Online Marketing: Before or After Website Development?


February 14, 2007

It’s not altogether uncommon; a prospective client calls in and says, “We just finished our website and now we are looking for a marketing firm to drive in new business via search engine traffic and media buys.”

The first thing we do is take a look at their newly designed website after asking for their domain name. Sometimes, no matter how hard it might be for the client to swallow, we have to say, "You have a beautiful website that showcases your product/service as a high-end prestigious brand, but it is not built correctly for online marketing success."

Having a Site That Isn’t Built for Marketing

"What do you mean our site isn’t built for marketing?” they inevitably say. The way a website is programmed has a lot to do with the ability to optimize it for search engines. Without the ability to perform basic SEO enhancements to the website, it will most likely never be ranked high enough on the search engines to be found.

On top of SEO tactics, a website that has poor site architecture or user experience (UX) is going to deter visitors away, causing a poor bounce rate and conversion rate. Some websites have conversion paths that need six steps just to find the price of a product. This type of oversight wouldn’t happen if you’d been thinking about Digital marketing from the beginning of your website development.

When Should You Start Planning For Digital Marketing?

Short answer: Before you even start putting together a design mockup for your website. Having a clear conversion path and site architecture to support that is the foundation for any website. You’ll need to define your target audience, plan your content around that market, develop a simple conversion path for each target market, see what parts of your current site that you can utilize, and more. Without planning for all of these areas, you can’t begin to build a successful website.

If you are considering building or redesigning your website, the time to start planning your Digital marketing is now. Do your due diligence first and then apply that knowledge to have your site built in a way to take advantage of as many online opportunities as possible. Simply put, the marketing of your website begins with knowing what need to go on your website.

Sales & Marketing Technologies is the most established Digital marketing and web development company in Central Florida. Not only do we build beautiful and functional websites, but we also know how to optimize them from day one. Our experienced and skilled teams of Orlando web developers, designers, and marketers work together to give you the best website possible. Contact us today to learn more.

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