Build websites to engage users

For every 20 internet users we have 1 website and millions of new websites are getting added every year. (Ref article World Wide Web Growth).

Every one is getting online

It seems many of the local business have bought into the idea of getting online and having some form of internet presence, but how many of those sites really get traffic? Websites without user traffic are like shops without customers. Many a times website URL’s just remain as part of business card and even website owners don’t visit them, resulting in websites being infected by malwares, spam comments, duplicate content and frequent downtimes without any routine maintenance. It also impacts search rankings.
Are we going to have internet with millions of ghost websites (With no user ever visiting). Lets build business websites to create awareness, drive leads and convert into prospective customers, It will not only keep users engaged but also help you in building site reputation in turn making your business prosper.

Drive traffic to sites and engage users

Internet can be used effectively by all kind of business to reach mass audience. There are variety of means using which business owners can reach target audience be it local or global. With little effort (few hours a week), businesses can drive leads to their site, spreading awareness of their business, building brands, converting leads to sales and making it viral using social media. If sites are well made it can have cascading effect and can help business get global or lead in local markets.

Some of the effective means of creating website awareness and driving leads

1. Videos/Slides
Videos and slides are one of the best ways in engaging users to business sites. Businesses can make simple videos / presentations of their products/services and share in Youtube, Hulu, SlideShare etc. This sites have large amount of visitors and searches, it will help in driving traffic to your website.
2. Email
Email registrations can be added to website, it helps in collecting leads. Existing and new visitors can be informed regularly, on launch of new products/services, enhancements and discounts.
3. Display Ads
Many ad agencies provide online display ads in terms of banners, scrolls and links. Online ad service of Google, Bing, Yahoo can be used, which has got large reach across the web. Customizing ad campaigns to reach target user is necessary to get desired results.
4. Business Listings
There are several paid and unpaid listings for businesses. They help in driving traffic to business sites, Yahoo, Business.com, DMOZ being few famous directories. In order to get into local search, business can also register to Google business listings.
5. Social Media
Today every online user has some kind of social media presence, either they would be using Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn. Its a good opportunity for businesses to get interactive with their existing and potential users using social media. Fanpage can be added in Facebook, latest updates can be spread using Tweets. Depending on business/service, social media can be selected and used effectively.
6. Search Engine Optimization
All above activity also helps in improving search engine ranking for website. Search engines are one of the major medium for users to find relevant content. If websites can rank high in search engine for target keyword, they can get large number of high quality traffic for long term. There are many tools and services available using which websites can be optimized to improve search engine ranking. Search market is dominated by very few players, Google dominates 2/3rd of search engine market, Bing/Yahoo combine with around 25% and remaining by AOL, Ask and local search engines like Baidu in China, Yandex in Russia.

Measure your website Traffic

Once steps are taken to drive traffic to website and engaging users, its time to measure traffic pattern, conversions and other KPI’s. There are several analytic tools, both free as well as commercial like Omniture, Google Analytics, Web Trends, which provide different dimensions to analyze website traffic statistics.
QuickoLabs has launched SearchEnabler, which is an integrated SEO platform with a single view of SEO campaigns, right from planning, execution to measurement of results.
Its time for small businesses to utilize different internet trends effectively to improve their online presence and use tools for measuring their success.