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Amazing Superstore
The Value of Web
Marketing
The Internet is changing the rules of business. As
trite as these words may seem now, they are true. Like radio and
television, the Internet has brought about an undeniable shift in
how business is conducted. Unlimited information, instantaneous
communication, and a market more vast than anything before have
become available to both massive conglomerates and small home
businesses. However, one underlying factor remains the same:
advertisement. While the traditional business plan of a "Brick and
Mortar" company has always included extensive advertisement, the
same cannot be said about many Internet businesses. Many webmasters
go to great lengths to craft wonderful web sites, putting little or
no thought into advertising them. And any business that doesn't
advertise is doomed to failure. Web sites need to advertise and
promote themselves to create traffic on their site, to stay in
business, and to grow.
Businesses on the Internet share a kind of equality that Brick and
Mortar businesses do not. When a visitor arrives at a website, they
really have no idea how large or small that company may be. In the
Brick and Mortar world, it is easy to distinguish between the
two--the larger will have the bigger store, flashier advertising,
and a more expansive inventory. On the Internet however, small
companies can project an uncharacteristically large presence by
creating and properly promoting their web sites. While the Brick and
Mortar retail world is consolidating and merging towards giant
discount oriented retailers, the Internet is teeming with thousands
of small, successful companies who might not otherwise be able to
compete, or even start-up, in the Brick and Mortar world.
No matter how large or small your company is, you need to advertise.
Unfortunately for most small businesses, Dot-com or otherwise,
traditional advertising methods require immense capital and human
resources. This is exactly why many smaller businesses fail--they
spend too many of their resources in trying to compete on somebody
else's turf.
The most obvious medium of advertisement is television. However,
television's effectiveness in attracting customers is questionable.
Its effectiveness lies in achieving brand recognition. Yet at this
point most businesses are trying to increase traffic to their
websites and gain more customers--brand recognition can wait until
after the IPO. Television advertising is also the most expensive
medium. More than one previously unknown Dot-com spent all of their
available resources on a Super Bowl spot. They may or may not have
been successful, but nevertheless, they spent millions of dollars
for 30 seconds of airtime. Most businesses are more shrewd when it
comes to spending their dollars, and they want more than just thirty
seconds of exposure.
If you thought that targeting an Internet-based audience would be
more effective at driving traffic to a website, you would be right.
Banner ads and mass-mailings are much less expensive than
television. However, they have their limitations as well. While
remarkably cheaper than a TV spot, a small banner ad on a major
portal website can still cost over six thousand dollars a month.
Furthermore, it is generally agreed that banners are not a cost
effective way to bring visitors to a website. Most potential
customers see banners as just a nuisance. Mass mailings have a
similar drawback. If you opt out of spending money for your own
list, you can buy space in someone else’s. But you'll be competing
for the customers attention with whoever else bought space. Another
disadvantage that banner ads and mass-mailings have is that they
aren't targeting the people who are most likely to be interested in
the content you have to offer. They may reach a wide audience, but
most of that audience will recoil in horror, yell "Spam!", and
delete your expensive ad before having the opportunity to realize
that you are exactly what they're looking for. While both
traditional methods can and do work, they require a lot of what most
of us don't have: money.
The most cost-effective advertisement would have to be both cheap
and targeted at exactly the right customer. Years ago this was
something of a pipe dream--today it is a reality. The Internet is
the most comprehensive source of information in human history. But
like any library of knowledge, it must be catalogued and organized
to be used effectively. And therein lies the perfect solution:
search engines. Like the card catalog of a library, search engines
are a customer's way of sifting through the Web to filter out what
they're looking for. And what better way to make sure you are found
then to have an influence on what they find? Search engine listings
meet both of our criteria in terms of focus and affordability. No
other form of advertising is so focused that the customer is
actually searching for you. A search engine user is a highly
receptive and targeted audience because you are not trying to sell
them on something they don’t already want. They have come looking
for you and they already want what you specifically have to offer.
Furthermore, the great majority of search engine listings are free.
Return on investment couldn’t be better-- with none of your dollars
spent, the very first dollar returned is profit.
According to the Georgia Institute of Technology, 88% of Internet
users find new web sites through search engine listings1. WebCMO
data shows that in a side-by-side comparison of different forms of
promotion, search engine listings are the number one way to generate
traffic on websites2. Search engine listings send droves of visitors
to your site and they are free. I have personally seen websites
where traffic has increased ten-fold as a result of good search
engine positioning. Nothing could be better, but there is a catch.
Getting listed on a search engine below 499 other websites simply
won’t work. You need to get a listing near the top of your category
to collect all the traffic a search engine can deliver. But the good
news is that you can dramatically improve your positioning with a
little bit of elbow grease. All it takes is some key modifications
to your website and a little thought. It’s not that hard and you can
do it. Using Amazing Superstore to guide you through this process is
the ideal way to simplify your work. It guides you through every
aspect of the Search Engine Positioning process so you don’t have to
be a tech-savvy guru to get excellent results. With good search
engine listings a small business can project a large image on the
Internet and get the kind of traffic that so many big business sites
get. |
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