Gather data, build community to boost Web results

Your business has a Web site. Does anyone visit?

More importantly, asks Chuck Thomas, do you know who visits your site, what path they followed to get there and what part of your site they visit when they arrive?

The answers to those questions are important, because they can provide vital guidance for your Web marketing - presumably the reason you have a Web site.

Talk with Thomas, who is president of CTCreative, Inc., a St. Charles strategic marketing firm, and Web marketing quickly becomes more complex than you likely expected. Keep talking, however, and you'll discover basic patterns that can make your Web site more useful and, hopefully, more profitable.

You'll even discover ways to use social networks to your advantage - as long as you're not obvious about doing so.

But before you talk to Thomas, or someone like him, make certain you have your Web site basics covered: What, for example, do you want your site to accomplish? Share information about your company and its services? Entice site visitors to call or e-mail for more information? Generate sales, either on the site or through an e-mail or call?

"The Web has become far more sophisticated," Thomas says. "Your ability to engage customers at every point of (Web site) contact can reduce the sales cycle time and reduce the cost of the sale."

That's why aligning your Web site with your company's strategic goals is Step One. Then Step Two - determining the who, what and why of site visitations - makes sense.

Google Analytics can help. Furthermore, it's free - and may be all you need.

"Google Analytics allows you to see what people are typing, what they do at your site," Thomas says. When you know who's visiting, Thomas continues, you'll be able to judge whether your site is attracting the people you want, ones who fit the profile of those who buy your product (or service).

If your site visitors aren't buying, then you likely need to change your Web marketing strategy. One avenue to explore: The social networking sites. But be careful.

"Social media are all about trust," Thomas says. "The moment (your presence) becomes transactional, (the trust evaporates)."

The principles are simple, Thomas says: "Truth builds trust. Trust sells product. The values people hold drive the choices they make. Articulate your company's values and connect with customers who have the same value set."

The goal, he suggests, is to "build a community around your core values. It's personal, what's important to you."

Thomas compares the community of like-minded social media members to a similar community at the local country club or Rotary. Each is a place to share values and establish your business' credibility - and, then, sales.

Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@121MarketingResources.com.

© 2009 121 Marketing Resources, Inc.