Website Design, Consulting, and Marketing Services
Website Design, Consulting, and Marketing Services by Market Action Research
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In this article we cover website design, technology consulting, and marketing services offered by Market Action Research to maximize your web presence and success online. By definition “success” is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. It’s important to understand what a successful website and marketing services looks like to you before we ever begin, so we start by beginning with the end in mind.
Former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln once said “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.” In other words, rather than spending eight hours hacking away at a tree with a dull ax, his mindset involves taking more time upfront to sharpen the ax, which in effect would take less time to chop down the tree. Not only is the latter of these approaches more effective, but will allow for a greater conservation of energy and efforts to get the same job accomplished.
Website Design & Development Steps
If you plan to build a brand new website from scratch or redesigning your existing website there are several steps to consider if you want to have it last for the long haul. Market Action Research is experienced in several web design and development disciplines. Using the best practices, our team can help your business with selling products and services online with e-commerce, help identify opportunities to increase internet sales, better engage and attract customers, revamping website templates, making your website more mobile friendly, custom web projects, revamping exiting website templates, and more. Developing a professional website that is effective, efficient, and long-lasting in it’s capabilities takes research, analysis, planning, execution, and review.
Market Research
Market Research is scientific process and an important step in finding out the current conditions of your company, the marketplace, and any aspects of the business you wish to improve. Some of these measurement tools may already be at your fingertips, while others may require a more active approach to solicit your customers and community for their opinions to refine your strategies and tactics.
During the market research phase, it’s recommended to search online the companies that you admire, while jotting down all the things you like and might do differently. We recommend involving as much of your team as possible during this phase to gather ideas, observations, and to widen your perspectives. Simply put, more eyes see more.
Analysis
Identifying the key areas to focus your efforts will help in creating an effective plan and better understanding the direction you’d like to go in your web technology and marketing projects. The goal here is to refine all the information you’ve gathered into clear and cohesive points that will be actionable in your overall project plan.
Planning
Making a project plan can be one of the most exciting parts in the overall web development process, but is not something that can be rushed if you wish to have the best website, technology services, or marketing campaigns. Taking your time to pull in all the data from your market research analysis and carefully planning the key milestones of the project will keep the project as close to being on schedule, scope, and on budget.
Execution
Since your action plan is in place, you’re ready to take action in the execution of the work that needs to get done to start your next project. Depending on the size of the project you may have a few or several key milestones to review the work, and make sure everything is going according to the plan. Keep an open-mind that things can change or will need to be moved around to better accomplish the objectives at hand. It’s important to ask at several points “Will this help achieve our overall objective?”, because this will help in seeing the bigger picture and thinking with the end game in mind.
Review
During the review phase we asses, document, and gather information about the work that was completed to determine if the goals and milestones were met, and if not, why not. Sometimes it’s normal for changes to be made or modified along the way because it was a better fit for achieving the overall objective.
For example, suppose your overall objective was to have a pizza party with your friends. Initially you might have thought to go buy all the supplies yourself and make the pizza from scratch. Then a suggestion came along that there was a nearby pizza place that would be able to deliver you all the delicious pizza you wanted, on-time, on budget, and exactly how you wanted them. Although it would have been possible to make the pizza from scratch, bringing in the pizza place to cater your pizza party might be the most effective method for a number of reasons.
After your web project is completed, it’s important to regularly check-in on how your website is performing on the web. We recommend integrated analytic tracking on your website, such as Google Analytics, which will help you monitor the success of your website and give you an idea of the key areas that could use some more attention too.
Technology Consulting Services
Selecting the right technology for your business may involve thinking outside the box of how the processes are currently conducted. Staying focused on your actual business objectives and improving your customers and potential customers experiences can often lead to new and more effective ways to accomplish the same or even better results than before.
Hiring a technology consultant can help guide you through the pros and cons of each technology you are considering. Having an expert technologist to see as many of the implications of a new technology that may be selected for implementation can drastically reduce costly mistakes, and make better use of your current technology infrastructure that’s already in place.
Overall, it’s important to stay focused on the overall mission and objectives of your business. In the article “Reimagine Business with Technology” we take a deeper dive into keeping an open mind to new business processes and choosing the right web technologies for your business.
Professional Online Marketing Services
Most if not all companies need to be constantly looking for new ways to make their online web presence stronger, more appealing, and attractive to it’s guests and potential customers. The most effective companies use several marketing methods to reach their customers. Choosing the right marketing services that fit your business needs and matches your overall objectives can help you have the biggest bang for your buck.
Business Search Engine Optimization
Market Action Research team takes pride in taking the time to truly understanding your business, customers needs, and the overall marketplace to present the best fit options for your marketing campaign. Search Engine Optimization is a great starting point for any size business, as it will help put your business in front of your existing as well as new customers. In the article “Search Engine Optimization Marketing” we cover business SEO best practices, important website SEO factors, and how to improve your business website SEO.
Online Advertising Platforms
Online advertising is another highly effective method for more immediate results. Web advertising platforms, such as Google AdWords, can place your ads throughout the web to put your business front-of-mind for new potential customers, as well as your existing clients in search and display ads. The overall reach of online advertising is massive, with most consumers in the U.S. with internet enabled smartphones, your business can reach your potential customers on various platforms including, but not limited to: desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile devices and more.
Mass E-mail Campaigns
Mass email campaigns can be used to inform your existing list of customers about your businesses promotions and campaigns. Companies that send regular e-newsletters have an opportunity to send timely and scheduled releases of information to a large group of customer simultaneously. We recommend using a mass e-mail platform such as, MailChimp, Constant Contact, or iContact for these types of campaigns. We’ve created a couple online video tutorials on YouTube for setting up, sending e-mail blasts, and more using MailChimp. See our MailChimp tutorials for how to start sending e-mail blasts today.
Graphic Design Services
Looking at picture can convey a 1000 words, if not more. Market Action Research can help you design website graphics from scratch, online advertising display ads, logo designs, and more. Having consistent theming in your web graphic designs reinforces your corporate identity throughout the web and in front of customers to put your best foot forward for your brand.
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