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If you’re getting ready to launch a website or re-launch your website, then there are some things that you can do to make the whole process go smoother. I’ve looked through my notes of various things that shouldn’t be overlooked.

If you’re going to re-launch an existing website, there’s absolutely no need to re-submit your website to the search engines as long as your site’s web pages are getting crawled on a regular basis. That certainly is the key–make sure your website is getting crawled and your pages are getting indexed. If your site is already getting indexed well then I would continue to update your web pages on a regular basis and add new pages as necessary (if you’re not doing that already).

If you’re going to be using any off-line marketing to promote your website then I would make sure that you own all the misspellings of your domain name–and make sure they redirect using a 301 Permenant Redirect just in case people get confused by what they read or hear and type in the wrong domain name.

I would start writing articles and content that can be used to help promote the site and products–then get them ready to submit to various online publications when you start the re-launch. This would include having a list of quotes from your company’s owners and executives so you can have them ready for articles and reporters/journalists that may start contacting you. Don’t forget to have several press releases written–start compiling a list of contacts at various media outlets so you can easily send out the press releases and phone them.

Make sure your web host is prepared for the extra traffic the site might receive. I’ve seen too many sites who launched their site or re-launched their site–and then in a day or two their site went down because there was too much of a load on the server. Or the web hosting company wasn’t expecting the sudden surge in web traffic.

Have a specific list of executives at your company who are able to do radio and television interviews–make sure they’re prepared to talk to the press.

This is certainly just a few of the things that can be done before you launch your website. There are definitely more items to take care of, and I will detail those in a follow-up article.

Bill Hartzer is a successful writer and search engine marketing expert who has personally created hundreds of websites over the years. Bill created his first website back in 1996 to help promote his former database software business. It was then when he learned about the power of the search engines and web search, which helped potential customers find his business online.

Bill Hartzer has over 15 years of professional writing experience. He has survived stints as a writer for television, as well as a technical writer for several computer software companies in Florida and in Texas. Mr. Hartzer combines his writing and online skills to create compelling and useful websites for corporations worldwide. Mr. Hartzer focuses on the optimization in the business to business arena, but applies these optimization skills to business to consumer websites, as well. Bill runs a website called “Corporate Website Marketing”, a website dedicated to B2B Marketing and Website Marketing techniques.

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Your boss wants to see evidence that the money and resources invested in the company’s business-to-business marketing activities are really paying off. You start to sweat.

Relax. It is surprisingly easy to prove that B2B marketing is contributing to your company’s bottom line. Here’s how.

Show the relationship between your marketing and your revenue

Start by looking for sales and revenue that can be linked to marketing activities. Simply compare lists of new customers or invoices to companies or prospects in your marketing database and look for matches. You don’t have to find every sale that resulted from your marketing activities. Sometimes all it takes is one big sale to justify a campaign.

If sales haven’t closed yet, count the number of qualified leads and use estimated conversion rates and average sales size to quickly determine the sales potential of those leads. Or look at the forecasted sales in the company’s CRM system and compare them to the database of prospects, inquiries or qualified leads.

You can also send “Did you buy?” surveys to inquirers and qualified leads, using their answers to show that the prospects being targeted by your marketing are buying from you or the competition. Ask if they bought, and if so, from whom. Ask why and how much they spent. If your sample size is large enough, you can also use the answers you receive to estimate the number of sales and the amount of revenue that are represented by all the inquiries and leads you’ve generated.

Show how much you saved the company

Just give it some thought and you’ll probably come up with a list of things you’ve done to save your company money or time. For example:

- Printing and postage savings after cleaning the mailing list or delivering the company newsletter by e-mail.

- Savings accomplished by offering electronic versions of literature.

- The money you saved by eliminating non-productive marketing activities

- Time and money saved by automating the capture of Web forms and eliminating some manual data entry.

Show other ways your marketing is more effective

This can range from showing how many more prospects you reached with your marketing messages to indicating the improvements that have been made in cost per impression, cost per inquiry, cost per attendee or cost per qualified lead.

List all the marketing projects your marketing team completed

Marketers often don’t think about their own productivity when justifying the money the company invests in marketing. Unfortunately, people quickly forget what happened last month or last quarter. Or they simply have no idea what’s involved in creating a mailing or designing a new Web site.

Pointing out the number of marketing projects completed, and all the work steps involved, can be a real eye-opener to others who are completely unaware.

Always be ready to make your case

I recommend that you block out a couple of hours to create your business-to-business marketing accountability reports every month so you’ll always have up-to-date results at your fingertips. If you’re pressed for time, use an intern or temp to do it for you.

Your results may vary, but consider this …

A marketer I know recently reported to her management that awareness of their company and products among target prospects more than doubled, the cost per qualified lead delivered to sales by marketing dropped by nearly 40 percent, 58 percent of the opportunities in the sales pipeline were found first by marketing, and 48 percent of the sales closed and 62 percent of the revenue during the past 12 months came from marketing-generated leads.

The result? She received a bigger marketing budget and senior management executives no longer doubt marketing’s contribution to the company’s success.

M. H. “Mac” McIntosh, is one of America’s leading business-to-business marketing consultant and an expert on the subject of B2B lead generation. Mac’s Accountability Audit helps marketing communications, advertising and tradeshow managers increase their B2B marketing budgets by proving a return-on-investment. For more info visit http://www.sales-lead-experts.com/blog/news-audits.cfm.

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I often wonder how the practice began of pretending to be someone else in order to market your business. You know what I’m talking about — it’s the marketing face, the selling voice, that you often put on in order to attend a networking event or make a sales call. Who taught you to do that?

I have a suspicion where we learn this behavior. Most of us spend a lifetime observing showroom salespeople, product spokespersons in the media, and hucksters on street corners. What we see demonstrated there is artificial enthusiasm, manipulative use of language, feigned interest, and in some cases outright deception.

Sounds awful, doesn’t it? So why copy any part of this distasteful way of selling?

Psychologist Abraham Maslow said, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Perhaps we believe this is the only way we can sell because it’s the only way we know. I’m not accusing anyone of consciously deceiving prospective clients. What I’m suggesting is that what we do unconsciously and automatically is to behave nauthentically around them.

Intuitively, many of us feel as if something is wrong with this way of operating. When we have to sell ourselves, we find it unpleasant, disagreeable, even repulsive. But what if all those negative feelings were simply because we hate the artificiality and manipulation we think must be a part of selling?

Imagine what it would be like to go to a business networking event as yourself. No facade, no pretension, just plain you. When someone asks your reason for coming, you tell them the truth. You don’t have to claim you wanted to hear the speaker (if you didn’t). You can come right out and say, “I’m hoping to make some contacts that will lead to business for me.”

You wouldn’t have to invent reasons to start a conversation. You can walk up to someone who looks interesting and say, “Hi, I haven’t met you yet.” If you’re shy around strangers, you can tell the first person you meet, “I’m sort of a wallflower and feel awkward at events like this. Could you introduce me to some folks?”

Now imagine placing a follow-up call to a prospect where you are completely honest. You could say, “I have some days open on my calendar soon and I’m wondering if this would be a good time for that project we’ve been discussing.” Or, “We haven’t talked in a while and I’d like to find out if you’re still planning to start the new training program this year.”

I see so many professionals and consultants struggle with trying to find an “excuse” to call a prospect. You don’t need some manufactured excuse. You know the reason you’re calling. Most of the time THEY know the reason you’re calling. Just say what it is.

Let’s extend this same principle to making a cold call. Instead of stumbling around awkwardly trying to make a polished — but unnatural — sales approach, imagine yourself saying, “I’m not much of a salesperson, but I’m really good at what I do. Can we have a conversation about what you need and see if I’m the right person for the job?”

If you’ve been working from a cold-calling script that makes you flush and get a tight throat every time you read it, throw it out. Come up with one really good opening line that feels authentic and gets directly to the point. Then decide how you will answer — honestly — some of the typical questions prospects ask you. My bet is that your calls will immediately get easier.

In fact, the more you become honest, direct, and authentic in all of your marketing, the more appealing selling will be to you, the more effortless it will become, and the more success you will ultimately achieve. Because most business results from building relationships, and how can you develop a relationship with someone when you never reveal who you really are?

About The Author

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Since 1992, C.J. has been teaching business owners and salespeople to make more money with less effort. She is a Master Certified Coach and leads workshops internationally. Read more of her articles at http://www.getclientsnow.com

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