You have invested in a website, but you are not receiving the response from your online presence that you had hoped. It's time to go back to the beginning to see where you can make improvements.

Website Address and Appearance

How does your domain name represent your company? Is it your company name, or does it in some way reflect the products/services you offer? Is your website address easy to remember, or does it give you carpal tunnel because it's so long? It is understood that the right words in your domain name govern a better search engine ranking, but too many words often steer surfers elsewhere. Choose one memorable domain name to use as your standard website address, and then discuss with a domain registrar purchasing other domain names that contain the keywords that will help your site receive more traffic. Register them, and have them point to your main website address.

Are your company name and logo memorable? Can they be misinterpreted to mean something other than your product or service, or are they similar to another company's on the Internet? When someone visits your website, do your business name and logo offer a company image that is distinctive?

Is your website easy to navigate? You have a limited amount of time to catch your website visitor's attention, and keep their attention. Make sure that the most pertinent information you want them to know is on your homepage. It is important to entice them, and to draw them in with concise ad copy. Do not overload the page with too much information—instead, break your website down into clearly labelled pages, such as About Us, Our Services, Our Portfolio, Contact Us, etc. If you keep your most important and impressive information on your homepage, your website visitor will be more inclined to search for more information. Make sure it's easy for them to access.

Try to avoid such things as blinking signs, and animated ad banners. These used in moderation are okay, but too many cause the site to look to cluttered, and may avert your website visitor's attention away from the important aspects of the website you want them to focus on.

And most importantly: make sure your website content is always up-to-date. Stale content will not only bore your website visitors, your visitors will refrain from browsing your site on a regular basis. Another important thing to keep in mind is search engines will be more inclined to pick up your website in their search results, if you are offering up-to-date content and useful information.

Keep Them Coming Back

Serious online marketing should include search engine optimization. This is the process of creating and modifying web pages to achieve the highest search engine ranking possible. Remember that search engines supply websites with 70-80% of their traffic, and favour websites that are easily accessible and user-friendly.

Give your visitors a reason to come back. This could be in the form of a blog, keeping your visitors informed of what is going on with yourself and your business, monthly promotions, or new product information. Try to stay objective, and ask yourself what keeps you visiting your favourite websites, incorporating these aspects into your own.

Social networking is a great way to let customers and business colleagues alike get to know you on a personal level. Become a recognizable business person, not just a business name. Social networking will allow you to form professional business alliances. Learn to blog, launch a facebook business page, and open a twitter account. These will help you to become more accessible to more opportunities, and will make you that much more approachable to your customers.

Also consider pay-per-click advertising, through such avenues as Google Adwords and facebook. These are ads that you create, and get to target according to the audience you are wishing to reach. Best of all, you choose the budget you wish to stick to. Once you have reached your monthly budget, the ads automatically stop until the following month. Both Adwords and facebook offer detailed statistics of who shows interest in your ads, making it easy to make any necessary adjustments to your campaign in the future.

Another great way to remind your customers to return to your website, is by offering a monthly or quarterly newsletter to keep them up-to-date with your business news and promotions. Everyone today is extremely busy, and by sending a monthly or quarterly reminder, it may encourage a potential customer to contact you that much quicker. Direct them to certain pages of your website that might interest them. Be considerate of your customers needs, and they will respond.

Coordinate Your Online and Offline Marketing

Do not give up on a budget for magazine and newspaper advertising. This is still a viable business asset. Consider adding a coupon to your ads to see how many people respond to this form of advertising and visit your website. This will also help you to figure out which publications are giving you more results than others.

Make sure your website address is on all of your publicity materials: business cards, flyers, promotional stationary, etc.

On your website, offer a convenient online form that your potential customers can fill out to contact you. As part of the form, ask where they heard about your business, as another way to make sure your advertising dollars are being placed in the best areas possible.

You ARE Your Business

Lastly, when you are out and about, always present yourself in a confident, businesslike manner. Always be ready with a friendly, sincere handshake. Always carry business cards. You are your best advertising. If you grow as a business person, your business will grow alongside you. Remember, time is money. This is what you've always wanted, so take a deep breath, and jump in.