It's no revelation that nearly any business that wants to succeed in today's market needs to have an online presence. The reasons are obvious: customers are settling into the convenience of instant access and online ordering, more industries are expanding their reach to cyberspace and as time goes on, more of your competitors are getting online themselves. Simply getting your company connected to the Internet and sending out hoards of e-mail won't translate to instant online success. Floundering about in cyberspace without a solid plan does nothing but create a major drain on your company's resources. Here are some ways to compete in the online market without becoming roadkill on the information highway. Secure the almighty domain name. Spread the word. Build an interactive community. Keep the content current. Don't forget your brand image. Redefine customer service. Level the playing field. Keep the future in mind. If you've signed up for Internet access with a major provider, you can easily use that provider's e-mail service as well. Unfortunately, you have no control over the domain name in your e-mail address. To project a serious on-line business presence, you need to register your company's own unique domain name. It's relatively inexpensive and there are several advantages: Registering a domain name means no one else can use it. That's a great place to start when you're building an Internet presence. In the case of Risdall Advertising Agency, "www.risdall.com" is registered for our agency web site, while "www.risdall.net" is registered to showcase our interactive agency. Everyone in the company gets a unique e-mail address. With "risdall.com" registered to our company, every employee has an e-mail address that goes to their own name "@risdall.com". This looks more professional and publicizes your company name with every company e-mail. Finally, unless you want to be mistaken as an employee of America On-Line or another major provider, you should definitely register your company. It's one of the simplest things you can do to start establishing your company's name in the realm of cyberspace. Building a storefront on the Internet doesn't guarantee that people will visit it. Part of creating an online campaign is getting the word out, and you can do this in several ways, including: Register your site. How do users find your site? Typically someone will search for your site in two ways: by typing your product name, company name or brand name into a search engine or directory or by typing your url directly into the address bar. According to the September 2001 Jupiter Media Metrix survey, 47% of users will find your site through the search engines/directories. To be a player in the Internet field you must register at the top search engines and directories and be found in the top thirty results. Otherwise, you have to rely on pr, advertising direct mail and promotions to get your url noticed and remembered by your users. Link your web site to other relevant sites. The more your site displays links to other quality, timely and relevant web sites, the more your customers will rely on your web site as a resource. In the online market, such associations and cross-linking add credibility to your own web site while increasing audience traffic and search engine rankings. Participate in online discussions. Discussion lists are maintained all over the web, and people often visit them or receive them via email in search of expert advice. By joining discussions relevant to your industry, you can build credibility for the information found on your own web site. Promote your site. The web’s greatest strength is its interactivity, which creates a sense that users can get something done immediately. With direct email campaigns, advertising campaigns, affiliate marketing and sponsorships you can tell people about your company and products, then demonstrate how great they are with the click of a button. No other medium allows your users to come to you so quickly upon hearing your message. Once you've got their attention, people will visit your web site because they are interested in the products or services. You keep them coming back by helping them "connect" to the site through interactive content and communication. This can be as simple as contact information or as sophisticated as live, on-line chat sessions that allow visitors to talk to each other. Content should be dynamic and change continually in order to retain the interest and loyalty of your on-line community. Speaking of content, your web site visitors expect relevant information in the quickest way possible. Most people who go online are there for research - they demand high quality, useable information. If you don't meet that need immediately, chances are you won't get many return visits and your site will not be highly regarded in cyberspace. It takes more than a professional writer to produce content for this new medium; be sure the writers you work with are well-versed in writing for online applications, not just transferring print work to interactive formats. Part of maintaining your corporate image is presenting a unified front across all mediums, including your on-line presence. This means more than transferring a company brochure to an online venue. Your brochure qualifies as traditional media, the web is electronic media and there are important differences between them. Finding a service provider who knows those differences will be money well spent, and it will keep your corporate brand strong. You don't need the latest encryption programs and secured credit card processing to produce sales on the net, but you do need a way to respond to your customers. Built-in forms to request catalogs and product information, an 800 line and simple e-mail are all ways to generate leads and produce sales on the net. Plan ahead with a well-staffed, informed call center. People expect customer service to be available during open hours and they expect email replies immediately, so at least put measures in place that will meet these expectations or set expectations at the beginning. The Internet is open 24/7 and if your customer service center isn't, make that clear from the beginning. The low-entry costs of the Internet make it very easy for you to level the playing field between your company and Fortune Five Hundred businesses. If you do things right from the start by registering your on-line presence, integrating this new media with your existing forms of marketing communication and following the other suggestions listed above, you can be sure that your days in the online arena will be more than a passing fad. They'll be stepping stones to a new era of profitability and potential One of the most important things you can do to ensure online success is remember the future. After all, the Internet is a rapidly developing medium, and flexibility and responsiveness are essential to harnessing its power. Knowing where you want your company to be in the future will help you plan an effective website. That's one area where Risdall excels for our clients, because we consistently reevaluate our client's web strategy based on market and online trends. By providing our clients with a plan for progress, we empower them to succeed online no matter how the web changes. These are some of the elements we at Risdall consider most important to an online strategy. Whether you're impressed, intrigued or completely baffled, we'd appreciate the opportunity to hear your thoughts and learn more about what we can do for you.