In the past there’s been a trend amongst many businesses to treat their online presence as a completely separate entity. However, as the Internet becomes more and more mainstream in terms of online buying, the need to make online customers feel comfortable with a brand is also growing in importance.

Online consumers expect to see a consistent brand image in order to be reassured that they are receiving the same level of service that offline customers are.

The Australian pizza industry is one market where there’s a range of approaches. Of the three major pizza chains in Australia, one provides a very slick online experience, allowing coupons to be added, pickup or delivery options specified and most importantly uniform pricing across all marketing channels. That is, the prices advertised in mailbox drops, TV commercials, coupons and online ads are all uniform.

This is a critical factor for an industry such as pizza, where traditionally phone orders have been the primary ordering method. Online ordering in an industry such as pizza doesn’t create a huge deal of cost savings over phone ordering, but it does give customers more convenience.

By contrast, one of their competitors has a scatter-gun approach to pricing and uniform marketing. Prices advertised on TV often can’t be ordered online, certain coupons are only able to used by phone and what a potential customer is faced with is a bizarre form of brand confusion whereby the same company is advertising across multiple mediums a completely different range of products.

However, this particular case is not unique. Countless businesses fall into the same trap of thinking there are two different types of customers; 1) ones that buy online, and 2) ones that don’t. The distinction is not so black and white anymore, and many customers will feel comfortable using both.

But this multi-channel shopper needs to see a certain degree of pricing and brand uniformity, or else they will likely switch to a competing provider.

What’s wrong with this?

Well, the most common problem that emerges from this is that these businesses tend to blow thousands of dollars on websites that are visually stunning, but don’t convert into sales. Too many businesses then put this down to the “internet being a fickle thing” or “our industry is not set up to support web sales.”

The actual reason why these websites fail is because they have not been strategically designed.

Web designers are not web strategists or strategic business consultants, and while they are great with the flashy components of your site, they are not business strategists.

Issues such as usability, navigation, search engine performance, and most importantly, conversion to sales, are not a web designers forte. This is where a web strategist steps in.

A web strategist, such as Reload Media, takes you through all of these elements and more BEFORE you see a web designer, ensuring that by the time you walk into a web designers office, you know exactly what needs to be done and the entire process is both time and cost efficient.

So what exactly does a web strategy company like Reload Consulting do?

To begin with, they determine from you what “Aims” you have for your business in terms of online sales. From there, they work with your business to develop a “Strategic Web Plan” which can be taken directly to a web designer, ensuring you don’t waste your dough on a website that doesn’t earn a crust of sales. These web strategy companies use industry knowledge gained from years of experience to assist you with all elements of planning your website.

You might be thinking that this all seems like a lot of work, after all, it is just a website. But think back to how much time you spent developing your business plan, and how much time you spent searching for retail or office space, the sign out the front, and the marketing campaign.

Your website is essentially just like another retail space, only it operates in its own medium that requires new strategies and marketing ideas. And just like your physical store, if customers cannot find their way to or around the shop, get help when needed or be able to make the purchase decision, then the investment to open that new space is wasted.