Keeping your website fresh with new, updated information and continuing to make it relevant to your target audience is an invaluable part of a smart online marketing strategy.

Unfortunately for many companies, producing what is undoubtedly their most valuable marketing tool – their website – is often a one time only event.

While they may periodically add some current news events, their finished website is not something they really think about too much. It basically serves as a static electronic brochure rather than a dynamic marketing tool that serves their potential customers.

In my opening statement, I said, “Keeping your website fresh with new, updated information and continuing to make it relevant to your target audience is an invaluable part of a smart online marketing strategy." Let’s look at the two key elements of this statement; updated information and target audience.

Updated Information
The vast majority of people use the Internet for just one reason: to find information. Whether looking for a new home, Alaska travel tips or tours, a new car or next week’s weather forecast – they’re looking for information. They’re looking for the newest information and they want to find it easily.

Given this; is the information on your website the most current available or is it outdated? Have you started offering new products or services? Have you taken your business in a new direction? Is the information on your website still relevant to your target audience?

Just as important as updated information, is the ease in finding and accessing this information on your website. It does no good if your potential customer never sees it. Information should be organized logically and easily accessible.

Target Audience
Who do you want to visit your website and buy your product or service?

If you haven't done an analysis of your target audience recently, you may want to consider doing this sooner rather than later. Things change – businesses change, your markets change and your target audience changes.

Some questions to ask:

• Are you focusing more on one particular market?
   
• Are you targeting a specific industry or demographic more now than you were a year ago?
   
• Have the purchasing patterns of your customers changed?
   
• When did you last survey your customers to discover their needs?
   
• Who is your main competition and what are they doing right? Conversely, what are they doing wrong?

Answering these questions will help you in assessing your customers and be better prepared to meet their needs.

Tying it Together
Whether you sell a product or a service, people need and want relevant information to help them in their buying decision. The easier you make it for them, the more likely they’ll buy from you instead of your competition.

As a case in point, I’m currently working with a new online Alaska business that’s in a very competitive market for the services they sell.

After first doing an analysis of their online competition, it was obvious that all of the competition’s websites did only a fair to poor job of organizing their information so that potential buyers could easily find it and thus make an informed purchasing decision. True, some of the sites had excellent, updated information, but it was very scattered and disorganized.

After talking with the company’s marketing director and identifying the demographics and general purchasing habits of the target audience, I reorganized and rewrote the site copy to meet the needs of their principal consumers – sportsmen ages 45 and older with only five or six available days in Alaska. We specifically targeted that market whereas their competition appealed to a very generic audience with no discernable focus.

I also revised the website navigation scheme to make it significantly easier for visitors to find and purchase my client's services. Instead of three to four clicks, visitors must only now make one or two clicks (depending on their location within the site) to make a purchase. We made it quick and easy for customers to reach a purchase decision.

Their Shoes
The old adage of placing oneself in someone else’s shoes holds as much truth in every day life as it does in developing a smart and successful website. You - just like your online customer - want updated, relevant and easy to find information to help make an informed purchasing decision. If a website gives you that, you’re more likely to buy. Your customers aren’t any different.

Give them what they want and they’ll serve you just as well as your website serves them.

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