Companies are finding it increasingly expensive to market their products off-line. Therefore we must address this issue. It’s commonly understood that all businesses need to be online. But that’s not the answer to the problem. Purchasers won’t necessarily be able to find you.
Let’s compare it to a new store opening up… A lot of money has gone into setting it up. They’re ready to go… And only then realise they’re out in the sticks in a no-through road. What’s worse, they haven’t told anyone where they are. How do you think they’ll get on? This is exactly the scenario for 99% of ALL commercial websites in existence.
The World Wide Web has caused a paradigm shift in marketing. Ten years ago, as everyone was getting on the bandwagon, there was an idea that everyone needed a website. Vast amounts of money were spent on all singing/dancing web sites. (A happy situation for web design businesses…) Before long though, the site owners were complaining that no-one looked at their new website! People had thought that if they had a big website, it would be easily spotted. This proved to be a complete fallacy…
A traditional approach to marketing breaks down on the web. An expert in old-style marketing would compare your web presence with a catalogue. Therefore, you’ll need to utilise all the normal marketing channels (print, radio, TV, media etc.) to drive traffic to that site. Basically keeping it within their frame of reference. Make the clever looking sales catalogue, and then promote it everywhere so customers want to buy from it. However, this process illustrates an absolute misunderstanding of website marketing.
This approach purely sees the web as a viewing portal, which it isn’t. 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. Think of the chaos involved if the Business Yellow Pages wasn’t in alphabetical order: We’d be forever frustrated and disappointed.
Search Engines have sorted all this. And so marketing is forced to move on. Because now, if you want to be found in the vast sea that is the internet, you have to be indexed in the Search Engines. But there’s a lot more to it than that… #S#
To solve this problem, and bring in a huge chunk of revenue for themselves, SE’s introduced paid advertising. And it has an interesting twist… You only pay when someone actually chooses your advert - hence the name ‘Pay-Per-Click’. It was revolutionary. Essentially, you now only paid for someone who’d already decided they were interested in your service or product. Pay per Click is a very well targeted method of marketing. With the right knowledge it can produce a good return.
Today however, most search terms are overwhelmed with pay per click adverts. New online marketers have forced up the price per click, largely through over-the-top bidding. So it’s often the case now that many are priced out of the market. This happens mostly where lots of clicks are essential to get one buyer. This has brought Search Engine Optimisation to the fore, where driving a site to page one is the goal.
As an exercise: Go to Google or Bing RIGHT NOW and type in a few product or service keywords. Does your site appear in the first 3 pages of results? It’s very doubtful. In other words, you’re no-where to be found. If it is there, would clients really use those keywords?
Maybe you’ve already tried some Pay Per Click advertising so you appear in the paid listings, and maybe you’ve achieved some success so far. Can you be sure you’re working it as efficiently as possible? Is your ROI satisfactory? Are you aware of how to assess the quality and viability of each campaign? With PPC, testing and diagnostics are critical. You’ll never get the best results without correct figures.
Global figures clearly demonstrate that commercial marketing is swiftly moving online. There is no other choice but to deal with it - and ensure you’re taking full advantage of all the opportunities.
(C) Jay Kendall. Browse EvolveSEM.co.uk for in-depth business advice on SEM Consultants and SEO Consultants.
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