Staying real and keeping things in proportion
So often it’s easy to get carried away and think that whatever is the latest fad is absolutely the thing to do. So this month I thought I’d provide a few notes about proportion when thinking about your website.
- Your website – is the window to the world, true that anyone will view, but have you analysed your target market properly? Are you trying to engage school children who may not have a computer to shoppers that live in Alaska.
Recently National Rail in the UK was penalised because they offered so many discounts to their web users, that Age Concern raised the objection that Old People were being ignored and were unable to get discounts because Old People tend to buy tickets from the ticket office and had to pay full price.
- e-Newsletters – are you targeting mothers at home, people at work, have you considered the time of day to send the newsletter? Also extremely important if your mailing list is only 500 people and only 20% read it – just how much work are you doing for those few people. Where is the ROI?
20% is not an unrealistic open rate, but remember a much smaller percentage actually read it… it’s a lot of work for a potentially small gain.
- Social Media – conversely if you are following and have a large following on Facebook etc. then you probably don”t have time to read everything that comes in, you also have to stay on top of the various tasks you have set yourself, it all equals work and yes most the universe is on it as well… But they are just like you, hardly able to keep up.
So Social Media too has it’s place, it cannot dominate your efforts, but needs to work in conjunction with your efforts. Again it’s your target audience that counts – if you’re in a ‘social’ business then it will work, but if you’re a bakery selling buns, it may not.
- Blogs – Google does like a blog – if this is your main means of getting news to customers then make sure you’re tracking the statistics on it. What is the purpose of all this news? what is your end goal… just to keep Google happy? Or is it more meaningful to your organisation.
Again it is about keeping in proportion, a Blog is a fantastic tool to really contribute to your industry, your clients and your business. But if all you’re doing is posting press releases and getting 3 people a day visiting it, you’re doing a lot of work. So measure your Blog’s success.
That’ll do for now… the web and your website can open big doors… but all in proportion to your business needs and that largely depends on your customers and audience. Certainly food for thought.