Web Site Barriers to Entry
October 15th, 2007
As with every business practice, it is important to understand the obstacles to entering a new market. The online market has changed drastically in the last few years bringing new barriers and methods of success.
Experience and ability are the two most important assets to have when building business online. Often for new businesses or businesses just now entering the online market these assets are not directly available and must be purchased. For these new businesses, budget is the primary consideration.
Experience can solve many problems before they begin. Having a "tour guide" or consultant help a new web site can be the difference between a successful startup and a web site that struggles through all the same problems and traps the "other guys" face. Experience is a shortcut for time.
Ability often comes with experience but is not the same thing. Ability includes the variety of services supported. Ability also includes being available for the project. Those with high amounts of ability are often time-constrained, but know how to get things done.
Budget for a new web site includes many factors including domain registration, web hosting, site design, site upkeep, and site promotion. Depending on the scale of the site, your industry, competitiveness and customer response these costs can vary greatly.
Discipline is a major factor for keeping timelines and getting the most ROI.
Patience is critical for dealing with site promotion issues, especially SEO. As Rome wasn’t built in a day, your online success won’t come overnight. There are many external factors that you must overcome and that means time.
Your customer base or target market will have a huge influence on your web development. Are your customers online already? Will they need training? Are they content with their fax machines? Are they purchasing online or just shopping for information? Determining the technology level of your customers and what they expect before you start will help ensure success down the line.
Offline integration is critical especially if you have an existing business model. Giving your online business less attention than your brick and mortar establishment is a big mistake. Customer service, responsiveness, availability and all the other concerns a business has apply online as well as off.
A chain of command is critical to make sure the customer needs are met and that each person involved in the project knows what their responsibilities are. This prevents details from falling through the cracks, allows for proper budgeting and timelines, ensures fresh content goes up regularly, and allows better service for your customers.
SEO Barriers to Entry
Search engine traffic reaches an international audience and has a potential audience of millions. This makes it highly attractive but there are some factors that make ranking well difficult:
Google has a filter called the Sandbox. It holds new sites in stasis while it determines their merit. This filter is in place to discourage spam and takes anywhere from 6 to 18 months to get out of. The more competitive the keywords sought, the longer the filter. This means your site will not appear for the keywords that generate the most traffic and that you will need to use other methods of getting traffic until this filter is lifted.
The amount of competition you have in your field, particularly the competition going after the same keywords you are. The regular rules of engagement apply – whoever is faster, better and stronger will get to the top. Often bidding wars are created for Adsense terms making this option more expensive.
Site and backlink age is a big factor with Google who assumes age can not be faked. So all things being equal, the site with the most time online will get placed above a newer site. Also links to a site are granted more power as they age.
Generating traffic for your web sites happens in three areas:
- Offline Promotion – Promoting your web site through “traditional” channels including printed items like business cards, letterhead, envelopes, quotes, receipts & invoices, fliers, etc. You also want to include your web address in any advertising you do.
- SEO – Search Engine Optimization - The practice of making your web site as receptive to search engines as possible so you get the highest placement possible in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This includes onpage factors such as site structure, keyword use and placement, proper use of code and many, many more. This also includes offpage factors which is usually getting as many links pointing to the site as possible.
- SEM – Search Engine Marketing – Along the same lines as SEO, but SEM often employs paid tactics to drive traffic such as Google’s Adwords.
Return visits are critical to site success. Most online shoppers do not make a purchase the first time they visit a site so when you get a visitor to your site, you need to encourage their return.
This can be done through onpage factors such as "bookmark this site" links but there needs to be a larger machine at work here. Namely tools and resources the visitor can’t get somewhere else. This means adding unique content on a regular basis. This content will also establish your site as an authority, something the search engines like a lot. And quality content will generate natural backlinks.
Generating conversions starts with return visits but also has to do with attracting the right viewers to your site. More popular keywords may do you a disservice if they don’t attract "buyers".