ROI is plummeting with traditional marketing methods. Therefore we must address this issue. We all know it’s vital that all commercial organisations are on the web. But simply having that on-line presence is not enough. If nobody can find you, you might just as well not be there!
Picture a new retail premises opening up shop: Heavy investment has gone into fitting it out and setting everything up. The staff are all poised – Then notice they’re in a backwater – miles from anywhere. What’s worse, they haven’t told anyone where they are. What kind of sales do you think they’ll manage? This is precisely the problem experienced by ninety nine per cent of all websites.
The web has turned marketing on its head. As we left the 20th century, we all thought we had to have a web site. It wasn’t uncommon for businesses to spend huge amounts getting all the fancy bells and whistles on their site. Of course, web-designers happily lapped up the new business. Then everyone started to notice that they weren’t getting any traffic to their site. The belief was that if you had a site on the web, people would find you. Alas it wasn’t so.
Modern internet marketing requires a fundamental shift in thinking from traditional marketing. Traditionalists might see your site in the same way they’d view a sales catalogue. Consequently they’ll recommend the time-honoured promotional methods of newspaper advertising and the media. Sticking to the familiar routine. They start with a flashy sales site, and then try lots of ‘off-line’ avenues to get people to look at it. However, this process illustrates an absolute misunderstanding of website marketing.
The World Wide Web isn’t simply a passive display board. It’s a hugely dynamic environment with complex interactivity. Users drill down to investigate the services they’re interested in. In addition, terrific site indexes have been created by several major Search Engines (SE’S) so customers can find the things they’re looking for. Yellow Pages would be a nightmare if it wasn’t indexed properly. It could take hours of our time!
This set-back is solved by Search Engines. Which means businesses can no longer use traditional marketing. Now, if you wish to be visible online, you must be indexed by Google, Bing and/or Yahoo etc. But there’s a lot more to it than that… #S#
Of course, the Search Engines weren’t blind to this, so they developed an unusual paid advertising scheme so any site could get to the top. It’s called Pay Per Click, and advertisers are only charged when someone ‘clicks’ on their ad. How refreshing was that? Basically, the only time you now paid was when someone who was already interested asked to look at your site. Professionally monitored and targeted adverts can bring spectacular results.
Unfortunately, PPC advertising has now become literally swamped with adverts in most fields. Prices have risen hugely. This is mostly due to high bids being put in by marketers with no experience. Today, it can sometimes be impossible to make a profit using PPC. Particularly where it takes a large number of enquiries per sale. Consequently we’re seeing a renewed interest in SEO. This means websites are optimised in ways that naturally push them up the search pages.
Do this small task – Bring up a major Search Engine now and enter a number of keywords for your products or services. Can you see your website on the 1st three pages? Chances are – the answer’s no. Consequently, like the situation we described earlier, you’ve got no visibility! If it is there, would clients really use those keywords?
It’s possible you’ve already done some advertising in the paid listings – and maybe you’ve had some results. Can you be sure you’re working it as efficiently as possible? Is your investment really paying off? Are you accurately tracking and measuring your campaigns? Testing, measuring and split-testing are some of the most important factors with all PPC campaigns. Without accurate statistics, you can’t get the best ROI.
Both in Britain and around the world, statistics show that commercial advertising and selling is experiencing a seismic shift towards the internet. There is no other choice but to deal with it – and ensure you’re taking full advantage of all the opportunities.
Written by Scott Edwards. Pop to evolvesem.co.uk or HERE.
