Internet Marketing Strategy
Internet marketing experts from all over the world gather together every year to discuss a variety of subjects and issues. During one such conference the topic was Internet Marketing Strategy. I was amazed to see how little is actually know about the subject. Each expert presented 5 random websites and then everyone tore them apart. The end result was that out of 200 random websites we only found 6 that had a clear internet marketing strategy in place. Surprisingly all 200 had been SEO’d. All were on on either page 1 or page 2 in the search results page of the major search engines for roughly 80% of their keywords.
Not surprising was of the 200 websites analyzed, only the 6 with a clear internet marketing strategy were hugely successfull. The others reported sluggish sales if any. It became very clear to us that we needed to educate people on what an internet marketing strategy is.
SEO - Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. The theory is that the higher a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a website web presence. You would be amazed to know how many SEO “gurus” have no idea about the different types of SEO targets.
As an Internet Marketing Strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. It is also the First Phase of a detailed Internet Marketing Strategy which clients can subscribe to.
SEM - Search Engine Marketing, is considered by many to be Phase Two of any good Internet Marketing Strategy. SEM seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of paid placements, contextual advertising, pay per click ads, banner ads and paid inclusion. In fact SEM is a stand alone Strategy. What this means is that a client does not have to have an search engine optimized website to subscribe to a SEM Package, although much better results and in most cases lower ad rates can be obtained with a fully optimized website.
If you combine SEO and SEM together you have 50% of a good Internet Marketing Strategy. As a side note less than 30% of the sites we analyzed had this in place.
SMO - Social Media Optimization is the methodization of social media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. There are two categories of SMO methods:
(a) Social media features added to the content itself, including: RSS feeds, social news and sharing buttons, user rating and polling tools, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos
(b) Promotional activities in social media aside from the content being promoted, including: blogging, commenting on other blogs, participating in discussion groups, and posting status updates on social networking profiles.
SMO is very complicated and considered by our expert panel to be Phase Three of a good Internet Marketing Strategy, and while 80% of the websites we analyzed used SMO methods only 10% did it properly. The reasons are really simple, not too many know how to do it properly and very few have the time to devote to it. Of the 10% that did it properly everyone of them showed signs of being done by professional firms, not by the websites IT team or management team.
Blogs and blogging was the most common approach of the early or older websites while Facebook pages and Twitter accounts were present for the newer websites. It was amazing to see just how many websites have jumped on the Facebook bandwagon. It is my opinion that Google is now kicking themselves for allowing Facebook to become such a dominating force. Afterall it was Google who stressed how important Facebook links and pages were.
Six months ago if you searched Google for anything you were certain to find a Facebook page or two in the top 10 results. Do it now and see what Google displays. I can tell you NOT ONE result with a Facebook page. Google maketh Google taketh away.
Does this mean the end to social media as a means for better search results? Social Media Optimization was never meant to be a method to improve search results. IF SEO “experts” tell you that having a blog or having a Facebook page will get you higher rankings or get you listed on Google’s first page it is just not true.
Web 2.0 is about users interacting with users. Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and others are the vehicule to getting users to the same place. In an Internet Marketing Strategy getting a clients presence in that social media, opens up the potential to DRIVE more traffic to their website and to expose them to traffic they would have never seen through search. That ladies and gentlemen is SMO. SMO requires dedication and weekly if not daily attention. Like we said earlier almost everyone is doing it but only 10% are doing it right. And those that are doing it right are paying someone to do it for them.
Finally we arrive at Phase Four. The expert panel concluded that this phase is perhaps the most overlooked phase and represents about 40% of the value of a good Internet Marketing Strategy.
Internet Marketing - ties together creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including: design, development, advertising, and sales. Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), and social media optimization (SMO).
Internet marketing also includes Email marketing strategies and the building of campaigns that work. Yes I hate spam too but if you only knew what I know about email marketing you would understand completely. In a nutshell Email Marketing really works. IF you know how to do it right.
Finally Internet marketing also involves the collection of data or stats of clients’ behavior once they arrive on a website. Stats are accumulated and analyzed. Guys looking at Google analytics and seeing your visitor count is not analysis. It is nothing compared to what we are looking for. Proper analysis provides internet marketing experts’ with the knowledge on user behavior, which they can translate into what works and what does not work, on your website and through your Internet Marketing Strategy.
The process then shifts to use collected information to get the most out of a customer’s visit and to give the most to the customer’s visit. The main goal of any Internet Marketing plan is conversions.
Now do you understand? This final phase is the Key. Its missing from 97% of the websites we looked at. And its the difference between making money on the web and having a web presence. Just because your website is on page one of the search engines does not mean you are making money. It only means that the search results think you are better than the rest. But if your website is page one and you are not converting traffic into sales then you have a problem. And actually you have three problems.
Problem One: Your website is not attractive enough to install user confidence. (This is the main problem and almost everyone fails here)
Problem Two: You have no idea how to lead the user. (most don’t even know what this means)
Problem Three: Anything you do, any change you make can effect your search placement. (everyone is afaraid of that)
You see ladies and gentlemen. Easy to get on page one. Very, very difficult to stay there and make money. Because its is about the money. That is the reason why you need an Internet Marketing Strategy. This strategy must contain the right amount of each element to work properly. Have a look around the web and you can easily see who is making money. The sites that are bringing in sales are the same sites that are spending money on Internet Marketing.
Summary - composing an Internet Marketing Strategy is complex. Its like you need to add a team that acts as an extension of your company, working with you and for you to maximize conversions. This will require monthly Internet Marketing meetings to review statistics and reports as well as plan strategy for the following months. It will involve planning and tickering with the website. It will involve budgets for banner ads and Adwords. It will involve staff dedicated to Social Media. Yeah we have two staff members that play Facebook, blog, and Tweet, all day, everyday, imagine that. And ultimately it will involve the website owners to spend the money to hire the right firm.
Is there another way? NO. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply a SEO “expert”.
Tags: Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Strategy, SEM, SEO, SMO