Many IT companies fall short in maximizing their web assets. They are technology experts, but a truly effective web presence involves much more than just technology. With more target customers conducting research online, a website is often a company’s first impression. If its design is outdated or doesn't effectively reflect positioning, or it has broken links or inconsistent content, it may be the last impression as well.
KC Associates understands all the components of web marketing, and how they work together to support your customers, as well as how to generate, capture and manage web leads. A well-designed website, integrated with customer support programs, interactive PR and other marketing communications guides visitors from discovery through interest to response.
We'll help you assess your current online marketing efforts and maximize your web investments. From strategy, design, search engine optimization and online advertising to traffic analysis, content management and webinars.
Our broad Web expertise includes:
If you don't have a dedicated webmaster, chances are your content is out-of-date, your site has links that don’t work and it takes way too long to get an update posted. And, almost as bad, it’s likely no one is proactively monitoring your site—nor the search engines pointing visitors to it.
KC Associates can provide webmaster services unique to your needs so you can avoid potential embarrassment and have confidence that changes to your website are being made when needed—quickly and correctly—and that your site is being regularly monitored by professionals. Our services eliminate the need for you to hire an internal webmaster (or rely solely on your IT staff) and guarantee the job will get done without distractions. We can even host your site on our fully secure servers if you want.
Our webmaster services packages are customized to fit your needs and can include:
Website analysis helps increase the return on your Internet investment. It helps reduce costs, increase revenue and enhance customer service—so you can fully leverage the capabilities of the Web.
KCA can conduct a regular, in-depth analysis of your website and provide a comprehensive report of key data, including site traffic and usage. By analyzing these data monthly or quarterly, we identify important trends, such as changes in your e-commerce sales or traffic patterns driven by online or offline promotions. We also provide recommendations to improve your site’s effectiveness—actionable items that better align your website with company goals and customers’ needs.
And because we leverage a proven methodology and a repeatable process in our analyses, this service is both efficient and cost-effective. Monthly or quarterly reports can cost as little as $500. Specific deliverables and benefits include:
You wouldn’t think of launching a new product without first understanding how your current products—and your competitors’—are performing. That’s basic benchmarking and market research. At KCA, we help you apply those same important principles to your website.
Our website audits help you determine how well your current site is performing—and how it stacks up to your top competitors’ or peers’ sites. We evaluate your site’s accessibility, usability and effectiveness. And we help you determine where to focus resources to transform it from outdated brochure-ware to a compelling competitive advantage for your organization.
We tailor our audit services to meet your specific needs, but generally our audits include:
A visitor's experience on your website depends on the integration of four key components: strategy, technology, graphic design and content. By effectively integrating these, KC Associates is able to create a web presence that makes a positive first impression, presents a compelling message and prompts visitors to respond.
Strategy is determining what information will be presented and how that content will be arranged so visitors can find exactly the information they are looking for, without being overwhelmed. It also compels a desired response.
Technology includes both the site structure (html, php, Javascript, Flash, etc.) and its features (such as ROI calculators, online tools and automated response). Using proper technologies improves search engine ranking, as well as provides a distinctive visitor experience.
Graphic design is crucial in forming that all-important “first impression.” The art and science of graphic design—colors, images, typestyles and other design elements—represent your brand. An outdated site design can be devastating to an IT company.
Content is a combination of information and tone. To compel visitors to respond, site content needs to be clear and distinctive, reflecting a differentiated value proposition with key messages concisely and powerfully written.
B2B sites typically generate three to four times more traffic through organic search results than through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. That means optimizing website rankings in search engines is critical in driving cost-effective traffic.
Search engines use “robots” to “spider” (index) sites. Robots are inherently lazy pieces of code; if they can't easily determine how to evaluate content (due to excessive or noncompliant code), they'll give up. On the other hand, robot-friendly code improves website rankings by making it easy for them to move to and through content.
With clean and compliant code, content significantly impacts search engine rankings. Of course, content must accurately describe products and value proposition, but for search optimization purposes, it has to do this using the right language: the words that customers and prospects themselves use when describing and searching for a product or service. That means it’s important to research terms or phrases prospects are most likely to use for searches in order to optimize online searches.
Search engines also factor in the number of relevant externally linked sites when determining search ranking, so it’s important to seek out as many relevant portals, directories and publications as possible on which to get a site listed. The more relevant links and listings, the easier the website is to find—for both search engine robots and prospects.
Podcasting and online video have moved beyond the “cool technology” stage into the realm of practical, useful tools for building credibility, raising awareness and generating leads. Podcasting frees prospects from their PCs, and online video has the impact of broadcast advertising—but with greater precision and lower cost.
KC Associates offers professional podcasting and video production services, but more importantly, we understand the strategic role these new media tools play in your marketing mix. We ensure they are properly integrated with other PR and marketing activities, that messaging is consistent, and that you get the maximum impact from them.
Strategy: Providing preproduction services that maintain consistent messaging across media, and integrate podcasts and online video with other marketing tools.
Content: Crafting a message to fit the medium. No wasted words, no fluff, just compelling words and images that generate results.
Professional production: Scripting, recording and editing services for a polished final product.
Promotion: Publicizing new media content in the right places with the right message to maximize the value of your investment.
Blogs can be a key element in building credibility. Integrated with other PR activities to raise awareness and demonstrate subject matter expertise, they provide a two-way channel of communication between company experts and prospects and/or customers.
An effective business blog humanizes a company by providing an informal channel for real conversations. Informal, however, doesn’t mean unplanned or unstructured, and it certainly doesn’t mean unprofessional. Blogs both must support branding and positioning and utilize professional tools for promotion and distribution.
KC Associates
Platform: Choose the right tools based on objectives and budget, taking into consideration factors such an on-site vs. off-site hosting, commenting features and trackback functionality.
Design: Ensure a blog template complements corporate branding and has the flexibility to adapt to new tools and technologies.
Strategy: Develop blogging guidelines that fit the company’s culture and permit contributors to be genuine without wading into dangerous waters.
Promotion: Utilize powerful tools that are available for feed syndication, social tagging, pinging and cross-linking for maximum blog exposure.
Online technologies and distribution methods continue to evolve and open new avenues for delivering your news and messages. Yesterday’s focus on traditional media and industry influencers alone won’t cut it in this new information age—it takes persistent monitoring of online developments and aggressive application of new online tactics to get your story heard in the broadest possible way.
KC Associates has mastered the art of blending traditional media relationship-building skills with Web 2.0-savvy tactics. We go beyond the trade press and industry analysts to reach out to influential bloggers, ezines and portal sites. We understand how to optimize your press release content for the Web, maximize your exposure and measure the results.
Our comprehensive interactive PR services include: