300 Chapter 12
- Property owners and facility managers
- Lenders
- Investors
- Architects and engineers
Create your list and then prioritize it. For example, if you want to promote an image of a contracting
firm that specializes in electrical work, property owners may well take higher priority than casual users.
This should be emphasized in the structure of the site’s pages and the weighting that you give to it on
the home page.
To let users know you are to be trusted, remember what was mentioned earlier—you cannot take it
on trust that your viewer knows who you are. The message must be hammered home at every opportu-
nity. Use your company logo, university crest, and so on to reinforce this. If you have won an award,
make sure everyone who visits knows this! Your viewers need to be reassured that your firm is to be
trusted and that its information is reliable. This must be emphasized on every single page that you pub-
lish—there is no telling which page a user will go to first, so be consistent in the positioning of your logo
and place it on every page.
You’ve got less than 15 seconds to make an impact before your visitors leave. You have to work
very hard in this small window of opportunity. Make it quite clear what your message is. If you don’t know,
your viewers won’t. Design is vital. Give them enough guidance to let them work their own way(s)
through your site. There has to be a reason for people to come and look at your website and a reason
for them to keep coming back. You need to offer something of value such as a detailed list of your serv-
ices with current prices. However, if you can think of some valuable free service (such as free estimates)
that you can offer to bring people to your website, they are likely to browse around once they are there.
A successful website is not necessarily an attractive one or one full of the latest web technology. It
is not even usually dependent upon how many people visit it. Rather, it is how many come back time and
time again and how much business it generates.
Your site is up and you are waiting for the inquiries to come in, but they don’t, because no one
knows your site is out there. The site must be publicized. Potential customers need to know the web-
site exists. All letterheads, brochures, cards, and advertising should mention the website address and
email address.
Submit your site to all the search engines. Generally speaking, it takes at least a few months for a
website to become recognized and start to generate responses. That’s how long it usually takes the big
search engines, especially Google, to index a new site. Also make sure that any expert directories you
are listed in are linked to the site. Of course, the popularity of your site and the speed at which it be-
comes popular really depend on what is being offered and how it is promoted.