New Rules of Websites: Using Content to Influence the Buying Process

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Editor's Note: The following article is adapted from David Meerman Scott's book, The New Rules Of Marketing & PR: How To Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing And Online Media To Reach Your Buyers Directly, which Wiley published in June '07.

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When prospects use search engines and directories to reach your website, link to it through another site, or respond to a marketing campaign, you have an opportunity to deliver a targeted message at the precise moment when they are looking for what you have to offer. Yet marketers often fail to realize the potential of their Web sites, which must hook buyers in from the start and hang on to them until the sale is complete.

Individuals don't go to the Web looking for advertising; they are on a quest for content. Here are some ideas for how you can make a Web site that takes buyers through their consideration process and moved them toward the point where they are ready to buy (or donate, join, subscribe, etc.), which, of course, is the goal of all Web content.