News & Media

A website is no different from any other project: It must be thoroughly planned and managed throughout. Anything less than 100 percent effort in building a website is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Objectives must be defined, briefs written, milestones set, and tasks assigned.

The Internet’s top engines and directories account for more than 95 percent of all search traffic. Yahoo! alone commands more than half the market, and a Compaq study found that 68 percent of 500 million users only looked at the first page of results. For a top 10 search results position, the focus must clearly be on the big players. A company should start with its existing website.

What’s the point of spending money on a great website if no one visits it? In part
one of this two-part series, the basics are covered: making the most of domain names, directory listings, and search engine rankings to improve a website’s traffic.

You compete online against every website that could possibly be of interest to your customers. So how do you satisfy–or better yet–dazzle your customers? Creating a personalized, interactive online experience will pay dividends in customer loyalty. Rise above “data smog” on the Internet to help customers deal with information overload, solve their business problems, and become more productive. Above all, make it easy for them to do business with you.

Staying at a bed-and-breakfast is just like spending the weekend at a friend’s
house — except that you can enjoy the homemade pancakes and coffee without
feeling obligated to reciprocate by springing for lunch later. Of course, you may have to endure a bit of awkward morning chitchat with total strangers, but many consider that a small price to pay for the B&B experience.

These days, businesses use the World Wide Web as everything from storefront to customer service center, discussion forum, billboard, newsletter and employee policy manual. Equally diverse are the stories of how Dane County businesses discover the World Wide Web and get online. Here is one of those stories, chronicling how Food Concepts Inc., Middleton, established its Internet presence.