In the last issue, we examined the core design and development considerations of constructing a website, such as content authoring, adhering to web standards and the establishment of a powerful, purposeful online presence.
In this issue, we’ll investigate marketing strategies that aim to increase traffic, enhance site visibility and achieve high search engine rankings. Creative website designs and functional depth will ultimately fail if the target audience is not driven to the site and effectively captured once there.
These aspects must be considered at every stage of the online development process in order to lay the foundation for effective marketing initiatives in the future. The objective is to ensure your site is listed in the Internet’s equivalent of the yellow pages.
Search engines are generally the first place online a potential customer will turn to in order to locate information, a product or a service. Search engines are largely responsible for driving site traffic.
Subsequent registration and listing within search engine databases is single-handedly one of the most cost effective ways of reaching prospective customers. A common misconception of search engine marketing is that registering your website is sufficient.
Merely being listed does not mean your site will necessarily rank well: it simply means that the search engine knows your pages exist. Search engine marketing, and more specifically search engine optimisation, is an ongoing process.
