American Express

Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

There is not really a set formula for selecting which communication channels are appropriate for your business, but there is a process that should be followed when determining which channels you should be working . Selecting how you are going to speak to your prospective clients is no different. With all of the different ways there are to communicate with your target market, it is amazing how many businesses are solely focused on using search engines to drive traffic to their site and for good reason. Search engines are  typically responsible for driving 60–80 percent of Web site traffic. With that being said, there are so many other channels available online that are often overlooked—particularly by small to medium-sized businesses. These channels,  can drive an equal amount of targeted traffic to your Web site. But how do you select the right channels for your business?

The first thing to understand is that several online marketing channels require a monetary investment, whereas there are others that offer businesses a more cost-effective way to promote their sites. The latter often require an investment of time rather than money  however, the results can be outstanding.

For example, devoting time to the development of your company’s link strategy can take a significant amount of time; however, the investment of time not only will increase your reach on the Internet to your prospective clients, but it will also increase your link popularity. The increase in link popularity will boost your rankings in the major search engines particularly Google. Linkstrategy development is a technique that should be implemented by all organizations regardless of their budget however, it often is overlooked.

It’s not just what you do, but how you do it. If you’re going to get something out of your Web site, you have to provide the functionality for the potential customer to take an action, and you have to make sure everything works as it should. Everything must be easy for the user.

Let’s consider a hotel or hotel chain as an example. The right look and feel, excellent navigation, and useful information present a convincing picture for the Web site. We know, though, that an information-only Web site will not get the job done. The target market expects to be able to make a reservation, download a brochure, plan their trip online, and so on, quickly and easily with no barriers preventing them from doing so. If the Web site is too slow, they’ll give up. If the Web site generates an error, they’ll lose confidence. A hotel Web site must extend different touch points to the target market, allowing them access to self-service tools (e.g., interactive package builders, maps and directions, etc.) and engaging features to capture leads, drive immediate sales, and promote consumer loyalty (e.g., through permission marketing, access to a rewards program online for an individual business, etc.).

The first generation of Internet marketing saw Web site owners work on getting linked from other sites because they saw the benefit of the traffic from those sites. Their link strategies primarily related to finding sites that related to different products or services but had the same target market as theirs and
requesting a link from the site’s owner.

Usually reciprocal links were negotiated, placement was negotiated, and graphics and text for the links were traded. The second generation saw link strategies get a little more sophisticated, certainly as link popularity and link relevancy became significantly prominent elements in the search engines’ ranking criteria.

Organizations took a very strategic approach to getting linked from as many sites as possible to improve their link popularity scores. They implemented very thorough, organized, and detailed link strategies.