Hosting The Right Way

How to Match Web Site Content to Visitors Decision Making Stage

An important question to answer when creating or revising a Web site is "What are my visitors' needs?" The answer will drive your site design and marketing decisions.

Customer Decision Making Process

One way to understand visitor needs is to think in terms of the customer decision-making process. Visitor needs vary depending upon their stage in the decision making process.

Karon Thackston, copywriter and proprietor at Marketing Words (http://www.MarketingWords.com) explains by breaking the customer decision making process (i.e. buying process) into at least four stages: Need/Want Recognition, Information Search, Evaluation, and Purchase.

If a visitor has already made the decision to purchase a product or service, for example, she needs easy ordering options. If the customer is early in the decision making process, however, she needs more general information.

Information or Sales Oriented Content?

Dee Kreidel, owner of Dax Development Corporation, recommends identifying a site as either an information site (for early decision stages) or a sales site (for late decision stages), but not both:

"Our experience with our clients demonstrates that most people will not shop at a site if they see it as an informational site because their state of mind/focus is different when they are there -- they aren't necessarily looking to shop, they are wanting information."

Attracting the Right Visitors

By understanding your site visitors' decision-making process and providing them with the right information, you can convert more visitors to purchase. Attracting more of the right visitors can improve conversions as well.

Managing a Sales Site

If you own a sales site, those early in the decision process are not likely to buy from you. Logically, attracting visitors who are late in the decision making process will increase conversion rates.

One way to do this is to have a presence on information sites that attract visitors in your target customer groups. On the information sites, visitors are gathering information and evaluating options. In other words, they are preparing to make a purchase.

Michelle Horstman, owner of Choice Promotional Products ( http://www.choicepromotionalproducts.com) says, "I do get hits from advertising on 'informative' sites such as www.barmitzvahfindit.com, where they have a vendor area."

For those on a limited budget, Michelle suggests purchasing advertising on sites that participate in pay-per-click programs like Overture or Google AdWords.

"When you list with Google and others on your own, you may have to pay more than your ROI would justify." She explains. "However, when you advertise with an informational site, that site can afford to pay more for the clicks, since they are supported by multiple vendors/advertisers. Ask the site if they'll offer a trial period so you can see how much traffic it is producing."

Managing an Information Site

If you run an information site, the majority of your visitors will be too early in the decision process to purchase. So how can you both attract visitors in the early decision stages and earn revenue?

You can attract information seekers by structuring each page in your site so it gives information on a specific topic. This expands the list of key words through which searchers can find your site.

Other ways to earn revenue from an information site:

- Participate in a few select affiliate programs, which you can promote on topic-specific pages in your Web site.

- Join a targeted advertising network such as Google's AdSense.

- Sell your own advertising space.

In any case, coordinating your Web site marketing and site content to match visitors' stage in the decision making process creates a win-win situation. Your visitors find the information they need and you profit -- through sales, advertising, or affiliate revenue -- by meeting those needs.

About the Author

Bobette Kyle draws upon 12+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, Marketing MBA, and online marketing research in her writing. Bobette is proprietor of the Web Site Marketing Plan Network, http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com, and author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business." ( HowMuchForSpider.com/TOC.htm )

Copyright 2003,2004 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.

Other Article Sites

findabook.com  moneycd.info  a-mortgage.info   about-lemon-laws.info  aboutstudentloans.info
all-about-publishing.info  auctions-articles.info  bestcollege-university.com  bestispconnection.com
biblefolder.com  blogger-website.com  books-used.info  brokers-guide.info  buywindows.info  cable-dsl.info
career-miner.com  carpel-tunnel.info  cashinaflash.info  cashloanreviews.info  casinobell.com  chat-house.info
clearmycredit.info  collegeloantips.info  crones.info  depression-articles.info   dirnic.net  dishguides.info
divers-below.com  expodog.info   financewizz.com  fire-insurance.info  getgood.info  handleit.net   it-idea.info
health-supplies.info  hosting-right.com  insidealert.com  insurance-facts.info  jobs-employment.info
justgood.info  lookgold.net   lowcost-travel.info  money-source.info  myhostzone.info  numisblog.com
peoplesearchfinder.info  pr-articles.info  realeas.com   refinancing-guides.info  spyware-remove.info
telelot.info  the-law.info   toppaid.info  travel-deals.info  travelcorrect.com  wedding-guide-site.com
your-blog.info  your-credit.info

Should Prostitution be Legal? ProCon.org Investigates the Selling of Sex with New Website
The D.C. Madam, 5 murdered women in Ipswich, and Hawaii House Bill 982 have aroused interest in the question of whether prostitution should be legal. ProCon.org went to the scholars and the streets to find the answers.

Commercial Mortgage Lender American Financial Exchange Announces Launch of New Web Site for Home Loan Lending, Refinance Loans and More
American Financial Exchange, a residential and commercial mortgage lender, announces the launch of its new Web site. With more than 50 years of experience, the experts at American Financial Exchange give invaluable service to help customers receive competitive rates on commercial lending, home loan lending, grant loans and more.

Lets Make Your Website #1
Their is simple way of making your website rank top and search optimized.Step 1.

New Website Helps Visitors Find Solutions to their Materials Handling Challenges
Abel Womack, Inc. has launched a new website which enables visitors to match their needs with a wide range of products and design services to solve their materials handling equipment and operations challenges.

Ways to Show Your Support on Memorial Day: Visit VetFriends.com - The Largest Web site Honoring U.S. Veterans
VetFriends.com honors the many brave men and women who have given their lives in the service and protection of our great country -- and would like to thank all of our veteran brothers and sisters, active and reserve military of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. Your service, sacrifice, honor and courage has protected the American people and has preserved our Freedom. On Memorial Day and all year long, VetFriends.com salutes, thanks and honors all who have served.

Should I Divorce Him? New Website Explores Why Couples Divorce and Helps Women Decide
Online destination offers divorce advice for any woman

Seshn.com Mixes Action Sports, Music and Art with New Lifestyle Community Website
Qliq Media, a new digital media company announces the launch of a new lifestyle community called Seshn.com. Seshn is a niche blog network focused on skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing and the lifestyle that surrounds these sports. By focusing not just on the sports themselves, Seshn is trying to bring the culture to the forefront of the community and make sure that it doesn't go unnoticed.

Law Firm Hecht & Associates Launches New Website To Provide Greater Support for Successful Criminal Defense, Family Law, and Civil Litigation Practice
Hecht & Associates specializes in criminal defense and family law throughout Maryland and Washington DC. Hecht & Associates has extensive litigation experience including defending high-profile criminal prosecutions in federal court, and handling a high volume of serious felony offenses prosecuted on the state level. With headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, Hecht & Associates is easily accessible to clients in and around the D.C. Metropolitan area.

TeeBeeDee Moves Baby Boomer Experience Network to OpSource On-Demand: Acquires On-Demand Services not Available from Managed Hosting
OpSource(TM), the SaaS delivery experts, today announced that TeeBeeDee (www.tbd.com), a community for people 40 years old and older, has chosen OpSource On-Demand(TM) to deliver its online experience network. Within months of launching TeeBeeDee via a managed hosting provider, the company realized it needed more services to reliably serve its users. TeeBeeDee found those services in OpSource On-Demand.

Web Site Builder - Designing And Utilizing
The nature of international commerce has been radically altered by the advent of the Internet. Technological developments have revolutionized the entire system. The Internet is now used by almost everyone. Millions of homes, businesses and worldwide institutions are now able to connect electronically.

Doomed If You Do Not Optimize Your Website
Whether you are starting with a new site or you already have an existing one, you need to spend time or marketing, link building, keyword optimization, content building and traffic building. Here are SEO tactics you can use to optimize your website.

Unlocking The Potential Of Using Expired Domain Names
When registering your domain name you are paying for a certain amount of time to use it. This means that should you allow the contract to expire your domain name could be bought up by other companies. As the potential of internet exposure is becoming more widely realized domain names that are directly associated to you and your business are becoming more difficult to secure.

InternationalStudent.com Announces Launch of New Website
InternationalStudent.com, the premier online destination for those engaged in or considering international education, has launched a completely revamped website. The new website features an improved design and streamlined navigation so that visitors can find all products, services, blogs, forums and resources quickly and easily. In addition, much of the content on the site has been re-written, replaced and updated, and new resources have been added.

BOTOX® Patient Information and Education Website Offers Practical Information on Use of BOTOX® Cosmetic Injections
The BOTOX® information and patient education website www.botox-1.com has been completely updated and revamped in order to provide patients with important information regarding the practical uses and applications of BOTOX® Cosmetic for both cosmetic and therapeutic applications.