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Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

PPC advertising, or Pay per Click, has become an essential part of every business’s online marketing strategy. If you’re reading this book we are assuming you know what PPC advertising channel is, but for those who may not, these advertising channels enable businesses to pay for exposure in search engine results or on various content sites based on targeted keywords and phrases.

Why is PPC advertising so popular? Well, there is a pretty easy answer to that question. PPC advertising enables businesses to put their products or services in front of their target market at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising, which will bring your business a higher return on investment and an increased customer base. Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions , and MSN adCenter are today’s more popular PPC advertising models. Just think of it like this. You could pay a hefty fee to place a two-page ad in a targeted trade publication, but you always run the risk that the ad will generate a low response rate—if any. That has always been the gamble.

Instead, PPC advertising enables you to pay only for the number of times your ad is clicked on by your target market—not the number of times your ad is viewed or displayed. What this results in is targeted exposure for your business. If you implement your campaigns the right way, your return on investment should be significantly higher than that of traditional advertising campaigns; you just need to make sure all the tools are in place to create the conversion.

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.

A well-planned Internet marketing strategy distinguishes those businesses that are committed to the long-term potential of the medium from those who are simply marketing online because the market says they should. Typically, the latter can easily be detected. I am sure you’ve stumbled across a Web site that is nothing more than an electronic brochure—a site that does not communicate the promise of the brand to the target market or a site that is stamped “Last Updated . . .” only to display a date one or two years prior to your visit (or more.) These are examples of businesses that have yet to fully embrace the potential of the Internet and how it can not only grow their business, but also reach more users in a more cost-effective manner.

Planning plays a critical role in the success of your Internet marketing strategy with regard to your Web site itself, the online communication channels that you choose, and how you actually execute each campaign you launch to your target market. Those businesses that are capitalizing on the mainstream use of the Internet are those that plan their Internet strategies well in advance. For example, research reveals that the average online marketer that is using targeted PPC campaigns or organic optimization as a means of driving traffic to their Web site are dedicating on average 36 percent of their total online advertising budget to the medium. That represents 15 percent of their total online/offline advertising budget. Does this seem like a surprise? It shouldn’t. It’s not unrealistic for search engine exposure to be able to represent 60 to 80 percent of a Web site’s total traffic.

Understanding what you are trying to achieve online plays a critical role in the planning process for your Web site and your overall online marketing strategy. It seems like a simple concept, doesn’t it? I mean, why would you build a Web site if you didn’t understand what you want it to do? Well, the problem is that even in this day and age, many businesses are developing their online presence simply because it’s just one of those things that businesses need to do. These businesses build Web sites that are online brochures for their business with little or no thought about their customers or what they want their site to achieve.

Any online marketing activities, whether it is the development of your Web site or planning sessions for an online campaign, should begin by documenting the specific primary objectives for the activity. Typically it boils down to one primary objective that is common across any business—revenue generation. But what does this really mean? Do you have to sell products online to generate revenue for your business, or can you simply use the site to qualify sales leads for your internal sales department? Overall there are many different online marketing objectives for a company Web site or a specific campaign. People tend to label their objectives simply as “revenue generation” as opposed to breaking down the objective into more specific terms. Below is a list of common online marketing objectives:

• Generate increased brand awareness
• Generate and qualify leads for the internal sales department
• Increase revenue as a result of online sales
• Provide increased customer service by providing the Web user with more   self-service tools and information
• Increase customer retention
• Decrease internal costs by streamlining the share of information online.

A well-planned Internet marketing strategy distinguishes those businesses that are committed to the long-term potential of the medium from those who are simply marketing online because the market says they should. Typically, the latter can easily be detected. I am sure you’ve stumbled across a Web site that is nothing more than an electronic brochure—a site that does not communicate the promise of the brand to the target market or a site that is stamped “Last Updated . . .” only to display a date one or two years prior to your visit (or more.) These are examples of businesses that have yet to fully embrace the potential of the Internet and how it can not only grow their business, but also reach more users in a more cost-effective manner.

Planning plays a critical role in the success of your Internet marketing strategy with regard to your Web site itself, the online communication channels that you choose, and how you actually execute each campaign you launch to your target market. Those businesses that are capitalizing on the mainstream use of the Internet are those that plan their Internet strategies well in advance. For example, research reveals that the average online marketer that is using targeted PPC campaigns or organic optimization as a means of driving traffic to their Web site are dedicating on average 36 percent of their total online advertising budget to the medium. That represents 15 percent of their total online/offline advertising budget. Does this seem like a surprise? It shouldn’t. It’s not unrealistic for search engine exposure to be able to represent 60 to 80 percent of a Web site’s total traffic.