By Doug Fouts, Managing Director at Xapsis Integrated Marketing
Let me ask you a question, how many website designers and
developer business and services do you think there are in a 50 mile radius of
your company’s location? Odds are, when
you account for one man operations working from home, online services through the
likes of 1&1 and Intuit, all the way up to ad agencies that offer a much
greater degree of sophistication and an even higher price tag there are more
than dozens all around you.
I’ll be honest; I’m not interested in Xapsis being just a
website design firm. I am all about our
company becoming a WEB PRESENCE builder. A
fair question is certainly, what is the difference?
A website is something that potentially can be designed with
little more than a logo, a third party content management system like Wordpress
or Joomla, some pictures and a few paragraphs.
In that case it’s often a flat tool that does little more than hold a spot on the World Wide Web through a
domain name and some hosting fees, and says
little more than your company exists.
There are many businesses out there that have that kind of website.
What is required, to not just survive but thrive in today’s
world, is for your business to have more than that, you need a web
presence! A web presence is a living,
growing and changing strategy to announce, enhance and amplify your brand in a
world that is increasingly digital-centric.
It includes not a static, dated or template designed website, but an
interactive, online portal that makes your brand, who you are, what you do and
why people should want to do business with you, jump off the screen and entice
people to drive deeper into your message and services. It also includes a strategy to take that
portal and make it accessible in a mobile format, and it spreads the word
virally through social media outlets. A
web presence is more multifaceted than just having a website, if it is done
right, and it must leverage many new media channels to touch people and remind
them of why they absolutely want to do business with YOU.
Think about being at a party or any large gathering of
people. Individuals are milling about
making small talk, some you know, some you don’t. Conversations are animated at times, subdued
at others, and then suddenly someone new enters the room and all eyes are drawn
to them. There is something about this
person that makes people sit up and take notice, the way they carry themselves,
the confidence with which they speak with an air of authority or expertise that
comes through. You can’t help but want
to interact with them; they just have a certain…presence.
The parallel is clear.
Do an online search for your type of good or service in your area and
what do you find? You are surrounded by
competitors who are trying to mingle with your target market segment. Some of their sites are full of flash and
noise, some are staid and stodgy, but what if when they hit your site they felt
a certain presence? What if they
were drawn to your message, enticed by your brand and really desired to drive
deeper in to get to know you? What if
you were set apart because of your obvious expertise in your field and your
site spoke with an authority that made people want to interact with you? In fact, they wanted what you had so much
that they talked to you through their mobile devices, and followed you through
your social media channels. The next
thing you know, they are asking you questions and engaging in discussions with you,
and you are asking for and getting their business! Now THAT is having a web
presence.
I began with a question, and I’ll end with a thought. If you are involved with a company that has
settled for the idea that you can only EXIST on the web, but technology and
your competitors have passed you by, why not try to establish a real WEB
PRESENCE that makes waves, stirs up leads and produces real results.
