What is the point of having a website, if you don't keep it up to date with fresh exciting content? Better yet, what is the point of having a website that you do update, but requires changing static html pages developed years ago? Most of you have long since upgraded technologies and have already thought about clicking away. But, before you do, ask yourself; do you truly understand all the technologies behind your website? Have you been properly trained on how to deploy them? Or is your idea of content management signing into your website and copying an article you read in Word and publishing it? If you are hitting all of your website goals and business is great, then so be it. But, if you want to maximize the results coming through your website, you must not only employ as many various methods of marketing as possible, but you must brand each component consistently and effectively, as well as implement each properly.

When you look for a new platform to have your site developed on, or your web design company tells you which they use, ask as many questions as possible. Know what you need prior to seeking it. Above all else, stay on track with your business plan. You are the expert in selling your product or service. Not the company designing your site. You should obviously ask them for advice on how to use their toolsets to sell more. Or, better yet, they should be advising you unsolicited as to what you should be doing.

Here are a few things to think about and have in mind when beginning your planning.

Web 2.0 - The web has changed immensely in the last few years. Thinking is radically different than it was just 5 years ago. Certainly you've heard the term "Web 2.0" thrown around, and most likely dismissed it as another empty Internet marketing ploy (I know I did - and continue to do). Web 2.0 is a highly misused term and you should therefore be skeptical when you are pitched on that alone. However, the ideas behind Web 2.0 have roots dating back to the 90's. Long term goals that have finally come to fruition. Essentially, community building and networking in as many different ways as you can to brand yourself. Sharing information across the web is now easier than ever before and there are thousands of applications you can leverage to get your name out there in front of buyers. There’s no longer an excuse other than sheer laziness.

Over the next few weeks I am going to examine various technologies available to assist you in marketing your website, as well as some that will enhance your existing customer relationships or increase your internal productivity. Today though, I am going to discuss some basic platforms upon which you can build your new site.

Regardless of what type of site you are assembling, there are three types of programs that should be able to satisfy 99.9% of your needs. In order of best probable solutions, starting with the most likely first, those are Content Management Systems, Blog Software, and Shopping Cart Software.

Content Management Systems, in my opinion are the best choice for any web site. There are thousands of solutions out there and selecting one can seem a daunting task. A good CMS will offer both Content Management and Website Management, allowing you to not only add articles, media, etc., but also add functionality in the form of add-on modules. Enterprise solutions are costly, but I will not be reviewing these, as I can’t speak intelligently to their features, and personally think the readers of this blog are looking for smaller, more cost effective sites for their business. Rather, I will be discussing open source solutions which can be implemented rapidly, learned easily, and accomplish nearly everything their proprietary counterparts charge so much for.

The three best open source content management systems are, in my opinion, 1.) Joomla!, 2.)Drupal, and 3.) E107. I have used each extensively, and personally believe Joomla! provides the best platform of any content management system on the planet, although the admin interface can be slightly confusing to new users. Drupal is a very close second. E107 has nearly the same functionality as the two aforementioned, but you should make sure you have an expert in E107 before choosing the system, because the support is lacking compared to Joomla! and Drupal.

Joomla! offers a solid platform to develop literally any type of site on. They have thousands of developers who have contributed functionality that you merely plug into your site once it is in place. The core system itself offers complete content creation and publishing based on user permissions, scheduled dates, etc. You can have employees or other content creators login to the frontend or backend and enter their content in an editor which looks very much like Word. Based on the user’s permissions level, they can either publish the content immediately or set a start and end date for publishing. If you would prefer someone to approve the content prior to publishing, the article will be placed in a queue for approval by an administrator, publisher, etc.

As for URLS of the content, all three systems have the ability to write SEO friendly URLS. Drupal is the most SEO friendly system out of the box, but extensions will allow for any to write equally efficient names. Note the URL of this page “Blog.html.” It’s always better to have logical URLS for search engines to index, rather than index.php or asp followed by a “?” and a string of unrelated variables. You should always make sure your web designer enables this functionality prior to launching your site and having search engines index the content.

Make sure your front page not only briefly introduces your company, but also displays the most recent relevant content additions. This will ensure dynamic, fresh content is displayed on a regular basis for both users and search engines to notice. No one likes a static front page that hasn’t changed in 3 plus years.

Content Management systems allow for an area of page landscape for nearly everything. The navigation, main body, header and footer, sidebars, banners, etc., are all individual pieces of content that are pieced together by your web site template to form the page. These pieces call out to the database each time the page is loaded and the content is inserted then. Meaning you can modify individual elements by themselves, while leaving others the same, to ensure the page will always look different and provide new and useful information to your viewers as necessary, i.e. sales, announcements, press releases, new polls, ads, links, etc. The possibilities are endless here.

Additional benefits of these CMS platforms, is that they all have administrative backend functionality, which allows for you to manage your business on the backend, should you so choose. Billing systems, shopping cart administration, event scheduling, project management, time tracking, task lists, internal announcements, etc. This gives you one central location to serve both your customers and employees, with all data contained in a database separate from the content, easily accessible for reporting, syndication, etc.

If you’ve had positive or negative experiences with any of these CMS implementations, or another that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to chime in. The selection of CMS platforms is monstrous, and there are many solutions out there that I haven't mentioned.

Over the next few weeks, I will be discussing the plugin functionality for these systems, and how you can easily work with those modules to enhance your online presence and bring your marketing strategy online up to par with where it needs to be. Let me know if there are any areas you would like reviewed specifically and I will try to get them on the list.

We have officially launched live assistance on our main website.  This isn't exactly new technology by any means, nor is it in place to "wow" our customers.  It is what it is, and it serves multiple functions efficienty, cost-effectively, and fast.  Nearly all websites could benefit from having live assistance installed on their sites and running at least part of the time.  We only run ours live during our standard business hours.  You may occassionally find it live at other times we have someone logged on and working.  Regardless, as long as it is up during your prime business hours, you will see many benefits almost immediately.  Some of these benefits include:

Establishing Customer Relationships

Live support allows you to identify and monitor visitors to your site real-time.  Existing customers will be identified as well.  So you will know beforehand whether you need to communicate with a focus on sales or support. This type of personalized service goes a long way in differentiating you from compettor websites. 

If your visitor is an existing customer, you can pull up his profile and find out exactly what products/services he or she has purchased from you already, and you will be able to address the customer intelligently and effectively. 

If your visitor is a new customer, you will establish a pre-sales relationship, if only by first name, that gives them a more secure feeling with purchasing your offerings.  Beyond providing enhanced customer relationship building, live assistance can bring us to our next benefit... Identifying customer needs.

Identifying Customer Needs

With live assistance installed on your web server, you can monitor the pages your visitor is viewing.  Whether you have invited your visitor into a live chat, or the visitor has initiated the conversation, you will find it very easy to assess their needs. 

Most potential customers know exactly what they are looking for.  However, they almost never have time to read everything on your site regarding what you are offering.  Generally speaking, when you have the opportunity to speak with the customer, you can guide them to exactly what they are looking for in a fraction of the time they would be able to find the content themselves, all while building a relationship with them and eliminating the chance of them not finding the right information.

Saving your customers time

Your visitors are looking for something specific when they come to your site and often do not have the patience or time to search through everything, only to not find the information anyway and leave your site confused. Live assistance tools can be a very effective solution for such a visitor. All they need to do is to request assistance from a representative.

Using an easy to use text based chat, your sales rep will be able to answer the visitors questions immediately. often times, upselling services is much easier in this low-pressure alternative to telephone sales.

Even if the customer doesn't buy, you are constantly refining your own technique, giving customers the best possible experience on you site, and strengthening your brand.  Remember, your brand is every means by which you leave your mark, and one on one communication is one of the most effective tools to build awareness, trust and retention.

There are far too many more benefits to attempt to list them all.  These benefits will vary depending on your implementation of live assistance.  The possibilities are vast, and many companies can be very creative in how they utilize this powerful web tool.

R.J. Frasca
President & CEO
3 Guesses Media, Inc.

Whether you are launching a new marketing campaign, implementing a new product rollout or repositioning an existing brand, have you thought the entire process through?

To truly stand out in today's marketplace, you need to succeed in every aspect of your marketing efforts. You have to be able to tell your story effectively, quickly and passionately. You need to inspire emotion in your audience and encourage a response. You must be sure to create a memorable impression and certainly have a clear and brilliant up-front image.

Is your budget not where it needs to be to accomplish this? Is your deadline too soon? Sound like a daunting task to achieve everything? Not necessarily. As with everything else, using the right process, and focusing your resources properly will help guarantee success. Keep in mind, creativity is the number one asset you have in your ability to distinguish your product or brand from the rest of the pack. Try to take more of a right-brained approach to your strategy and you may be surprised with your results.

First off, do you have a clear and defined picture of where you need to be? Are your goals realistic? Can you communicate them clearly to your team? If so, you've already gotten past the single most difficult aspect of the process. Once you have your goals clearly defined and mapped out, your team, whether they are internal or outsourced, can leverage their existing expertise and creativity to help you get there.

By taking everyone's contributions into consideration, whether they be your marketing team's or your accountant's, you are ensuring the most diverse and creative solutions to any problem. Although too many people going different directions can often be counter-productive, if you manage the project effectively, you can gradually focus your group and produce truly unique and exciting approaches to any campaign.

Consider any and all channels to communicate your message - online, print, radio, television, etc. Beyond that, broaden your efforts within each channel. Spreading your message in today's day and age requires you to think outside of traditional methods, or even methods that were successful just 5 years ago. For instance, with the surge of Web 2.0 and social networking, the effectiveness of a corporate web page alone has dramatically decreased in online presence. You must also consider turning some attention to sites like facebook.com or myspace.com. Beyond that, you must enhance your content more than ever before to organically grow your search results. The list goes on and on in all media channels. Think outside the box, and you will realize much greater benefits. Don't forget to remain consistent in presenting your message across all channels. Your brand's integrity and memorability depend on it.

Whatever you do, don't get stuck on one idea, just because you fall in love with it. Listen to your team. Listen to the input of everyone around you. Not all customers think the same way as you, and certainly none are as attached to your product or brand. You can't throw away endless money and/or will an idea to work because you think it's cool or brilliant. How you are perceived by your audience will often be drastically different than you perceive yourself. Be ready to adapt and move quickly in response.

Most importantly, make sure when you launch your new campaign, that you and your entire team is behind it. Talk to everyone. Is each person sending the same message? Maintain consistency and support your message from within. Don't lose sight of those goals, or the strategy you've all worked so hard to produce.

And remember, it's the original idea that counts the most, not the marketing behind it.

R.J. Frasca
President & CEO
3 Guesses Media, Inc.