Great Web Design Is Never Enough
Sharon Gantt
The internet is filled with beautiful web sites. Created by web designers with credentials and accreditations a mile long, these sites often look amazing. However, these great-looking sites are likely losing money. When you lift the hood, expose the ugly underbelly and take a look at the advertising numbers behind the web site, a different story emerges.
Now, if you're a nationally recognized brand (like Honda), simply getting brand reinforcement can be enough of a goal from an ad on television. On the other hand, if you're reading this, you're probably not that big of a company.
At which point, you need to focus on the function of your ad (your web site) over its form and beauty and innovation. Now, we're not exactly the zealots of Jakob Nielssen, and pushing for ugly, text only web sites that assume everyone's stuck in 1995, but still simple and attractive and understated is far better than flashy (or, for that matter, Flash-driven).
Each prospect is at a different stage of the customer buying cycle. They are looking for something different. Because of this, it is critical to approach and target each prospect on Google and Yahoo! differently. Doing this effectively and profitably can require the help of a trained and experienced search engine advertising professional.
Understand that people are going to be referred to your web site either from links on a social networking site (like FaceBook or Digg), or by a search engine term (and thus, by paid keywords). More than 90% of the traffic will be from the latter, though social networking sites are gaining rapidly as the second most effective form of traffic generation.
Many small and large business owners have found that turning the advertising chores over to a professional search engine expert has made the difference between hemorrhaging their advertising budget and running a profitable business. But, finding someone who truly knows what they are doing is often difficult.
Google and Yahoo! each have respective certifications that they award trained individuals. People who are experts in advertising on Google can become what is called a Google Certified Professional. Those who are experts in advertising on Yahoo! are called Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassadors. These titles are given to men and women who have an intimate knowledge of how to advertise on Google and Yahoo! and can do so successfully. Each has a training program that they require candidates to complete. Further, search engine tests the knowledge of each candidate to ensure only qualified individuals are awarded this designation.
These experts can help you turn your ad budget from a black hole into something with measurable results, not just on your tracking log, but on your sales log as well. They understand the importance of building relationships with visitors and understand that it's the relationships that have to be beautiful, not your web site.
Sharon Gantt AKA The Queen of Adwords Copywriting created & managed hundreds of ad campaigns on the major sarch engines. Discover how to increase your sales, get better cashflow with targeted effective online marketing
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