In previous posts I’ve rattled on about the importance of having a contemporary, professional website, and that owing to the need for regular updating, a website is not a discrete effort but is an on-going, challenging and ever-evolving project. Not unlike raising a teenager.

And, as with teenagers, every website not only offers unique and difficult challenges, they almost always demand the very resources that the parents lack. But don’t despair. Like parenting a teenager developing a website is a learning experience which…eventually…has its rewards.

No, the website will not someday call you up and sheepishly tell you that you were right about not getting a tattoo on her forehead, but it will – if done right – return benefits to much greater than the time, effort and resources you put into it.

By the way, if you’ve raised a teenager, I understand if the prospect of revisiting all that pain and doubt seems off-putting. Just bear in mind that you can always abandon a website without concern that it will spend its entire adult life complaining to a therapist about having rotten parents.

Back to business. Tucked into that phrase about the great benefits that a website can return is the caveat, “if done right.” By this I mean going further than just building a great site, because mo matter how well-designed, hip, state-of-the art, your website is, a website solves just one part of the Internet puzzle, and that’s not even the most important part of the solution.

The MOST important part of any website is the thinking behind it or, if you consider the process of developing a website, the thinking that should precede the development. As befits the context of this blog, I’m referring to the marketing strategy kind of thinking, the “who, what, why.” Briefly, “What are you selling?” “Who are you talking to” and “Why should they care?”

And for those of you who wouldn’t soil your virtual hands with anything so crass as commerce…you know who I’m talking to: political activists, non-profit utopians, my fellow bloggers – you ARE in the business of selling…your philosophy, your goals, your wit. So, listen up.

Let’s assume that you’ve done your homework and actually know what it is you are selling, who really needs it and why they buy it. That’s part one.

Part two is creating a compelling, memorable message: the words and the images that will capture the eyes, hearts and minds of your target audience. You did that as well? Great!

Part three is building an easy-to-use, comprehensive, rich (in content), interactive and…interesting website. Why did I add the word “interesting?” Because I’ve seen all too many websites that meet the first four criteria but seem bland and conventional.

Part four is assembling the site with an eye towards how the Internet works. Use lots of keywords and phrases that your target audience is likely to choose when they are searching for your product (“concept,” “philosophy,” or “cause” for those of who don’t sully your hands with commerce). You’ll find these keywords, phrases, etc., through research and testing. Testing? Yep. Remember in the beginning when I was that a website is an on-going, ever-changed, yada yada project? Part of the evolution of your website is trying out ideas to learn what works.

Put a feature or function in your site that is designed to provoke a measurable response, e.g., you want the visitor to ask for something so you can gauge the effect of said feature or function. Repeat as necessary until you’re confident that everything on the site meets the goals you established in Part One.

Finally – no you aren’t done yet – you need to “market” you’re the site to the Internet. Bid on those very keywords and phrases that your research told you to build into the copy. Promote your blog, podcast, newsletter to other like-minded websites and individuals. Send out letters or postcards to your customer list (don’t you dare tell me that you don’t maintain a current customer list) letting them know about the cool stuff you just added to the website. Submit press releases to every online and analogue (paper) publication you can find with the slightest interest in your product.

For the “techier-than-thou” set, yes, I know that the jargon for this process is “closed-loop-marketing.” But here’s the deal: effective marketing is “closed loop,” namely you try something, if it works keep doing it, if it doesn’t stop.

In the first two posts, I covered why you need an up-to-date, professionally done website and a couple of tips on creating content that will encourage a web surfing visitor to hang around your site and learn more about your wonderfulness. Now let’s consider ways we can use the Internet’s weird and complex DNA to drive traffic to your site.

I’m talking about Search Engine Marketing.

A business with a substantial marketing budget can promote their website any number of ways from putting the “www” on business cards and fleet vehicles to TV spots. But I began these articles with the suggestion that the first, best, place to put limited marketing dollars was the Internet, which presumes that you have no budget to promote your website using other vehicles, so to speak.

Fortunately, the Internet makes this pretty easy thanks to the technology behind the “search engine.” By the way, if you think you know how it works, guess again. The brainiest folks Google can find pull all-nighters to keep you, me and everyone else in the dark. No matter, the important concept here is that the Internet is designed such that words and phrases are easy to find, and you can use this “search-ability” to your advantage.

Type a word or a phrase into that horizontal box on Google and faster than you can say, “I wonder how I found anything before the web was invented…” the first of a seemingly endless number of pages appear with links to websites, articles and such all of which include the word you searched. Leaving aside exactly how Google decided to pick these links, or rank them from first to last, the important thing is that Google presented them to you in large part because they contained the word or phrase you searched.

So, to make your website more “searchable,” make sure to use words that reflect your product or service. And be sure these words are coded in HTML. Words that appear in graphics, such as JPEG files, can’t currently be “read” by Internet search tools. However their titles (Alt tags) can be read so these should also feature descriptive, searchable words.

Search-ability is a good start but because the Web is both an incredibility huge and mind-bogglingly crowded universe, but it’s only a start. Depending on the number on other sites that feature or promote content similar to yours, and the amount of time your site has been “live,” it might take years – if ever – for your site to show up on the first page of someone’s search results, that is, in the left-hand column of the page (on Google).

But, look to the right side of the page under the heading “Sponsored Links.” Over here the rules are different. Google, in its infinite wisdom “sells” the right to buy position in this column (Yahoo and MSN provide similar services.) through an auction process they call “pay-per-click.” And it’s pretty simple. It’s also been around long enough that you may well have some idea how it works so I won’t go into the details. My point here is that it does work.

Choosing a list of “keywords,” and testing them against a budget will bring traffic to your website. Of course, you’ll want to track leads so you’ll have on-line form and some sort of bribe…I mean motivation…to get the visitor’s e-mail address  – so you can learn which keywords are bringing what kind of response. The bidding process for keywords – namely, how much you pay for a “click” – is much like day-trading so I advise that you get some experienced help.

In the end, like everything else associated with the Internet, the amount of money needed to drive traffic to your site is a pittance when compared to the cost of any other form of advertising, which makes the Internet, for those of us with limited marketing funds, the first…best…place to put your money.

In my previous post I proposed that the Internet is the cheapest, most immediate and most pervasive way to project your company’s message over the widest possible audience, but to take full advantage you need a site that’s up-to-date. Like ties and fish, websites do not age well. And unless you run an amateur business you need a website that’s designed and built by folks who do it for a living. If fact, for best results, even folks who build sites should have someone else do their site. Remember the adage about the lawyer who defends himself in court…

What you can do for your site is prepare a statement for your website’s home page that will capture the visitor’s attention and keep them from moving on. It should be a short phrase that describes – in as few words as possible – what beneficial difference using your product or service will make in someone’s life. Does it make the user smarter, healthier, stronger, sexier, prettier, or my favorite…richer? The short statement on your Home Page must present an important difference or change that buying from you will make in someone’s life.

Let me put it another way. You meet a stranger and you have maybe five seconds to say something that will capture that person’s attention in a way that will give you another precious few minutes to begin forming some kind of connection. I’ll use my business for example. I can say, “I come up with ideas.” “That’s nice,” the other person thinks and perhaps adds, “…and that means what to me?” I’ve failed to make the connection. They’re busy. I’m history.

Or I can say, “I come up with ideas that can help you increase your sales, profits and the value of your business.” No question now about the implications of my statement. There are other factors that effect whether or not we connect, but at least I’ve been clear about the difference I think I can make in this person’s life…and experience has taught me that most business people have more than a passing interest in sales, profits and business value.

“Gosh,” you may be thinking, “I know what I’d like to say but I’m no marketing copy writer…” Excellent, you’re on the path to wisdom. Hire a professional writer. If you don’t know one, I’m guessing that the professional graphic designer and/or website builder you’ve hired know some good writers. And the statement written for the Home Page of your website will work as an ice breaker at your next business mixer, or on the back of your business card.

Now, thanks to a professional look and a persuasive introductory statement your Home Page meets the five second threshold and the visitor is intrigued enough to look around at the rest of the page…better give them a reason to stay longer. How about a testimonial from one of your happy customers? Nothing fancy. ”Steve gave me the recipe for ice…” Short and sweet. And under the testimonial have a “click through” or a link that leads to a secondary page of testimonials.

Finally, your Home Page will no doubt include a short directory of website Sub Pages detailing your products and services the last of which is commonly the Contact Us page. Be sure that page includes several ways to get in touch with you – e-mail as well as phone and fax numbers. And one more thing….a reason for someone to call or write you…today. I know, I know, your quality, service and value should be reason enough to forge a lifelong relationship but what if the visitor is researching for some future need. Include a sign-up form to capture at very least an e-mail, and some sort of persuasion to get them to fill out the form, such as a newsletter, white paper, coupon for a latte at Starbucks.