The Importance of a Web Presence

It seems cliche –

“You need a website”

You hear it from everyone. Your customers, your employees, your vendors…your uncle. It is easy to say a website is important, however the meaning of a web presents is almost lost among the hype. What exactly is a web presents and why should you care?

The question to why having a website is important is the same answer to the question what is the purpose of marketing. I feel some people get so caught up in the latest buzz words in the industry that they forget their business objectives. They join every social media network possible and cram as many features into their website. Remember, marketing is all about effective communication – context and message. Context is important because you need to understand who you are communicating with and when. Think of the television commercial. How effective would a commercial for women’s shoes be on ESPN? My guess is that your money is better spent on air time during Say Yes to the Dress. Messaging is also important as it gives the product a purpose. Back to the shoe example, does it provide comfort? For utility? Or is it meant as a fashion statement? In any case the message is this shoe makes you comfortable/productive/awesome.

Now lets go back to the original question. Why is being on the web so important? Let us look at how a website can fulfill the two marketing needs.

Context
Who is the target demographic? Take note that the goal of a website doesn’t also have to be to acquire new customers. I just recently talked with a business that was fine for customers. What they badly needed was employees and they wanted to impress potential applicants (yes there are companies like that). The point is, have an open mind to who you can reach and why. Your critical demographic will be reached online with a thoughtful web campaign. To explain all the powerful yet relatively inexpensive ways to target that particular context would be a novel. The point I am trying to make is that your web resources can be as global or niche as you need them to be. Leverage that for your business objectives!

Message
Sometimes the most powerful statement can be silence. How does that work on the web? If I type in your organization’s name into Google and your company doesn’t show up…that’s a pretty powerful statement…. negative but powerful. A well done website can quickly communicate that you A) exists, B) are competent, and C) provide meaningful and specific value (i.e. purpose). You should be able to do this without the user even reading all that much on the site (because graphic design is a great messaging tool and really, who likes to read on the Internet?).

I am not about to argue that a web presents will solve all your problems, or is the only strategy that you should pursue. I will argue that it is a powerful tool that many of your visits will use with certain expectations. A web presents is also not just a website. It can and should include social media. Again, you don’t need to use every network. Pick the strategy that fits best with who you are trying to target. The web provides with a lot of options, and I can guarantee you there is at least an option or two out there that your organization can really leverage.

Meet Web Pyro

Web Pyro is a web application and marketing firm which got its start with a meeting at the 2008 Wayne County Fair. It was founded by Brian Boyer and David Lohnes, two very different people who have brought together their talents and passions to produce an exciting company. David has been programming on the Internet before Brian was allowed to surf the Internet. Brian is a recent grad from the Farmer School of Business at Miami U and brings a passion and energy to make Web Pyro a cutting edge company that thrives on working with other start-ups to make their dreams become reality.                                  Greg Peterson was brought on as a graphic designer early on in the process. Greg has a New Media degree from RIT and brings a unique viewpoint to the company along with his great designs. Samantha Sivey joined us this spring working in the area of Sales and Project Management. She hit the ground running and brought us a start-up called CanYouSkinIt.com. In the spring of 2011 we moved into the Pounden Hall of the BioHio Innovation Center at OSU’s OARDC campus. This has allowed us to develop and promote an existing product called ManuscriptTracker.com which was recently spun off into it’s own business. We have received funding from the Wooster Innovation Fund and hired Michelle Young to lead sales for ManuscriptTracker. If you are at the Wayne County Fair stop by our booth and talk with us about the possibilities for growing your business.