EVERYTHING! I know it\'s impolite to shout, but I wanted to emphasise how important your business\'s online identity is.

Think about this - Why does searchengine.com, mygroupoffriends.com or videosite.com not work? I\'ll let you ponder over that question - let\'s move on to your business.

You only get ONE chance for your customers to remember your identity... ONE chance for your brand connect to those searching for your service or product. Web trends show that the old \'top-of-the-list\' mentality that used to attract customers from online searches is shifting. Internet savvy customers are realising that the top three, or even top ten, results may not deliver what they are looking for. So... what are they looking for?

Whether you sell toys, lease property, build houses or paint pictures - your website presents customers with your products, services and opinions. However, your competitors have a website too - presenting YOUR customers with THEIR products, services and opinions.

How does a customer assess credibility, standards and quality? They assess this within the first 15 seconds of visiting your website - 15 seconds! Two sips of coffee, one bar of your favourite song or the time it takes to lose a customer - 15 seconds!

Scared? Not yet? Here\'s something else to think about - depending on your business, websites have an average lifespan of eight months. This doesn\'t mean that you need a new website every year, but it means that customers expect growth from both your brand and your bottom line. Along with the fact that customers tell twice as many people about a bad brand than a good one. It all seems stacked against small and medium businesses to take on companies with large marketing budgets and websites costing north of an E-Class Mercedes.

Now to the good news - with online identities, brains and vision trump dollars every time. The key is understanding the difference between a website and
an online identity.

Step 1 - Build a website that reflects the quality of your product or service along with giving the customer a sense of what your brand stands for.
Step 2 - Anticipate the needs of your customers and make functionality and user-experience your number 1 priority.
Step 3 - Evolve! The answer to my earlier question is evolution - Google, Facebook and YouTube evolve with client trends - on average once every 12 weeks!

For a helping hand, contact your local Docklands online identity specialists -
Ds3
Suite 402B / Life.lab Building
198 Harbour Esp, Docklands
1300 80 97 50
dinitha@ds3.com.au
www.ds3.com.au