The vast majority of economically active people are Internet savvy today and are using the Net to research products and services before they buy. Your web site has to be an effective marketing and PR tool and without an Internet marketing strategy you will simply be cut out of the picture. The rules of the marketing game have changed big time.
Over 80% of all web traffic is coming via search engines. The Internet has reversed the flow of communication in the marketing cycle. It used to be:
A company (wanting to get publicity) sends a message (called a "news release") to the media (newspapers, magazines, radio & TV) who may or may not publish anything to a passive target audience who hopefully will reach for your product or service and eventually result in a sale.
Now we have networked communication lines (a.k.a. the Internet) and the prospect controls what they see or read. Now we have:
An active prospect searching on the Internet for a product or service, finding a company, reaching for the product -- resulting in the sale.
You also have customers talking directly to each other about the company. Companies are no longer in complete control of their communication and their messages.
However, there is nothing better than a hot prospect who is actively looking for your product or service. This levels the playing field. You just have to be there when they are looking, with the right offering in the right place.
Here is the sequence that has to occur for success on the Net:
1. Know Who Is Online Searching For What
This takes keyword research and an understanding of how the search engines work. Once you find where the viable online market is, you can use this to create your website so it fits what they are looking for.
2. Get Found On The Search Engines
When your market goes online to do a search on these keywords, you have to come up high in the search results--preferably on the first page. And the best possible result would be that you come up in the first three on the first page of the search results.
Research shows that searchers regard good placing in the natural search results (as opposed to pay per click or sponsored links) as an indicator of a company who is tops in their field. 80% of all business on the Internet goes to the first three on the first page of a search result. The design, content and programming of your site all influence your search rankings.
3. Get Picked Out Of All The Names On The Search Page Results
So you are on the first page. That means you are displayed along with 10 - 20 other companies. Your description of your website on the search result page has to be carefully crafted so it appeals to the searcher. I have seen companies who have achieved a Number 1 status on their chosen key phrase, yet the description of their website does not say anything about the service, is totally boring or missing some other key data. So they still don't get the traffic.
Example:
Would you pick this one?
Lavender Baby Soap
... Business Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 3:30 pm Mountain Time.
Or this one?
Baby Soaps - Specialty Soaps - Hills of Galillee
Your baby's tender skin deserves the tenderest care, doesn't it? Protect your baby's health with our three specialty Baby Soaps. No chemicals or harsh ingredients, all natural.
4. Set Up Your Home Page To Receive This Traffic
Now that you have got through the hurdles of being found and picked, your home page has to speak immediately to why they searched on that word or phrase--they have to know right away that they are in the right place and you can help them.
It has to entice them to come right into the website. Otherwise you have spent time and effort getting traffic all the way to your front door only to have then turn around and leave. Stats show that, on average, business sites lose 60% of their traffic off the home page and 80% within three clicks.
The home page has to be intuitive -- easy to use and understand.
5. You Need Good Content To Keep Their Attention And Keep Them Coming Back To The Website
People are still skeptical of doing business with someone they don't know and so several interactions on the Internet are necessary. Research shows that it takes 7 - 10 visits to a website before a prospect calls or buys.
How do you keep them coming back? Gathering names and emails is vital to your internet marketing strategy.. You can then get their permission to communicate with them. Send them a newsletter so you can become a source of useful and valid info on your industry or subject. Send them notifications that your content has been updated.
6. Make Sure Your Site Can Easily Deliver The Buying, Booking Or Contact Process.
Recent research shows that making a booking online, for airlines or hotels, costs about 5 cents. A call to a toll free number at a call center costs $5 and booking at the actual hotel or airline costs $14. The same applies to getting customers. The cost of a lead coming via the Net is low, but using other advertising and marketing methods is costly. One of our clients who supplies business phone systems just got their first lead off their website after it was optimized. No marketing or sales dollars spent - the prospect sent an email requesting a sales person call her. And she is actively looking for a phone system! Far better than trying to persuade someone they need a phone system.
Conversion rates are a low 2 - 5% on the average business website. When it is too hard or confusing to take an action, they won't take the action.
7. Update Your Content
You want to constantly update your web content based on the key words found in #1. This keeps you high on the search results and also keeps visitors interested and coming back to the site.
Get a full review of your website to find any reasons why it is not performing. This will result in an effective internet marketing strategy to get the site doing well. This could include a new layout for the home page according to best practices that get results. Get the Home Page text written to the researched keywords (on average this action alone can raise results by 150%).
8. Start a blog
A blog (slang for weB LOG) is a 'journal' that is available on the web. Its purpose is to attract interest in your company and to get the reader to come to your web site.
Blogs are like a personal web site that is easily updated and are an important marketing and public relations tool. Many news stories in newspapers or magazines started with a blog. A blog that uses key in the text along with links is a winning combination.
Another very important plus is that search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo love blogs. (A picture may be worth a thousand words but not to a search engine.) The media are watching blogs and may start their research for a story there. A good blog includes news feeds that were set up for targeted journalists in the media.
The result should be more traffic to your business, which should increase your prospects and sales.
9. Issue Optimized Press Releases
Since people are searching directly into the News and Search Engines today, it is vital to have your press releases go directly into these channels based on your keywords. An optimized press release can also be fully tracked and show you the exact results of your online campaigns. This also helps your targeted journalists find your press releases, which would also be posted on your web site.
10. Create An Online Media Room
Once you create this buzz of interest journalists will visit your website. If you don't service them correctly they go elsewhere. Studies done with journalists show conclusively that those companies with a good media room, one that is set up with the content they want, get more coverage than those who don't cater to the media.
A web site is like a giant yellow pages or a store on Main Street. Use these internet marketing strategy tips to drive business to your site and make those cash registers sing!
