Chances are good that if you don’t yet have a company Web site, it’s not because you don’t want one.

Maybe you’ve been putting it off because other priorities seem more pressing. Maybe you’re concerned that designing, building and maintaining a Web site is complicated, time-consuming, labor intensive, expensive—or all of those. You’d rather not worry about it.

Well, guess again.

Affordable electronic tools can now automate the site building process. All you do is select the design you want. You can also import your logo, corporate colors, tag lines, product lines, or service icons and marketing messages so your online marketing is consistent with offline branding. No need to wait any longer.

Assuming you’ve registered a domain and already have a Web hosting service, check out this four-step process to create and publish your Web site. Then cruise the tips that follow to keep your Web site timely and on-message.

Web Site wizard

You can create a professional-looking Web site in 4 fast steps by using Microsoft Office Publisher 2003, included as part of Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition.

1. Select the type and design of your Web site using one of several Web Site wizards found in Publisher 2003.
2. Convert your existing marketing material into Web content, if you have content you want to reuse.
3. Customize and polish your Web site before publishing it.
4. Publish your site – right from within Publisher.

Hone your online message

Your Web site should reflect the kind of business you run in look, feel, content and purpose. Don’t put up the site and walk away. Make sure you keep it up-to-date and that the site positioning and format jives with your offline marketing. If you shift messages or logo, don’t forget to adjust the Web site, too.

The best sites provide users with information they can act on. Aside from promoting e-commerce which is an article of its own, your Web site can encourage users to:

• Download a report or article.
• Print out white papers or product information.
• Communicate with you or with branch offices or partners.
• Contribute opinions, customer feedback or client testimonials.
• Link their site to yours.
• Register to receive a prize or free content. You can also then capture customer personal data (just make sure you post a privacy policy).
• Fill out a form that leads to a sales call or similar follow-up.
• Sign up to become a member of a frequent buyer or loyalty club.
• Become a premium customer with VIP access to deals or information.
• Subscribe to a service or e-newsletter.
• Become a distributor of your products.

Navigation rules

The online mantra is: Utility. Utility. Utility. Fancy graphics and animations only slow your page loading time and make users impatient. Simple is always better.

Other architectural guidelines:

• Make sure users don’t need to return to the homepage to navigate through the site.
• Set up sub-page URLs so if customers type in the product name rather than your company name, they’ll still find you.
• If you market a sale, a discount, an event, or a promotion, make sure that’s the first item users see on the homepage. Don’t make them work to find it.

Track results

Once the site is up, set up a system for capturing information, either in-house or by using the fee-based Microsoft bCentral Site Traffic Analysis.

That transforms your Web site into a marketing tool that can tell you which sites and search engines visitors are clicking from or which pages draw the most traffic.

You can learn which visitors are returning customers and which are new.  You can also discover how users typically navigate the site—where and what they click.

Online retailers

E-commerce sites, of course, require special attention. Before setting up an online store, invest some time in researching competitor sites. Compare how they handle services and information about returns, shipping, privacy, and so on. If you plan to set up and manage the site yourself, you may consider using Microsoft® Office FrontPage® 2003.

Some key considerations to think through:

• If you are interested in adding e-commerce functionality to your Web site, such as a shopping cart feature, check out Microsoft bCentral Commerce Manager. 
• It is important to have the security features to protect your customers’ personal information.
• Provide a searchable guide or dynamic database so customers can search the site for products or prices.
• Tools for search engine optimization so customers can find your Web site.
• Include a content management system so you can quickly update prices and product information. Such systems have become much more affordable in the past few years.

By Joanna L. Krotz