What if you could learn from from Australia's leading business entrepreneurs some of the secrets they have employed to achieve their phenomenal growth?
Well, according to SmartCompany, a leading online magazine for Australia, 13 of the top online trends are here for you to read about. So what lies behind it all? Quite simply these companies are using the web to
- Grow Revenue
- Reduce Costs
- Improve Productivity
No real secret there however it is the tactics employed that are delivering to these objectives. Web savvy businesses are leaping ahead of their competitors and leaving them in a cloud of dust. Mind you not all of the Top 50 businesses are following these strategies but those that are are moving ahead of the others creating an ever widening chasm between them. The former group continue to struggle to make any money form their websites whilst the latter group in 2008 alone they have made $100 million revenue from their websites.
So here are the top 13 trends being adopted by the successful companies now generating $100 million from their websites.
Becoming a thought leader
Leaving fancy PR aside, the new trend is to provide content rich material by way of white papers, journal articles, blogs and connecting to forums. What this enables them to do is to firstly gain favour with the search engines and secondly provide meaningful content for their market audience driving them to their website on a continuing basis.
The important aspect is to provide your visitors with innovative and useful content from original thought and adding value. The websites of companies utilising this trend are seen as a resource centre for the industry
Going global
The beauty of having a website is that you are not restricted by geography. The world is your oyster so they are doing just that. These companies are taking their products to the international market. A really smart technique being employed is to offer content relative to the international location. By detecting the visitors IP address they can determine the county they are from and serve up content related to their country of origin. A factor often overlooked by many web developers is to offer multi-language versions of an international website. They tend to forget that not everyone speaks English.
Getting found on Google
No surprise here - they all have a common goal to be at the top of page 1 on Google search engine results page (SERPs). This is not achieved overnight and is driven by carefully considered online marketing strategies encompassing a wide range of Internet marketing initiatives. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is integral to this planning coupled with driving visitors to a well designed website. With so many people using Google to find businesses and products or services, optimisation for Google Search engine results is paramount to any business these days.
Educating the Suppliers, Employees and Franchisees
Online education has realised huge cost savings for many businesses and of course we all realize that the better educated our stakeholders are the better quality service we can offer them. Many companies were found to be placing their operational procedures, processes and staff manuals online behind secured web pages. With franchise businesses significant cost savings can be realised through such initiatives providing ready access to smart systems for operational documentation and education.
Email Marketing
We may all be sick of the junk mail we receive but if you manage your mail subscriptions carefully you can quickly keep yourself abreast of pertinent information about everything form industry trends to product and service updates and offerings. This article itself is the result of receiving a daily newsletter from Smartcompany. Building your online database of contacts and maintaining regular contact with them with meaningful value added content is paramount to building an ongoing relationship. You don't have to expect to have every newsletter and article read but if you provide valuable content they will remember you and one you might even get that business opportunity you had always hoped for.
Let your customers customise the offering
With Web 2.0 technology we are now realizing smarter forms of interaction between businesses and their customers. Customers are being provided the opportunity to tailor how they wish to be communicated with or receive information. Delivering instant information and simple process integration enriching the experience for your customers should be your primary concern. It could be as simple as providing RSS feeds from your articles to creating an online booking and payment system rather than your existing online form.
Create a sticky site and information hub
In order to build a relationship through a website you must give your visitors reason to return. A site that fails to update content, fails to deliver meaningful and relevant content will not attract visitors. Stickiness is a key factor and it is about giving visitors every reason to stick with you because they like what they get form your website. After all why do you need to go anywhere else if you can get what you want at one reliable source? Make your website interesting, create some excitement and stimulate their senses but most importantly deliver rich meaningful content.
Use design to stand out
Design of your website structure, page layout and copywrite is critical to your success. Whilst you may have 30 seconds to gain the attention of those reading your brochures, it has been found that on average you have only 3 seconds to attract the attention of a visitor to your website. Do not bother telling them about you - you need to deliver answers to their problems and questions. Your website must be easy to navigate to locate information and most importantly it must drive your visitors to a point of action. Don't bother with fancy flash graphics or vivid colour schemes that only the insane will appreciate. Remember, your website is a reflection of your business and should at all times be aligned with your corporate branding and imagery. Content needs to be written in a style appropriate to your audience. Identify your point of distinction and the value proposition you take to your market and be sure to make these obvious.
Create a great customer experience
You exist to serve your market. Give them what they want and what they need. Make the event exciting and meaningful. If you can develop a relationship with your customers through the use of Web 2.0 technologies providing interaction with your market. The days of websites being limited to one-way information flow are well over. You want your visitors to feel valued and you need to show that you pay attention to their needs.
The online strategy is the business strategy
Your website should always be developed from a plan and this plan should form part of your overall business plan. As such, your website should at all times deliver to the business objectives contributing in a positive way to bottom line performance. Whilst your internet development plan and your INTERNET marketing plan exist within their own right they should at all limes feed into the overall business sand marketing plans. Too many businesses see their website as being the solution to marketing or sales. Far from it - your website is but one of the tools you employ to deliver to your business objectives. Be sure that th website integrates in to your business processes and supporting existing procedures and resources.
Going green through the web
When was the last time you received a glassy sales brochure? These days if you want the brochure you download the PDF and if you must , you can print it out on your local printer. However, with a move towards reducing carbon usage the web provides an excellent way for businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.
Building communities
Web 2.0 has increasingly made its mark in traditional businesses enabling them to better communicate with their customers and wider market. Blogs, Forums and Bulletin boards provide the vehicle for open communication within communicates and many of these are not being controlled by the businesses but lie in the hands of the subscribers themselves. With such open communication and responding to what they companies are hearing form their market a stronger and more meaningful relationship can be established.
