Here are some basic activities and information to help get you focused so your energy towards marketing your website is well-placed.
Write Focus Statement
What is the focus of your website? Whether you are part of an organization—big or small, or an individual proprietor, here are some questions to ask yourself;
- How should the website contribute to the business objectives?
- How can your website support sales and marketing efforts?
- Can your website help you differentiate yourself from competitors? If so, how? If not, why not?
- What problems can you help people solve with your website?
You may have already created a plan that answers these questions. It is important to review these questions often due to the evolving nature of the Internet. New technologies are introduced often and can be incorporate into your strategy to produce more effective results.
Create User Profile
Who is going to browse your website? Targeting the profile of your user can be valuable to the marketing process for your website. Some people believe that the entire world is the market. Or others believe that if they identify specifics of the user then they are leaving out huge groups of individuals that may purchase from their website. One thing to remember is that the target customer is not necessarily the entire market for your website.
Think of your entire market as an apple tree. It is an extremely old metaphor, but a good one. Then, consider the fact that not all apples are easy to get to. You don’t have a ladder (that would be way to easy) and the ones at the bottom are easy to reach. The ones in the middle are moderate to reach. The one’s at the top—difficult to reach. Then consider that at each segment; easy, moderate, difficult; there are multiple variables that define the customer groups within a particular segment.
Your job is to determine, as best you can, the characteristics of the customers in the easy-to-reach segment. These customers will be defined by both psychographic and demographic characteristics.
Psychographic Characteristics
Psychographic characteristics relate to the style and personality of your user such as values, interests, and activities. Questions to ask yourself and write down;
- What beliefs does your user have?
- What values do they hold?
- What activities do they take part?
Demographic Characteristics
Demographic characteristics are those that relate to those things outside of personality or style such as race, age, gender, income, regional location, employment status, education level and so on.
- How old is your user?
- Is race or gender an important factor? If so, determine gender and race of your user.
- Will people in a certain income-bracket be more likely to purchase from your website than others? If so, determine appropriate income bracket.
- Is your website written for people with a college degree or higher?
- Is there a certain employment category that your website may be positioned for? {Lawyer, Doctor, Health Professional, Educator, Politician, Government, Public Services, Military?
Now that you have a picture of your user it is time to define those activities that will most likely attract the user to your website.
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