Remember the movie Field of Dream’s mantra, “build it and they will come”? A website is the complete opposite of that. Having your company’s website online is like having an expensive car in a museum. The car has many functions like a horn and can take your company’s products to market so you can sell them. But until you put the key into the ignition, turn on the engine, know how to drive a car and know the directions to your destination the car is just a museum show piece. I am going to demonstrate the value and need of Search Engine Optimization for a website. Let’s discuss this analogy and the problems of a complacent and stagnant online marketing approach.
If only buying a website was as easy as buying a working car. Toyota buys car parts and components from over a thousand different vendors to deliver you a working car. Many hours and resources go into creating that working car which fulfills your needs and demands. The same can be said for a custom website. Now that you have a car for your business, can you leave it parked out back and hope that it takes you to the marketplace? Companies host their websites online, get busy, and forget about them. This is the mistake that so many businesses have made in the past. Online competition is increasing so fast that you need to create an online marketing strategy to compete.
Moving your products to market in the real world is easy, load your car up, turn the key on and follow the directions. Hopefully you know how to drive your new car and know how to get to the marketplace. On the World Wide Web it is easy for your car not to start, the payload not being compatible with your car and then you get lost on the super highway and never to be found again. The problem here is that your new car takes months to turn on and years to learn how to drive. To keep your car performing well you must add gas and do ongoing maintenance, the same holds true for your website. To have your website ranked high in online searches takes constant work and is very complicated. To remain competitive your website must remain optimized and productive or your company will fall deeper down search results.
The horn on the car can allows you to let people know you are there. The car horn says “Hey, look at me I am here.” The car horn is the advertising of your company’s website and its function is to alert people about you. The problem with the car in the museum is the horn will never do its proper function. The only people who will see the car are people who are already know you exist or who are in the museum and stubble upon you. If you want to have more people to see your car in the museum you spend money on advertising in paper marketing that is quickly outdated.
In 2010 online advertising eclipsed paper marketing for the first year ever. The scales are tipping in favor of online advertising and with the increase of smart phones this will only continue. The two main functions of a website are to market your company and to increase sales. Search Engine Optimization is the most cost effective way to reach new customers. You company needs an Online Marketing Strategy to change your website from a cost center to a sales tool.
Please contact Systematic Startup, Inc. (949 631 7001) to learn about what you could be doing to turn your website on and drive it to the marketplace.