More is Better
In my last blog, I brilliantly offered the opinion that, as a marketer, you can have too much of a good thing. Customer feedback is great, but don't overdo it to the point that surveying and interviewing customers becomes your business model. The same is true for any marketing tool, i.e. marketing should not take on a life of its own, but rather should serve your core business.
Still, however, there are some times when "more" might just be the right move. For instance, your website may be supplemented by a second, separate, website. Whoa! A second website? Who has time to work on the first one and keep it updated? I know, I know. And there are definitely a couple of caveats to consider before building another website for your organization. First of all, you have to do it for the right reason. I'll get into that in a moment. Secondly, you should not duplicate content you have already developed for your main website. Duplication of content might wind up hurting the search engine rankings for your primary website. Third, the second website should be highly focused and targeted to achieve specific, measurable goals.
So now for the "right" reasons to dive in to a second website. Number one: you have a subsidiary or affiliate organization that you wish to highlight or bring attention to. For example, your non-profit organization might decide to create a separate foundation to act as a fund raising entity. You can, of course, put information about the foundation on your main website, but the foundation probably needs its own spotlight. After all, the foundation would have its own separate board, rules, applications for grants, mailing lists and donors. Donor leads could and should be developed from this second website.
Or, suppose your organization is an auto repair shop. You decide to open a second location that specializes in brake repair, alignments and tire sales. As a distinct business from your repair shop, the new profit center could use a second website to develop its own customer base. In short, the audience for your primary website might not be the same audience to whom you wish to market brake service, alignments and tires.
Another good reason to have a second website is to manage and publicize a special event. You see this a lot with concerts, rodeos, marathons, and other events that have a life of their own, apart from the organization that may be sponsoring such an event. Again, the second website should have a focused purpose - to publicize the event, to sign up participants or spectators, to sell tickets, to reserve seats, etc.
If your second website is properly coordinated with the primary website, you might even be able to improve your search rankings by optimizing the second site for certain search phrases and words. However, as in all marketing tools, you should not undertake the build out of another website without understanding precisely how it fits into your overall marketing strategy. You don't want to just throw another cog into the gearbox unless you're sure it meshes properly with the other gears. If you do, you'll only succeed in making a noisy racket.
Guest blogger Dennis Mathis is a long-time resident of the Four Corners who nurtures an interest in writing, marketing, technology, reading and business. About a year ago, he retired from a public relations job and is now formally self-managed. It is a harder job than he imagined it would be. He and his wife, Nancy, live in a log cabin near Lemon Lake decorated with birdhouses, and when the water is calm, they kayak along Lemon's graceful shoreline.
