Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

Table of Contents

For the purposes of business, there are four general categories of websites: e-commerce sites, content sites, lead-generation sites, and self-service sites. Each type of site has a specific purpose. E-commerce sites are intended to sell merchandise, content sites are intended to sell subscription services, lead generation sites generate sales possibilities (most often for high dollar items), and self-service sites are intended to improve customer service and satisfaction. It is within these categories of sites that a company is able to begin establishing metrics for success and planning towards achieving them. Information is the core component to each of the website types, and the main building block for making a website successful.

An e-commerce site’s main objective is to increase sales and decrease marketing expenses. (Eisenberg, digital-web.com) An e-commerce site will measure metrics such as sales, returns, unique visitors, cost-per-visitor, conversion ratios, customer satisfaction, and many more. The truly unique aspect of a website versus other tools of business is that nearly everything is measurable. This is still one of the most under utilized aspects of a website that has seemingly been neglected by many small businesses.

The main objective of a content site is to increase the level of interest, the number of readers, and the length of time spent at the site. Content sites generally have advertising or subscription based revenue models, often consisting of a hybrid mix of the two models. Some of the measurements of success for a content site include unique visitors, click-through rates on advertisements, number of subscribers and cancellations, and average length of visit.

Appendices
(All in a single document) Appendix 1-1: Overture Search Term
Research Tool

Appendix 1-2: Wordtracker Search Query Research Tool

Appendix 1-3: Google Sets Website Theme Research Tool

Appendix 1-4: Reach/ Acquire/ Convert/ Retain

Chart Appendix 2-5: Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Information Architecture Flowchart

Appendix 2-6: Search Engine Themes Pyramid Information Architecture Example

Appendix 2-7: Webpage Download Time by File Size Chart

Appendix 2-8: Expected Locations for Common E-commerce Elements

Appendix 2-9: Website Usability Checklist

Appendix 2-10: Text Vs.Code Ratio/ Content Near the Top of Souce Code Examples

Appendix 3-11: Overture Bid Price Tool

Appendix 3-12: Webalizer Website Visitor Tracking Tool

Appendix 3-13: AW STATS Website Visitor Tracking Tool Appendix

3-14: Clicktracks Website Statistics
Analysis Tool

References
Author Notes

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Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites Table of Contents

Planning, Developing, and Promoting a Successful Small Business Website

Types of Websites - Page 2

Types of Websites

Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

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