Introduction to web marketing

Posted by John Kilroy May 5th, 2008

Web marketing is an umbrella term for a collection of services that aim to make your web site more valuable to your business.

The basic elements of web marketing are:

1. Research
2. Search engine marketing
3. Non search engine marketing
4. Web site analysis and optimisation

Research

Research underpins all web marketing activities; even relatively straightforward things like search engine optimisation cannot be properly done without it. Research is conducted with an eye on three factors relating to your business: what type of business you have, your target markets and your web site.

Web marketing is not a one-size-fits-all activity, because businesses differ, markets differ and web sites differ. It is through research that you will discover which opportunities are appropriate for you, your budget and customers.

You can do a lot of research or a little, it depends what your ideas and aims are; generally, you can stop when the picture you are building stops getting much clearer. Some marketing activities benefit more from research than others do, and some types of businesses should do more research than others. Either way, research comes first – before any actual marketing activity takes place.

Once you have surveyed the scene you can choose an entry point, usually that entry point is…

Search engine marketing

Like it or not, search engines are currently the most important way to get people to your web site, and in Britain most first-time web site visitors arrive from one or another of them. Getting on the right side (which is usually the top) of the major search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN – is a major focus of web marketing and there are lots of ideas about how that is best achieved.

I’ve written quite a lot about the subject of search engine marketing, but the key activities you will want to do to improve the position of your listings are:

1. optimise your web site (also known as Search Engine Optimization or SEO);
2. start a link network;
3. submit your web site to other relevant databases;
4. get listed on certain directories (some you will have to pay for);
5. ensure that your web site is relevant and useful.

Don’t settle for a search engine marketing plan that only offers to search optimise your web site. On its own this is unlikely to get you where you want to be, and over-optimising it will have a negative overall effect.

And also remember that a web page must be optimised for certain key words. These words should be the same as the search terms you want that page to be found with, and they will have been identified during your research. It is often not in your interest to try and optimise a page for too many keywords, so choose them carefully – optimising for the wrong terms will do you little or no good.

Choosing the right key words is not as straightforward as you might imagine. In most cases the your first (or best) guesses are wrong, which is why it is vital you research them.

Non search engine marketing

This covers advertising and other ways that you can get people to your web site without involving search engines.

Most commercial web sites advertise in one way or another using, for instance Google, Yahoo and Overture ’sponsored’ ad campaigns (this doesn’t really count as search engine marketing), banner or box adverts on suitable web sites, partnership promotions or email. The opportunities here vary widely but the best will be identified by your research.

Don’t spend very much unless you’ve done the research – research costs much less than advertising and it will help to ensure that you don’t waste money. Also, it is usually worth getting your advertising agency or consultant to optimise any sponsored ads you take out. These have become increasingly sophisticated and even minor tweaks can have a dramatic effect on their effectiveness.

The process and output from this form of web marketing naturally cross-over with ‘real world’ marketing (the Internet isn’t the only place you should advertise your web site), and consequently you may have to get someone to develop your campaigns or ads for you. Budget for this as developing good material can sometimes be as expensive as the space it occupies.

Where possible, try to make good use of relatively cheap opportunities like text-based adverts, referral schemes, directory listings etc.

Web site analysis and optimisation

Getting people to your web site is a big part of the plan, but the final goal is to do business with them. Your web site has to be up to the task of facilitating or encouraging this, and ironically it is here that many web marketing efforts fail.

It is a fact that the great majority of web sites are not built properly and are badly designed¹ – containing flaws that stop visitors doing what they or you want them to do. This is partly the fault of the people who designed and built them, but it is also due to inappropriate production processes and clients who prioritise the wrong things or ignore advice.

Web analysis will spot these flaws and help you fine tune your web site, but it can only help after-the-fact and it is always better to ensure in the first instance that you commission experts t0 produce your web site, and that you listen to their advice.

Aside from spotting problems with the your web site, web analysis can also show how well particular advertising campaigns are working – allowing you to tune them and focus on those that work best.