Marketing on the web is important because the internet is always on. People can view your site 24 hours a day 7 days a week whether it be at home, the office or out and about. For instance people can shop online which can only be good for business. Marketing on the web can attract more people to your site which will increase the amount of customers you get coming to your shop, business etc. Also it will enhance the branding of your company and products.
Strategies & Techniques
There are 3 steps to developing a web marketing strategy they are:
- Developing your product
- Developing your website
- Developing your market strategies
How to market effectively
Once you have the product the next step is to develop your website. You need to make sure your website is fit for purpose ie if it is selling sports equipment make sure your audience know that is what you are selling. Everything on your site should make the the people viewing it want to stay on your site. If your selling a product on the site your aim is for people to buy that product and not shop else where.
The next step is your marketing strategy which should include short and long term plans.
Short term marketing strategies include:
- Purchasing Advertising
- Participating in Forums
- SEO Search Engine Optimisation
Long term marketing strategies include:
- Blogging
- Social Networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc
- Giving away freebies
Understanding your clients needs
When building a website for a client you need to be able to meet the clients needs. "When customers buy a product or a service they do so due to several motivating factors such as desire to own, fear of loss, for security and protection, comfort and convenience, pride of ownership and to satisfy their needs".( This was a line taken from http://ezinarticles.com/?Understanding-Your-Clients-Needs=392444). First research what the clients business is and how a website would improve their business. Who is the target audience for the website. These are the questions you should ask the client to get a feel for what your site may look like.
How to present your findings
When presenting your findings make sure you can get them across so people can understand them. This can be done either by a powerpoint presentation, showing diagrams, graphs and tables of your findings. Or you could talk and handout your findings to the people in the room.
