GREAT 73 IDEA: Create a Dynamic Web Site

No matter how big or small your company is, your web site has to be functional as well as provide compelling content.

“You need to set up a content management system, customize your content by using landing pages, track all visitors, and write a blog to be distributed to all your social networking sites,” advises Joe Zarrett, founding partner, president, and CEO of Verndale, a Boston-based consulting firm.

Zarrett has been building and optimizing web sites since 1998. In 2010, Verndale had about 300 big and small clients. Even during the recession, the company posted impressive growth of 30 to 40 percent a year.

The biggest challenge facing most small business owners is that their sites have been cobbled together over the years. “They end up painting themselves into a corner with islands of information that don't work well together,” Zarrett said.

So what can you do? He recommends hiring an experienced Web developer who can reorganize your site and add a content management system. Some content management systems are free; others can cost up to $40,000 for a license. These new platforms organize information in a hub-and-spoke fashion. The cool thing is that you just upload the information once, and then it can be distributed to multiple places.

Leave the technology to the experts. Focus instead on tailoring content to fit your customers' needs. Do everything you can to position yourself as an expert in your field.

“One of the simplest things you can do is write a blog for your web site, then distribute the blog via Facebook and LinkedIn,” said Zarrett. “Then, you can consolidate the blog posts into a monthly e-newsletter.”

Content is king. You need to come up with interesting things to share with your clients and customers. No one wants to read useless blather. If you sell something, try highlighting new features or offer a discount.

Zarrett said too many business owners waste time and money trying to attract visitors to their sites. That's where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. SEO sounds scary, but it is just a way to improve your rankings on various search engines.

Although many small businesses buy Google Ad Words, Zarrett questions whether it's worth it. “They are throwing good money out the window in almost every case,” he said. “Instead of buying ad words, the trick is to define a set of keywords that are appropriately targeted, then set up a landing page specific to the user group you are targeting.”

In other words, if you put a link on your Facebook fan page or send out a tweet via Twitter, be sure the link takes visitors to a specific page, not the home page.

To get started, here are some of Zarrett's recommendations for finding the right content management system:

Open Source (free):

Joomla: www.joomla.org

Drupal: www.drupal.org

DotNetNuke: www.dotnetnuke.com

Licensed:

Kentico: www.kentico.com

SiteFinity: www.sitefinity.com

Sitecore: www.sitecore.com

For more information, visit these CMS review sites: www.cmsreview.com and www.cmsmatrix.org.

For more information, visit Joe Zarrett's blog: www.verndale.com/Our-Thinking/How-to-Select-The-Best-Content-Management-System.aspx.