The internet has inspired a radical shift within the business world geared to transactions unrestricted by geographical boundaries. E-commerce generates an estimated $1.2 million every 30 seconds, making it the most popular platform for businesses in all of human history. There are businesses that subsist entirely online: the key to these digital success stories lie with thoroughly executed website optimization, intuitive social networking skills, and enlightened lead generation through successful digital marketing strategies. By following these three basic principles, any website can execute a business plan that would be the envy of any big-business mogul.
Designing a Successful Website
Web design is a complicated matter that includes: interface design; graphic design; authoring with standardizing code and proprietary software; user-experience design; and search engine optimization. Unless your fledgling business team has someone with competence in all of these fields, it pays to invest in a professional website designer. The most effective website optimization strategies provide optimal viewing experience for consumers across a wide variety of devices including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smart phones — this includes ease of navigation and optimal webpage performance. Poorly designed and lackluster website optimization can lose consumers who are growing ever-more impatient as competitor websites continue to advance their existing digital infrastructure.
Ruling a Digital Empire
The word “empire” suggests a diverse platform; a well-designed website should be thought of as a capital with several other digital platforms feeding that capital. Abstract metaphors aside, the most successful businesses have a main corporate webpage but supplement that page through blogs, social media sites, and creative content pages. The difference is literally equivalent to fishing with a rod verses casting a net; by building their brand businesses can acquire new consumers, engage with existing consumers, and broadcast information that may encourage future sales and customer loyalty.
Finding Digital Leads
Search engines are the most effective directors of online traffic; in fact they are three times better at generating high-quality leads than social media sites. Learning how to properly harness the organic search features of a search engine can help direct interested and engaged consumers towards a business. Search engine optimization (SEO) utilizes inbound leads rather than traditional outbound leads by focusing on creative content generation. In contrast to pay-per-click advertisements that plague search engines and web pages, SEO offers relevant information directly related to a consumer’s search — this effectively informs the consumer without an over-bearing advertisement and helps direct digital search engine traffic towards your business. Over half of all business-to-business marketers state that SEO makes the single largest impact on their lead generation goals. Furthermore, these leads are more likely to make purchases than outbound leads as the inbound leads are already interested in the products or services to some degree; this is why SEO enjoys the highest close-rate for any lead generation strategy.
By following these steps to thoughtfully plan out one’s digital business, new companies can cover a variety of areas that many businesses end up struggling with. Website optimization ensures a user-friendly corporate webpage while social media keeps consumers engaged and up-to-date on the latest information regarding your company. When combined with effective digital marketing strategies, businesses can ensure the loyalty and growth of their customer base which in turn helps to guarantee a business’ future success.