Working with our design partners to deliver advanced web-based solutions

Home page

 
 

Marketing
There are four really important ways of getting your customers to the site:
  • Search engines from normal searches (organic traffic)
  • Search engines from pay per click (PPC)
  • Traditional marketing
  • Returning customers

You will get repeat business from excellent customer service, but you can also use an email newsletter to present special offers to customers.

Search engine optimisation

Customers that search on a site such as Google and find your site in search results are termed organic traffic to distinguish them from paid links from search engines.

Organic traffic has one big advantage – it is free. In our white paper in building site traffic we give a lot of information on how to get the best results in this area. However it has one very big disadvantage; it is out of your control. If you rely totally on organic traffic you take the risk that you could drop from the listings with no warning and be in serious trouble. 

This can and does happen. Nobody can control their placement on Google (although it can be influenced) and the method it uses for ranking can be and is changed on an unpredictable basis. Sites that rely 100% on organic searches can see their business totally decimated without notice.

We therefore normally recommend this is part of a marketing mix.

Pay per click

In many areas of business, PPC has a massive effect on the level of sales. The main advantage is that you control it. You control the wording and you control the placement (bid more money for a higher placement). 

It is very important that you measure the effectiveness of your PPC campaign in detail. With the right instrumentation you can ‘crank the handle’ and generate business which you know will be profitable. More on this later.

PPC works better in some markets than others. This is a specialised and quite technical area. We have consultants who can advise. If you are planning an ecommerce site, PPC should always be reviewed as part of the planning process.

Offline marketing

Make sure your web site is listed on all your marketing collateral as well as letterhead and business cards.  If you publish a product catalogue, encourage readers to order online. 

We will also discuss other marketing intiaitives with you:

  • Advertising: Use offer codes linked to a small discount to encourage customers to visit the site and to measure the effectiveness of the campaign.
  • Mail shots: Postcards are a low cost/high impact means of making your market aware of the site.

Customer service

The best way of building your business is to focus on service and get your customers returning to you. They found you through Google, next time they want to buy something they may just do another search and go somewhere else. So make sure:
  • Your service is first class. 
  • React well and generously if you are at fault.   Handled well, a problem can cement your relationship with the customer, handled badly and you will never see them again.
  • Keep in touch with them. One really good way is an email newsletter.

Newsletter

An email newsletter is a great way of keeping in touch with your customers. Provide
  • Tips
  • Special offers
  • Other interesting material

You will find your sales figures jump after each distribution.