Written by Daleen Gouws, founder and CEO of Edge Communications
A website is not just a website; it is a tool to help you communicate your business goals to your online audience to build and grow your organisation. A visitor should never be confused to exactly what it is that you do or how you can help them. When a person arrives to your website that visitor should be given the option of how they want to interact with your business. A website itself is a great tool to help you achieve many different marketing goals where your business grows and is a vital tool in brand building, providing you with the knowledge of who and where your customers are.
Whatever your business might be, an integrated communication strategy is the most important aspect of your site. The communication strategy is all about how to reach your audience, how to grab their attention, how to create decent content, not just content for the sake of it. Websites are the first port of call for any potential client or customer. Websites are resources, with information that answers the questions customers may have, descriptions of products and services, reviews, case studies, testimonials, contact details and much more. In a nutshell, if your customers are kept informed then they are more likely to buy and return. But without a good website development, businesses can fall short of achieving their desired results.
Many communication practitioners and business owners are under the impression that it is easy to create a website. Unfortunately, it is not just as simple as getting a designer and a web developer together to design and create a website. Often communication practitioners forget to include the essentials of an integrated communication strategy on their clients’ websites. A website is a vital link with the outside world and needs to be interactive user-friendly. It reflects your organisation and what it represents. That is why it is of the utmost importance to include your company’s communication strategy in your website. Your organisation’s culture, vision and mission need to be reflected on your website as well.
Public relations planning, content images, media strategy, branding, identity, advertising strategy and social media strategy are some of the necessary components and elements and cannot be achieved by only doing a quick and simple website design. If you would like to succeed in effective communication with your internal and external stakeholders, you need to include a communication strategy in the layout, content, and user-friendliness of your website.
A website needs its own strategy that is in line with the organisation’s communication strategy. Design and integrate the various types of messages that you would like to communicate to different markets and stakeholders via your website. Only then can you start with proper content planning to ensure you do not lose the essence of your brand on your website.
If you want your business to flourish, web development is crucial. Developing a well-designed, professional looking website will get your foot in the door of the online market and give you a base from which to build your clientele. Giving your business the online presence it deserves is crucial to your brand. It is extremely important that every business has a website that consists of an integrated communication strategy.
The more professional your website is, the more advantages you can gain. Join digital communication specialist, Daleen Gouws from Edge Communications for an interesting and exciting workshop on the Components of a Strategic Communication Website.