You Bought a Domain Name, Now What? An Interview with Andrew Bates, Small Business Sales Guru at Network Solutions

August 26, 2008 :: Steve Fisher

Andrew loves to consult and provide customers with solutions that will help their businesses grow. Here at Network Solutions he is a senior member of the direct sales team and has been with us for about nine months. While we have dedicated customer care groups for handling phone inquiries and customer support, Andrew Is with the outside sales group working directly with small business customers. He works out of our headquarters in Herndon VA, and his territory is the greater DC area market. He offers robust solutions that include web design, e-commerce applications, and online / search engine marketing like SEO.

I was able to spend some time with him recently and here is a transcript of our interview:

Steve: How long have you been doing business development and online marketing?
Andrew: After attending UVa in Virginia I moved to the DC area to work with a small IT firm in Herndon. I’ve spent the last 12 years of my life immersed in technology; professionally and personally - I’m a geek. My first paying tech job was testing ecommerce websites over a dozen years ago. I was an engineer, a presales engineer, and then worked my way into sales and consulting roles.

Steve: The most basic thing for a customer is to buy their domain name to establish their web presence. What do you recommend to customers as the next thing?
Andrew: Once a business has a domain name and a basic website, our biggest issues is getting their customers to find them at the time they are looking for that product or service. Most business think having a website is enough, but today everyone has a website. Having a website does not mean their customers or even the search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN can find them.

Steve: Network Solutions has an excellent array of services that can be up-sold or cross-sold when someone is building their online brand. Do you recommend a certain order that customers scale up their online business?
Andrew: It is easy to get swamped with all of the ways a business can promote itself online. The industry, market, and unique aspects of that customer determine our strategy. If that customer is focused on their brand and the long-term performance of their website, then I will likely focus our activities on search engine optimization and natural search results that must be developed over time. If an immediate return is more important, I may put our efforts into managing a pay-per-click sponsored advertising program that focuses on a faster ROI.

Steve: Is there the ability to do custom development and configuration to their sites that your recommend Network Solutions help with?
Andrew: To compete on the internet, each business needs more then just a single page with their name, address, and phone number. We help business design new websites, add to or change existing sites, and we focus on providing functionality important to doing business like ecommerce shopping carts or lead conversion tools. Once you get them to your website, then you have to give them a reason and an easy way to get what they want.

Steve: How do you handle a customer that says “I want it all now”. Do you help them lay out a plan? Should they get everything at once?
Andrew: Our online marketing campaigns are often based over a year with major landmarks, services, and changes occurring every 3 months or so. Every part of SEO from keyword research and content building, to linking, to sponsored advertising like pay-per-click can be measured down to every second, every click, and every dollar invested to the tenth of a penny. Because everything is so measurable, it is our practice to lay out a business’ campaign over 3, 6, 12, or 24 months depending on goals. We stagger activities and run a great deal of reporting so that we can measure each activity effectively.

Steve: What is your philosophy on providing stellar customer service through your sales approach?
Andrew: No one wants to be sold to; I don’t like it very much myself. I do like a knowledgeable consultant who asks the right questions, learns his or her customer’s business, and then helps apply proven and trusted solutions to meet the problems or goals. My focus is good follow through, proper communication, and keeping my skills and knowledge fresh with the industry.

Steve: Wrapping this interview up I was thinking we should leave our readers with a top 5 or 10 list of things a new business should consider after they get a domain name? What would be your recommendation to potential customers?
Andrew: The basics are the same for all businesses:
1. Register a domain name (or many) that most pertains to your brand, products, or services
2. Determine the top goals for your website (for your website, not your business)
3. Research you’re audience and customers. When they look for what you have to offer, how do the “search” for it. This is a good time for keyword research
4. Build a website to HTML and SEO best practices. Include lots of fresh, relevant content. Update it and add to it as much as you can
5. Develop a marketing strategy for your website that takes into account your website goal with both short-term and long-term objectives
6. Take base-line metrics and install an analytics program
7. Implement an online marketing campaign that includes both organic SEO and some sponsored / advertising activities
8. On a monthly and quarterly basis, review your website analytics and marketing metrics
9. Make adjustments and changes based on real statics and real metrics. This is not a time for impulsive decisions. Web advertising can be a simple ROI, or it can be a way to lose your shirt
10. Evaluate, repeat, evaluate… Growing a website’s rankings in search engines and presence on the web is an ongoing effort. Markets, industries, competition, and search engine algorithms change all the time. A business must be prepared to continue to compete for their spot on the internet.

Steve: Thanks for taking the time today to talk with us about how customers can leverage Network Solutions.

Andrew: My pleasure. If anyone has questions about how they can grow their business online, they are welcome to email me at Andrew.Bates@NetworkSolutions.com, or they can reach me our headquarters at 703-668-5052.

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