MAKE YOUR WEBSITE WORTH $100,000

This is hypothetical idea am suggesting. However, one can say there are corporate websites that are worth more than that. Imagine if a firm’s website were to be taken down in an emergency situation, they could pay $100,000 to anyone who can replace same thing. Mind you that a lot of things would go into it to make it worth that much. For instance, the loyal customers who visit your website every week, the image it gives your firm, the  sales, the fact that it is a channel, history etc. This implies that, it is not just the app or programme but what it stands for and does, the image and history it has garnered over time. So that, if somebody were to take it down and ask you to create another one without the same concept, history, image and clients it has generated you’d go on your knees and beg. Why? It is a Branded Website.

A website like that means it is one that offers great benefits to the firm and its clients.  Having said that, there are some small businesses that have no website, or if they have it is just a database. You should know as a business, a website can serve as machinery or a great resource that drives profitability and growth.

Social media marketing, content marketing, conversion marketing, digital marketing are all under one umbrella which have been sparked up by the internet.  The statistics show in Europe that a sizable percentage of people are on the internet everyday through all manner of devices with prevalent ones been mobile phones. The emergence of android phones has heightened this effect. People don’t do anything without first making an inquiry on the internet. For myself, if you post an add somewhere I wouldn’t see it. Even when am in a cab I seriously browse websites on the internet with my phone. You have to go where your customers are. Africa is similarly migrating unto the internet. The new generation are so hooked to the internet that when they have problem with their mobile devices, they’d starve and use the money to repair them. People are twitting, facebooking, whatsapping and information just drops onto their phone in real time.

For you to build a website to be worth such amount it means it should offer some benefits. 

Branding; people are able to make an opinion about your brand through your website. Especially when you build a reputation as a thought leader, it helps you to develop a following which can be leveraged for many company objectives.

Promotion; old communication media has become so expensive that most people can’t even do a simple advertisement.  The cost of adverts on a news paper, magazine, 30 minutes on TV and radio is astronomical. Social media is cheaper. If you are smart, you can advertise using your own skills while you do few paid social advertisements. There are even free advertising popular websites like Google trader and tonaton (Ghana) which are fast gathering a huge following.

Better targeting and sales: with your website you are able to target customers with relevant and contextual services. This is so because social media metrics is in abundance and data on your customers has never been easier to obtain.

Income; your website can make you income. If yours is not bringing in money then rethink your strategy and do something about it.

What price would you have to pay to make your website worth more than $100,000? 
  

You should be computer savvy. This doesn’t mean you should be a website designer and use PHP and other programming languages, but you should be able to design a simple website. It is not difficult, these days we are moving from programming language to using graphic like we moved from the old Dos to windows operating system. You ability to do it yourself would help you to make any changes whenever you want which is even better than having a webmaster (it’s situational). For me, when I think of anything small I like to do it immediately and a webmaster would frustrate my efforts. Hence, I’d prefer to use a blog I can control than a website that when my webmaster has traveled, would not be updated and would send wrong signals to my clients and damaging my brand in the process.

You should have a website plan. It should be branded with its own mission, objectives, strategies, and tactics and so on. This is the most important aspect as this stage is what would make it worth $100,000.

You need to practice actions that can make it worth this much.

·        Design, add to and optimize your website frequently. It’d keep customers surfing and staying loyal to your brand.

·         Benefits for customers; it should deliver value for your customers. For instance, a school website can teach, network students etc.

·         It should be a focused website, not one that sends different signals to clients and confuses them as to what it is about.

You should use website analytical tools well. It helps to provide relevant content for your customers and saves you from making costly mistakes.

Market your website. You do this so that people would see it and bookmark it. Recently I saw that some of the networks in Ghana are doing ads on goal.com and I said they are taking all the money away while they stay in Europe. Ghanaians like the website!

Maintain a good website mechanics. That is to say the design, speed of loading, the colors and so on should be excellent.

Authenticate your website; some websites are too impersonal. Put your picture on it. Putting your registered company on it makes people feel that they are dealing with a person out there and not a robot. Reply the emails and chart when there is the opportunity.

The list is endless you have to do research and find more. Please remember, that for your website to be worth more than one hundred thousand dollars and machinery that your business can’t do without, it has to be a well branded website.