t have the time, to cook. Pizza is a great food that keeps well and feeds a person for more than one meal, while costing less per individual serving than many other fast foods.
   • How does their position affect their need?
     Teens are hungry all the time. They typically work at minimum wage jobs, and therefore have a limited budget. To them, pizza is as much a status symbol, as it is nourishment.
2. Busy Families (aka. Busy Moms)
   • What are they buying and why are they buying it?
     Pizza is a fast take home meal for the busy mom. She also will get breadsticks, maybe some hot wings, or some to-go salad. She is interested in giving her kids something that they will eat without complaint. She needs to not waste any time in the kitchen so that she can catch up on her busy schedule, without feeling like she is feeding her family pure junk food.
   • How does their position affect their need?
     She is responsible for the welfare of her entire family and needs to balance the needs of her pocketbook with the need to feed her family, while creating a little bit of free time for herself.
3. Party Organizers
   • What are they buying and why are they buying it?
     Your typical party planer goes for the basics: Pizza and drinks. This person may be planning a birthday party for 12 kids, or a business luncheon for a department brainstorming session. Pizza allows them to reach a wide variety of taste preferences while costing less per individual serving than many other foods.
   • How does their position affect their need?
     The party organizer needs to not only ensure that everyone they feed is satisfied with the amount of food, they also have the need to leave a good impression on those they were serving. A kid birthday party organizer is going to be focused on the amount, whereas a business person is also going to be concerned about presentation.

Now.. What do you write?
Once you have identified your primary customers, you can start writing content for your site that meets their needs. For instance, a teenager visiting your site may want to know that you make an effort to cover every inch of the pie with pepperoni. A busy mom may want to know that you can ship a pizza to her child that just moved away to college. A party organizer may want to know that you deliver pizza to their location.

Start making a list of every topic you think may be of concern to your customers. If you have a physical store front, then start asking your customer’s what they think. Take unofficial polls of how they think your toppings stand up to the competition, or how they like your pizza sauce.

Once you have a thorough list of topics you will need to organize it by grouping similar subjects together. For instance, you don’t need to write one article on pepperoni counts and another on marinara sauce quality. You can write one article and cover everything about how your pizzas are made, your thoughts and philosophy’s on toppings, and hint about the secret ingredient in your sauce that makes it so delectable. Write a separate article about how to prepare a pizza for shipping across the state.

Once you have your topics narrowed into groups, and the articles written, go back through them and edit for vocabulary. For instance, if you are in New Jersey your customers may call pizza a “tomato pie”, something that is unheard of on the West coast. If your store is located in New Jersey, then you need to ensure your article uses both common terms for pizzas. If your store is located in Oregon, then you can probably safely leave the “tomato pie” reference out of your articles.

Edit. Edit. Edit
Once the articles are written and you have ensured you are using the vocabulary of your customers, you are ready to set the article aside for a day. When you look at an article with fresh eyes, you will be able to more easily see your grammatical errors, erroneous vocabulary usage and misspellings.

Read your article out loud and listen closely to what you are actually saying to your potential customers. Edit the content until you are happy with the results. Keep in mind that although you never want to knowingly post messages with errors or misspellings, it is easy to fix a missed comma tomorrow.

Now… Get to brainstorming! Your customers are excited to see what you can offer them.

Most businesses put the cart before the horse when they try to make money off of their Web site. They focus on the results they want – making sales – when they should be focusing on how to get there – earning client trust.  Consumers make purchases from the companies they trust.  If they don’t trust you, then they will not purchase from you.

Primarily thought leadership content builds trust by providing information on solving a customer’s problems without a heavy, hard hitting sales message built in. Let’s continues using our sample Pizza restaurant example from our Building a Marketing Plan post. You may at first feel that a Pizza restaurant doesn’t have a lot of customer problems to solve, but you would be wrong. Can they tell you how to ship a Pizza to your daughter going to College out of town? Can they help you understand how to keep your home-made Pizzas from being greasy? Can they help parents understand why teenagers are enamored with Pizza treating it as a primary food group?  If so, maybe they will be able to earn your trust, so the next time you are running home after a hectic day, you will think to stop at their store, and not a competitors to pick up that quick family dinner.

The goal of good Thought Leadership Content is:

• Answer a potential customers questions
• Solve problems that customers may not know they had
• Provide an atmosphere reflective of your helpful, knowledgeable expertise

When your Web site content truly takes care of your customer’s questions and problems, while giving them a chance to see your organization in a positive light, you have built the foundation of a relationship which can turn profitable for both of you in the future.

Why do you need a Marketing Plan?

Planning is where all projects should begin, including the plan for creating and marketing your Web Site. Advertising on the Web is not like the advertising that your parent’s grew up with. There are a whole new set of rules. Traditional forms of marketing with radio, newspaper and television are slowly being replaced with Web-based advertising, so now everyone has to relearn those rules.

• On the Web, it is no longer as important to have the catchiest jingle or the most innovative images. Yes, you need to have a great clean image that shows the personality of your company. But don’t expect people to walk around humming your site’s theme song!
• On the Web, content is king. That is written content by the way.  The tone of your writing controls how you are received by your clients.  Clients want to do business with people that give them a sense of trust ability and truthfulness.
• On the Web, the words you choose effect your placement in search engines which help drive traffic to your web site. And we all know, that without traffic, your site will fail.

To effectively create a Web site that will draw in clients, and eventually sell your products or services, you must know everything you can about your potential clients, their problems, their beliefs and understand their typical decision making process and timetable.  Your marketing plan helps you to focus on your site visitors, so that your Web site work well for your clients, employees and investors, as well as any bloggers or journalists that will be helping you advertise your business.

Understanding the Buying Cycle

All purchasers go through three stages of the buying cycle before they complete a transaction from either a brick-and-mortar store, or from your Web site.  This process may take minutes or months, depending on whether your visitors are choosing lunch or a new car. But in every instance the cycle itself is completed.

Interest

Search Engines drive interested visitors to your Web site. You need to identify your customer’s primary interests and provide short, concise yet descriptive landing pages. You can also drive interest to your site through printed materials such as business cards and brochures, social media sites, blogs, discussion group posts and videos.

Research

When in the research phase, visitors are looking for solutions to their current situation. Your site needs to prove that your organization can solve their problem, that you are professional, and that you are their “Perfect Fit” solution through example, not hard advertising.

Action

Now your customers are ready to make a purchase. Give them an easy way to complete their transaction, and receive an instant response from your Web site.  Give them confidence in you. Some sites choose to have an online store, but if a store isn’t appropriate for your services, then give them a way contact you, or for you to receive information in order to quickly call them back.

What information do you need in your Marketing Plan?

Every plan requires a specific set of information. Your personal business situation may require you to collect more information than I have included here, but this should be a perfect stepping off point to create your own marketing plan.

Company Goals

Identify the goals you have for your company.  Your goals must be specific. For instance “Improve sales” isn’t specific enough to help you focus on who the client’s are that can help you meet that goal. A specific goal should be more along the lines of “Sell 6 Team Pizza Party Packages to visiting and local schools  per term.”  By including the type of client you are looking to sell to, you now have  the ability to focus on those clients and identify their specific needs and provide content that will give them a solution.

Identify Your Customers

Most businesses have specific groups of customers to which they market. For instance, a Pizza restaurant can group their primary purchasers into busy families, 15-30 year old singles and party groups. Take for instance our group of 15-30 year old single Pizza Lovers. They see pizza as a staple food group. They want a good and filling meal with lots of toppings. These customers come to your pizza shop because, although your prices match your competition, your pizzas have more meat toppings.

By identifying your primary groups of customers, and specifying how their needs differ from each other, you can find insight into their Buying Cycle and decision making process.

Identify Customer’s Beliefs

For each group of customers you have identified, specify how they think of your product.  Use their words and phrases exactly.  For example, a 15 yr old might like a hard crust on their pizza, while a busy mom may call that same style of crust “crispy”. When potential visitors are looking  for your site on Search Engines, they will use words that are familiar to them. When you are writing content for your Site, be sure to use the terms for your products and services that your customer’s will be using.

Identify Thought Leadership Content

Thought leadership content shows forward thinking and expertise in your industry. This content should be written in your visitor’s language and chosen verbiage in an attempt to help them answer questions. This content needs developed for each customer. From your list of customers  try to identify at least three topics for articles that would add value for your customers, without necessarily promoting your product or service directly.

Creating a Call to Action

Once your client is ready to purchase, give them an easy way to complete their transaction before you lose the sale. What methods of purchase do you allow? How would you like people to contact you with questions? Can they make the purchase online? Do you process credit cards?  Check the options you wish to implement on your site. Make these decisions and add the details to your Marketing Plan including the specific emails, Credit Card processors and phone numbers that you wish to use.  You don’t need to specify the software you are using, that will be defined by the choices you make in your Site Requirements definitions.

Identify Newsworthy Items

In traditional forms of marketing, Press Releases were the primary form of communication between a company and the outside world.  A company would write a Press Release and give it to a journalist. The journalist in turn would write and article and get it published. That has changed with today’s Web-centric approach that allows you to reach journalists and customers directly and simultaneously. In your marketing plan, create a list of items that you have done in the last 6 months that are newsworthy. The list can include product updates, new client acquisitions and even volunteer activities that the company participated in.

Other Web Content

When you are writing your marketing plan, keep in mind the other types of Web content that can be used to improve customer experience on your Web site.

Blogs

A Blog is a series of articles that express personal opinion on a subject matter related to your company. They need regular maintenance and additions to maintain their creditability, but are important for creating a sense of community and activity with your site. A well written Blog can make your customers instantly feel comfortable with your level of expertise. A poorly written Blog will destroy it just as fast.

Blogs can be broken down into individual categories, so you can have a Blog focused on an individual department, by subject matter or even by person. Every company has their own blogging standards and policies. If you do choose to use a Blog on your Web site, carefully consider the rules your Bloggers need to follow.

Podcasts/Videos

Whenever possible show your work and expertise multiple formats including audio podcasts and videos. Podcasts allow visitors to listen while on the site or download the content to play on an MP3 player later.

Photo Collections

Although Web pages typically have photography scattered about the pages, you can also create a photo gallery or collection that shows multiple photos of events. Crisp clear photos with action, but not a lot of background jumble can help customer’s feel like they know you and your services.

Charts & Graphs

Charts and graphs help display statistics and numerical data in such a way that it is instantly understandable by your readers. Some companies have no need of charts, while other can use charts extensively.

Message Boards/Discussion Groups

Message boards and discussion groups allow users to hold conversations with other users about subjects related to the products and services you provide. This creates a sense of community and commitment to your brand. For instance, a pizza restaurant may want to host a discussion board that covers topics such as Italian cooking, vegan pizza, gourmet pizza and feeding the busy family.

Mass Email Marketing

If you collect email addresses from your current customers, use them to directly market your new and updated services and products to existing clients. You can send out discounts, coupons, or even holiday cards.

Group Email Lists

Group email lists allow users to discuss topics related to the services and products offered by your site. For instance, a pizza restaurant may wish to set up an email list for discussing feeding busy families or teen pizza addiction. As with the Message Boards, email lists create a sense of community amongst your visitors.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites allow correspondence with your customers in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.  There are a variety of social networking sites available. You may even already be a part of some. Although Social Networking isn’t going to be the primary source of your visitors, the potential for your concepts, videos and products to go viral can be increased dramatically by using Social Networking as part of your site Marketing Plan.

There are lots of Social Networking sites available, but not all of them will be appropriate for your product or service. You will need to do some research on each social networking site, and determine if its specific selection of visitors is right for your business.  In the upcoming weeks, we will be looking at the top 10 Social Networking sites (in no particular order) and evaluating them on their audience and marketing potential.

Create a Calendar

Part of the creation and marketing of your Web site must be a schedule to identify when and how new information will be placed upon the site. This schedule will be used primarily to identify when and how your new site, or site redesign will be completed. It can then be used to schedule new content addition to the Web site.

The size of your team will in part determine how long each aspect of your site takes to implement. A large team may be able to work on Blog content and Thought Content simultaneously, while a smaller team may want to complete the Thought Content prior to implementing a Blog, or may even chose to implement the Blog using Thought Content.

Anything else?

Every company is its own unique entity with its own needs and requirements for Marketing as well as all other client interactions. The items identified in this article are simply a foundation, or starting point from which you can create a Marketing Plan unique to your company’s specific situation.