Successful Online Marketing in the Information Age: Do You Have a Shallow Business Website? (Part 1)

Some industries have been caught entirely off guard like a deer caught in the headlights. Many businesses are still yet to fully realise what this means. Heck, I even see many Internet marketers who don’t appear to fully grasp what this means—for if they did then they’d focus their clients on what is of extreme importance.

Let me first say that it goes without saying businesses today need a website. The next question is what then? Business owners eventually realise that just building a website doesn’t bring in new customers—visitors also need to be attracted to the website!

Many quickly clue into the fact that being found in Google is important—the #1 Web Search site that Aussies and our Western counterparts use. Web-savvy individuals may realise their websites don’t show up for much in Google and so delve into Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or advertising via Google AdWords in order to get found.

At the end of the day, businesses normally end up with a website and expensive Google AdWords campaign and/or ongoing SEO to rank on page #1 for main terms that potential customers search for.

What’s wrong with this? Well, nothing really. In fact, many Australian businesses don’t even get this far with their Web strategy—they just allow their website to remain nothing more than a ghost town. So your business or company deserves a pat on the back if it is successfully pulling in online customers.

However, there is something more foundational to your online business than a mere website.

This “something” is complementary to your website and affects every area of your Web Marketing Strategy—greatly influencing your ability as a business to attract prospects, capture leads and nurture customers. The following question hopefully makes clear what this foundational something is:

Do we live in the “Age of Websites” or “Age of Information”?

The answer should be obvious. The “dot-com boom” came and went. The winners were those websites with substance. Years passed and information became more easily accessible as the Internet flourished and people everywhere used it via desktop computers, laptops, smartphones and touchscreen tablets.

Yet, many businesses today adopt a strategy that they just need a website to "merely" get online. So they hire a cheap website designer, create some text about their business, add some generic product and service information and that’s about it! The website is like an over-glorified business card announcing, “me, Me, ME! Please buy, Buy, BUY!”

This is what I mean by "shallow website" in the subtitle of this article—a website without any real substance or informational benefit to others. So do you have a shallow business website?

If you do then don’t worry, yet. Keep reading the articles in this series. As an online professional who has been in the industry since the Internet took off in the mid–late 90s, I’ll freely share what you can do to change and exactly how and why your business will benefit.

It ultimately comes down to feeding people what they normally can’t get enough of in today’s age—information. Quality educational information.