Websites
Which would you choose? A visually stunning website that contributes nothing to profitability, or a more modest version that brings in new business. Ideally, you would want both, but if you had to choose?
Website failure
It's a problem experienced by far too many businesses: they invest in a beautiful website expecting it to generate new revenue, but nothing happens. Indeed, we heard the story so often that it became one of the reasons for launching Diadem Business Solutions.
The most common reason for this failure is the assumption that a website alone is the key to success: "If we create an attractive site, customers will visit and new orders will follow". But it doesn't work. Success requires more than a good looks.
Further reading on this issue may be found in our article: Why do so many websites fail?
Goal-driven websites
At Diadem we encourage our clients to see the website as a business tool, which forms part of a business process. And the only acceptable measurement of success is the extent to which that process serves the organisation's goals. For example:
- Generating sales leads
- Reducing costs through self-help customer service
- Selling products online
Having explicitly defined the purpose of the website, every component of the process must serve that goal. The process includes much more than visual appearance, for example: search engine optimisation, promotion, conversion and up-selling tactics, measurement and visitor analysis.
Our over-riding aim is to provide solutions that work - websites that pay their way!
Website services
Diadem offers end-to-end solutions from goal definition to goal measurement. We work with existing websites and we manage new build projects. Our services cover:
- Planning - defining the objectives and project plan
- Technology - choosing the appropriate platform
- Structure - based around the goals and the targeted customer's profile
- Appearance - off-the-shelf stock graphics or bespoke
- Text content - writing articles, product descriptions, advertising copy
- Rich media content - images, product photography, flash, video
- Web infrastructure - domain names, web hosting, e-mail accounts, online payment systems
- Promotion - online advertising such as search engine marketing and online display ads
- Analysis - tools to measure performance against objectives
- Project management - bringing it all together
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