Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing Blog

I’m still surprised by the number of small businesses today that still don’t have a website. A recent research study released two days ago from the UK showed that 46% of Britain’s small businesses are still without a website. Even more alarming is that 47% of firms that were still off-line believed that a website could NOT benefit their business. This errant thinking was in direct contrast with a further study that showed that 80% of similar businesses with websites gain revenue from those sites.

It feels a lot like the whole ostrich/sand analogy. I’m not sure how companies of any size these days can justify not having an online presence. Even without going as far as eCommerce applications or social media marketing, having a website seems to be the most elementary of requirements for doing business these days.

Having a small brochure-type website truly is better than having no website at all.  If you aren’t on the web, potential customers are currently using your competition because they can’t remember you phone number or email address and they can’t find your non-existent website.  Social media marketing has quickly become another alternative to having your own website.  Facebook, for example, is a great way to connect with customers and potential customers and allow them to share your message with their friends.  Retaurants, retailers and many other businesses are now using facebook to keep their message current and in front of customers.

Phone books are very quickly being completely replaced by internet searches.  Without an online presence, many customers will never be able to find out.  Do you feel like websites just don’t work in your industry? Have you had a website that just didn’t work and you’re fearful of trying again?  A basic website should be a part of every companies successful marketing plan, but having a website is not enough.  You have to use internet marketing to put your website in from of potential customers.  That includes, not only social media marketing, but email marketing and search engine optimization and paid search marketing.

Acclaimed Web Development & Online Marketing can help you develop and brand your new website and marketing it on the internet and bring targeted traffic to your website.  We can also design print marketing materials to advertise your business.  Request a quote to get started today!

I am a big believer in multi-channel marketing. I have always said market your products and services online and in print and if appropriate, radio, television, bill boards, etc., but now I believe there are so many ways to market yourself online that the phrase Multi-channel Internet Marketing is what we are going to be hearing more about in the future.

Nothing beats being number one on the first SERPs (search engine results pages) for the phrases your customers are searching for, but search engine optimization is supplemented and even improved by having a complimentary paid search engine marketing campaign and vice versa.

Email marketing is another way to keep prospects “on the hook” and customers coming back to your site. It’s a great supplement to other forms of internet marketing because it does what no other form of internet marketing can do. It allows you to not only target customers, but allows your customers and prospects to ask for your advertisements and opt-out if they are no longer interested. If your customers can get your advertisements in the form they want them, at a time when they are most likely to read them and only as often as they want them, they are more likely to look at your advertisements and remember them when they need your products or services.

The newest addition to our arsenal of internet marketing services is social media marketing.  Marketing on social media sites can allow you to reach millions of customers through sites like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Linkedin.  Posting your messages on these sites allows your follows to repost your content allowing you to get a lot more links to your website and blog, so social media marketing has search engine optimization benefits as well.

In marketing, one of the most important pieces of advice I can give is to always keep your company name and your brand in front of people’s faces.  All the methods of internet marketing can be used together to show that your company is well-established and experts in your field.

I see on craigslist all the time. Someone wants a website for their small business idea. They know that a website with a shopping cart is what they need, but once they have it and sales don’t start rolling it, they wonder why no one wants to visit their website or buy their product. What happened?

Well, it’s simple really. It’s not that no one wants to visit your website or buy your product it’s that no one knows it’s even online.

Most websites, especially popular website get more than 90% of their web traffic from search engines, but search engine don’t automatically put your website on the first page just because you’re online. You have to use a series of techniques called search engine optimization or SEO to show the search engines which keyword phrases your site should be listed under. You need to provide the search engines with unique content with those keyword phrases in it, so they know your site is relevant to those keyword phrases. Not just relevant, but more relevant than all of your competitors because if you want web searchers to client on your site, you need to be on the search engine’s first page for your keyword phrases.

While you’re working on getting the search engines to list you on their first page, which can take months, you can almost immediately bring targeted traffic and customers to your website by bidding for keywords through search engine marketing (SEM) or pay per click (PPC). In programs like Google Adwords, you can bid on keywords and only pay when someone clicks on your site. You can also advertise through social media marketing on sites like facebook.com.

Email marketing is another way you can bring visitors to your site. Building or buying an email list and email those customers that opt-in to your mailing list is one of the cheapest and most effective ways of bringing traffic to your site.

Online marketing is an essential part of success on the internet. No matter how great your product or how beautiful you believe your website design, it’s not enough to just put your website out there and hope for the best.