How to make your Web site work

If you want your business' Web site to do more than sit there, the suggestions that follow should help. So should the names and contact information that come with the suggestions, they're people I know who pretty much understand Web sites.

• Strategy. If the goal is for your Web site to generate business, then the site must have words and graphics that sell. Most don't.

Is your site strictly informational? Or do you want visitors to know, for example, that your company has been manufacturing top-of-the-line widgets for 50 years, that your employees have special widget skills, and that your widget-making equipment is cutting edge?

If sales are the goal, do you want visitors to watch a short video of your widget-making process? Contact you for additional information? Maybe place an order?

Answers to these and a bunch of similar questions are key to the make-my-Web-site-work-better process, which is one of the things my firm does. JKendall@121MarketingResources.com.

• Graphics. The initial visual impact when visitors find your site is critical, but, says graphic designer Bobette Wolf, "Functionality is more important than design. If visitors can't navigate your site, then it doesn't matter how pretty it is."

Wolf is principal at MalcolmWolf, Inc., an Aurora firm strong in both graphic design and the nitty-gritty elements that make design work.

Few designers meld graphics with the code that determines how a Web site functions, but Wolf and her staff do. Reach Wolf at info@malcolmwolf.com.

• Traffic. There's discussion among Web people as to whether search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising is the most effective way to get people to your site.

SEO is the stuff only the techie and the search engines see that "optimizes your site for search engines to find you," says self-taught Web adviser Michael Yublosky, president of JEM Consulting, Buffalo Grove. Email him at Mikey@diyWebjem.com.

Pay-per-click advertising - the ads everyone sees in the right hand column on a Google search page, for example - generally brings more focused visitors, says Mike Tatge. The ads use key words to connect searchers and your site.

For example, Tatge says, "If you sell both widgets and gidgets, we send the widget buyer to the landing page on your site that is about widgets."

Tatge is president of JumpFly, Inc., an Elgin company whose sole service is managing pay-per-click advertising. Learn more at www.jumpfly.com.

• Social sites. Should you pay attention to the social networking sites? "Absolutely," says Brian Basilico, "but only," he adds quickly, "if you have the time and inclination."

Basilico, director of direction at B2b Interactive Marketing, Inc., Aurora, spends "four to six hours every day" on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn - and can explain how they may, or may not, fit your business goals. Bbasilico@b2b-im.com.

Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@121MarketingResources.com. © 2009 121 Marketing Resources, Inc.