A simplified Guide to promoting your
Business Via the internet

INTRODUCTION
If you’re reading this then you are already aware that the statistics for the growth of business via the internet are staggering, and clearly if your organisation is to enjoy some of the rewards available then you need to know what options there are for marketing into this huge marketplace.

We have produced this short guide to explain in simple terms just what types of online marketing there are available for you to use. The internet changes daily, it is a hotbed of new entrepreneurial activity and we therefore do not claim that this paper is 100% comprehensive nor exhaustive. It is however a very good starting point for understanding the internet phenomena.

What we do expect and hope is that you will contact us for advice, direction, and support with your online marketing needs

There are 3 main forms of online marketing:-

• Your Website
• Emails
• Advertising
  

We will look at each of these & explain some of the key points which you should be aware of and in so doing hopefully “demystify” a lot of the hype surrounding internet marketing.

1/ YOUR WEBSITE

Your website is the basic building block for internet marketing. This is the fulcrum around which everything else revolves. It is obvious therefore that your website must be “fit for purpose”. Ultimately, all roads lead to your website so you must be confident that when people arrive, they benefit from the visit – if they don’t, they’ll soon leave!

The areas to consider when evaluating your website are:-

• Design
• Content
• Technical structure
• e-shop enabled or not?
  

DESIGN
Like any form of communication, your website must be designed with the recipient in mind. Careful design is essential so that your website achieves its objectives, whatever they may be. No two websites will have exactly the same objectives for their owners, so be sure that your website reflects your business, service or product “in the eyes of the beholder” – not necessarily the same as your view!!

CONTENT
The content of your website has two very important & different purposes.
The first is to pass information on to the viewer, the Second is to pass information on to Search Engines.

It is important therefore that your content is structured in such a way that both of these needs are met. Too much, too little, wrongly positioned or wrongly worded, and the power of your website will rapidly diminish.

TECHNICAL STRUCTURE
Apart from being easy to use and navigate for the human visitor, it is also extremely important from a Search Engine point of view that your website is both compliant with current Standards and with the process by which search engines rate your website.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Basically, SEO does what it says – it makes sure that your website is in the best form for search engines to find it and when they do, SEO makes sure it’s in the best form for them to evaluate. Additionally, SEO ensures your website has the most appropriate structure for search engines to give it a high ranking when users search for your name, products or services.

There is no quick-fix either to getting SEO right, it is a very time consuming activity – bigger companies have full time employees whose sole job is to continually change & refine the content & structure of their website to be “search engine friendly”.

You should also be aware that the “rules” by which search engines rate your website are different for different Search Engines, eg Google, MSN, Yahoo. Not only that, but these rules are also frequently changing!

However, with some thought & careful application there are still many things that can be done to improve the “natural” (or “organic”) position of your website on search engines.

ONLINE SHOP
A major decision for you to take is whether or not you want to sell (& take payment for) products/services online. Only you know whether this is right for your circumstances, however the evidence suggests that the general public have now embraced buying online as second nature, therefore it is essential to understand what the consequences (or not) are for your organisation.

Having an e-shop has additional implications for online marketing which involves areas such as fulfilment processes and on-going customer communications.

2/ EMAILS

The fastest growing form of online marketing is the use of emails, which as you know land straight into the inbox of a user. However, just as junk-mail through your letterbox is more often than not put straight into the bin, the same applies with emails.

When used correctly however, the power of email marketing is that they can be personalised so that recipients want to read them and, importantly, want to respond to them the way the sender intended.

Emails are also much cheaper to broadcast than printed communications via the post.

The key elements of email marketing are:-

• Using targeted lists, either self-built or bought-in;
• Using a broadcast system that offers volume despatch and quality feedback on results (“analytics”);
• Having a subject line that gets the recipient to open the email;
• Having an email designed professionally to “look right”;
• Having an email written so that the message causes the desired response from the recipient;
• Offering the opportunity to “opt-out” of future emails.
  

3/ ONLINE ADVERTISING

The annual value of pan-European online advertising is set to reach 16bn euros ($22bn; £10.8bn) by 2012, more than double that of 2006
* Forrester Research, July 2007.

In essence, all online advertising boils down to getting your “advert” in front of someone who may be interested in your products/services and getting them to click on that advert with their mouse.
Once they have taken that action, the advert has done it’s job and it is then over to other elements of your online marketing activity, such as your website, or an email or the electronic (or offline) delivery of something to the person who responded to your advert.

Online advertising takes on many forms, but can be broadly summarised in these categories:-

• Pay Per Click (PPC);
• Banner (or Display) Advertising;
• Affiliate Marketing;
• Affinity Groups
  

PAY PER CLICK
PPC is usually (but not exclusively) used on search engines. By setting up campaigns centred on key words & phrases you are able to “buy” your way to the top of the sponsored listings which appear on the search results page. However, you only pay when a viewer clicks on your advert which takes him through to your website, hence “pay per click”.

Other forms of PPC occur when you have an arrangement with a website owner (eg a directory or News website that the cost of your advert is worth a certain number of “clicks”.

The benefit of PPC is that you are only paying when someone is actually interested in your products/services, not for them just seeing your advert. However, the critical factor is ensuring that your website page they arrive at is well designed & relevant to them, otherwise they will quickly leave and you have wasted the opportunity.

BANNER ADVERTS
As with printed publications where display adverts fill in around the text on page, banner adverts fill in around the text content of a website page.

Thus these adverts can be landscape or vertical (“skyscraper”), or they can be overlaying the webpage eg as a “pop-up”.

Research is needed to ensure that you are placing your adverts on the right type of website, ie where visitors are likely to have an interest in your products/services. Eg if you are selling car finance an advert on a motoring website would be appropriate.

The owner of the website will charge you for appearing on his/her pages, and this may be a fixed rate for a term, or may be payable by the number of times your advert is seen.

Yell.com is a hybrid example whereby it is a Directory in which you get a free entry, but there are options to pay for enhanced positioning in the search, as well as the option to pay for a permanent banner advert in a prominent position on the pages most relevant to your product/service.

AFFILIATE
Affiliate marketing is a working relationship whereby a merchant (online shop or advertiser) has consumers driven to it by adverts on an affiliate (website). If a consumer visiting the affiliate’s site clicks on an advertisement and goes on to perform a predetermined action (usually a purchase) on the advertiser’s site then the affiliate receives a payment. This predetermined action can range from a sale to a referral, a newsletter sign-up to a click. It is this cost per action model that defines affiliate marketing and sets it apart from other channels

AFFINITY
If you are going to advertise your products/services then why not advertise to groups of people who are most likely to need/want them?

The internet lends itself wonderfully for groups of people with similar interests to share information, and once those groups with most relevance to you have been identified, then a raft of marketing activities can be planned & implemented.

Perhaps one of the strongest forms of affinity marketing available on the internet is being associated with e-newsletters or bulletins which people have requested to receive, ie these communications are regarded as having value to the recipients, who are therefore open to advertising from organisations which sponsor them.

…and finally, let’s not forget existing customers!!!

Exactly the same customer retention principles apply online as offline – except that the internet allows for much quicker, cheaper and more relevant communications between organisations & their existing customers.

Perhaps the key online marketing weapon in your armoury for existing customers is the email, and as described above, there are certain “rules” which if followed will lead to improved customer relations.

SUMMARY
Online marketing requires a holistic or 360 degree approach. There is no silver bullet - each element of the tools available to you impact on the effectiveness of the others.

Ideally, a (realistic) budget should be set which enables online marketing activities to be undertaken over a 3-6 month period, during which time effectiveness and value can be monitored and regular appropriate changes made.

Hopefully you will have found some, if not all, of the content of this paper useful, and perhaps you have learned one or two new things about Internet Marketing.

One thing is for sure, there are more questions than answers !!

If you would like to have a more in-depth appraisal of your internet marketing needs & strategies we will be pleased to arrange an exploratory meeting.

Given the complexity of the Internet, our charges are as simple and clear as they can be, and we will provide you with estimates prior to any billable work commencing.

Our objective is to make your online marketing a success so that:-

• A/ you ask us to do more and
• B/ you introduce us to your associates as a recommended supplier!
  
  

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