So many companies spend large sums of money on well thought out marketing plans for traditional advertising venues such as: print, radio, television, direct mail, telemarketing, and tradeshows only to toss up a website as an after thought with no clear goals or clear internet marketing strategy of how to make it one of the most productive and cost efficient marketing tools available today.
Online Web Presence Issue #1
No Plan of action, No Budget – Assuming The website will sell itself by itself – just build it and they will come.
Once The website is launched with shopping cart, great photos and other bells and whistles, you should have immediate traffic and lots of sales. Right? In The dreams and fantasies. The very biggest mistake small and medium businesses make is assuming that just because their business is live on the web, they don’t need to fund an online marketing budget or execute a strategic, integrated marketing & business development plan. With over 7.5 billion web pages worldwide, and with tens and hundreds of thousands (frequently, millions) of web addresses returned for most terms entered into search engines by online prospects, finding a tiny pin in a huge haystack would be easy compared to finding The site on the Internet. The sales will be limited to present customers who are loyal enough to type in The web address, but you’ll be invisible to the rest of the world.
Online Marketing Tip #1
Develop and implement a strategic internet marketing plan, integrated with multiple components and mutually supportive of The traditional business marketing and advertising.
Fund a monthly budget reflecting the volume of sales you want to produce and the characteristics of The products. For example, a large music company funds over $75,000 per month in various elements of it’s online marketing strategy to drive its annual online sales of several million dollars. A target of $400,000+ in annual Internet based sales might require $2,000 to $5,000 or more monthly in online marketing.
Online Web Presence Issue #2
Most websites are typically designed, built and deployed without regard to how they will be viewed by search engines and without strategic planning around how they will be advertised and promoted online. Their architecture is usually a function of owner or designer preferences in graphics, text and format, without serious regard to incorporating important principles of online selling effectiveness or search engine optimization. As a result, they fail to entice shoppers to stop and buy, and don’t attract significant volumes of qualified traffic.
Online Marketing Tip #2
The website should be designed from the beginning with marketing integration “ROI” Focus in mind. It needs to be created as “spider-friendly” and optimized for search. EpromotionZ deploys a SEO / SEM Formula which is a proven and a powerful approach to effective website content for SEO friendly web sites that will drive qualified traffic to The site with a right mix of internet marketing strategies. Online Web Presence Issue #3
Working with amateurs — Cutting Corners to Save Money – Quick-n-dirty Template Site
So now, you want to save money with The web presence by building and/or marketing The website yourself, or having The brother-in-law or a local inexpensive part-time or even full time web-site firm does it for you? A cheap website hosting service will be fine, won’t it? Internet marketing, beginning with the initial website design, needs to be handled by expert professionals with a substantial track record of past successful experience. Online Marketing Tip #3
If you’re serious about building The business by expanding The profitable eCommerce operations, work with a team of professionals who really know what they’re doing. There is no more competitive business environment than Internet sales. It is neither quick nor easy. You won’t win in the professional & competitive markets by hiring a team of well-intended amateurs, particularly if the team captain is yourself. This doesn’t mean having to spend lots of money but it does mean doing The homework and identifying cost effective, highly experienced SEO professionals with expertise in online marketing strategies. Even large corporations can benefit from partnering with SEO outsourcing specialists like EpromotionZ which is a leading strategic internet marketing firm specialized in online marketing strategies.
By Andy Alagappan – Andy is vice president marketing & business development USA for www.epromotionz.com , he has more than 23 years experience in traditional marketing and more than 6 years in online marketing strategies, he can be reached on 281-556-8319 or 281-580-5804 (US Callers) or by email : [email protected]