2010 Is The Year Of Internet Marketing
Note: Jeff Plucker is the newest addition to the ProspectMX team of internet marketing consultants. If your company is in need of SEO or internet marketing in the Atlanta-area and you’re interested in learning more about how ProspectMX can boost your business in 2010, please contact him.
Question: How much do you know about your website and internet business?
What percentage of your revenue is generated online? How many people search for your business? How many people search for what services your business offers? If you increased your online presence by (fill in the blank) percentage what would that do to your bottom line?
Roughly 2 billion searches are done everyday on Google! Is your piece of the internet pie what you want or know you can have?
You can write me a check, I’ll take a picture of it with my cell phone and immediately have it deposited into my account. Takes all of about 2 minutes…
As for traditional advertising… TV, radio, magazines, billboard, etc… while there is a decline in their quantity and effectiveness, I will admit they are not going away. However, newspapers are widely shutting down, going online, or drastically reducing their staff to cope with the change. And how many of you now record shows so you can skip the commercials? With the iPod, CDs and satellite radio who really listens to their radio anymore?
More and more people are “living” on their computer. My brother, for example, shut off his cable and uses the internet’s many options to watch TV, movies, gather news and communicate.
What does all this mean? It means that 2010 is the Year of Internet Marketing!
Get The Most Out Of The Year Of Internet Marketing
“As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth’s population uses the services of the Internet.” - Wikipedia.
2010 is the year that successful companies will realize they must have a proactive approach to the internet in order to maximize their overall marketing and sales goals. They must capitalize on the internet’s power and mobility:
- increasing traffic to their website
- converting the traffic into a lead or the lead into a sale
Companies will be capturing the interest of roughly 1.5 billion people that are online everyday. Trust me…this is a piece of pie you want to have!
But what does internet marketing really entail? Is it as simple as just having a website? Or doing a PPC campaign? Or using Social Media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Am I restricted to just my website? Or is it one of the dozens of other services out there?
To give a short answer… a true internet marketing campaign entails everything that the internet offers. And everything the internet offers is extensive. Since no one wants to read a blog longer than War and Peace, I will break it down as simple as possible.
The Building Blocks Of Great Internet Marketing
It all starts with the website. People want pretty, but a website needs certain things that sometimes makes pretty - well, pretty difficult. Once you have the design then you must make sure it’s optimized. Pretty doesn’t sell blue widgets. Starting to get a little discomfort in your head?
You must optimize for the search engines. What does that mean? How about your conversion ability? It’s great that you have 1000 people coming to your website a week. But if they aren’t converting - what have you really accomplished?
What keywords do you rank for? How ARE people coming and how MANY people are coming to your site? What is your competition doing?
Oh… and does anyone have some Tylenol? I have a full blown headache.
The Marketing Piece Of Internet Marketing
Now that we have the website ready - what’s next? Now you have to get it seen. Since you don’t just want your friends and current customers being the only ones on your website - do you do organic? Pay per click? Now more questions come up…
How do I do that? Where do I do that? Is it more important to go from 5th to 2nd, or 12th to 8th? How long does it take? What are the benefits of one versus the other? Are these the only two options?
What happens if I just want to skip this step and use social media marketing? But Facebook will not help my business you say? Twitter is for celebrities like Ashton Kutcher… not my multi-million dollar business! Think again. You have customers that love you… now let’s use them to spread the love!
What about using other people’s websites? What happens when someone uses the internet to harm your business? What can you do? And can it be done wrong? Will Google punish you if it’s done incorrectly? How about blogs, articles, press releases, forums, etc?
Ahhhh… please get me the Extra Strength Tylenol… it’s a full migraine now!
Hire The Right Internet Marketing Firm
How do I know which internet marketing firm is correct for me? How do I know it’s not someone that just wants my money? Or a kid sitting in his basement that I never see? Can you really know “what I want” by just a 15 minute conversation on the phone? Or more importantly can you really know “what I need?”
Because I might want the fries… but an apple is better.
So… 2010 is the year of Internet Marketing. It’s the year more and more companies will maximize their online presence. But it’s important to do it correctly. And it’s important to hire the right firm.
But mostly - it’s important to start early! This is one area you don’t want to wait while your competitor is doing it.
Yes… keep up with the Joneses on this one!
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