- Web site owners do not have 100% control of how search engines will treat their site with ranking results.
- Web site owners do not have 100% control of how contagious a social media campaign may be.
- Web site owners do not have 100% control of who will view their online or offline ads and follow through to their site.
But…
Web site owners do have 100% control of their collection of interested parties’ email addresses, and the schedule, timing and content of such emails sent out to their community.
We look at the Google Analytics for every one of our clients, every month. Traffic may go up, traffic may go down, depending on the activities of the client and their information marketplace.
But when doing a year-to-year comparison of a client’s numbers, a couple of things stand out:
Traffic does not go down regularly for clients that use their web site to provide updated quality content, and use their email list to point their community to that content.
Traffic does tend to go down for those who do not do this.
A couple of reasons:
- No email reinforcement of new content; and
- Even a bigger problem: no new content to reinforce.
So, if your organization wants to keep that traffic – or increase it – it is best to integrate a content and email (and social media) plan for publishing and distribution. Part of that plan is a schedule. This schedule should be reasonable for the resources of the organization, and dedicated to by the leadership of the organization. Otherwise, you are not utilizing your online assets to their best capabilities.
We’re pretty sure we’ve said this before. We’re pretty sure that it is fairly self-evident as well. But we’re also sure that using email in coordination with your web site is your MOST CONTROLLABLE method of promoting your web site. It is both art and science, so in order to do it well, you must commit to it, both in terms of delivery and in terms of measurement.