An introduction to e-business optimisation
As an Internet marketing professional, you are currently facing a set of challenges unlike any other you will have encountered in your career to date. You are expected to fulfil one of the most demanding briefs in the business world, to meet targets and achieve goals that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. Today, it's not enough to create a web site that wins design awards, that gets great reviews in the Internet media, that's innovative, interesting or inspiring. Nor is it enough to build a web business that offers products and services at a fraction of their offline price or deliver great customer service. It's not even enough any more to receive thousands of visitors each day.
The reason is that you are now expected to achieve a faster path to profitability (and a greater return on investment) than ever before. In any other sector, it would be accepted that building a business and a brand takes time, that even the best marketing can't turn around a company overnight and that inertia and apathy are still the defining characteristics of people today, online and off.
But in the Internet world, managers face incredible pressure to make their businesses a success, from ensuring a regular stream of qualified visitors and turning users into members to reducing customer acquisition costs and turning browsers into buyers. Your brief could well include:
- To drive new traffic to the site
- To make your site easier to use for visitors
- To encourage visitors to return
- To improve profitability
Enter e-business optimisation
Pioneered by Weboptimiser since 1996, e-business optimisation goes way beyond its roots in search engine positioning to embrace every aspect of a web business, from customer profiling and competitor analysis to site navigation and traffic management. In short, e-business optimisation covers the 4 key performance indicators of Internet success:
- Visibility - building and protecting your online profile
- Functionality - enhancing the user experience
- Loyalty - creating relationships with visitors
- Economy - reducing costs and increasing revenue
An optimised web site, therefore would have excellent visibility - it would be easy to find. It would enjoy a high position on the top search engines, under the most appropriate search terms and would, as a result, receive a regular supply of qualified visitors. Any advertising or promotions on the site such as banners and buttons would, accordingly, get a good response. An optimised site would receive new traffic from other sources too. These could include advertising and viral marketing campaigns and via links from affiliated sites, as well as visitors who have been recommended to the site.
By the same token, any potentially damaging activity by brand denigrators, such as competitors and ex-employees would be identified and targeted. For example, if a company is trying to hijack web traffic by optimising itself under a competitor's brand name, or if a disgruntled ex-employee has set up an abuse site - immediate legal action can be taken.
In terms of functionality, the site would be fast-loading, intuitive, interactive and easy to use. Its navigation would make sense, all links and on-site features would be fully operational and all processes, from email contact to taking part on online polls, would be designed with the user in mind.
For accessibility to the whole online community, including elderly visitors and those with cognitive, visual, hearing and physical disabilities the site would be compliant with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Standard (WAI), which references two pieces of legislation: the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act, and the Disability Discrimination Act.
To encourage loyalty, the site would not only have the specific content that the visitor is looking for, but would offer plenty of reasons to come back or recommend the site to a friend. The site would offer a warm welcome, both to first time and regular visitors and have a real sense of community.
For profitability, the site would have low overheads, particularly customer acquisition costs at a fraction of those delivered by traditional marketing campaigns. Because the site offers the products and services its visitors are looking for and transactions are fast and easy to complete, revenues would be higher.
What's more, an optimised site would embrace every opportunity to make money - from affiliate marketing, which effectively creates a network of online resellers to drive customers to your site to exit traffic monetisation programmes, which pays you a cost-per-click for your departing visitors.
