Web Marketing Guide

Is it hypnosis? Seduction? Simple amnesia? Don’t let dot-com technobabble dazzle you into forgetting every business lesson you learned the hard way. You know there are no magic marketing bullets offline; there aren’t any online either. You know that you build a customer list slowly, experimenting with a variety of techniques until word-of-mouth marketing kicks in. You want to be successful online? Then approach the Web the same way you approach your offline business — with an awareness of business fundamentals, a combination of marketing techniques, and an indelible focus on your customers:

• You must have the business fundamentals right before you can have a truly successful Web site. Many sites flounder on straightforward business issues of cost, merchandising, back-office support, and customer service. Too many confuse revenues with profits, only to discover in quarterly financials that their sites are sinking into the Red Sea.
• Successful Web marketing requires a combination of methods. Nowhere in this book do you read that the solution to all your Web woes lies in content, search engine optimization, link campaigns, pay per click ads, banners, e-mail newsletters, or any one online or offline marketing technique. Many are necessary, but none alone is sufficient to bring in all the traffic you need. Instead, you must select judiciously from an extensive marketing menu: a little appetizer, a nice side dish, maybe an entree that takes the most of your Web marketing dollars and efforts. Oh, don’t forget dessert.
• The customer is the measure of all things Web, from site design to marketing. Don’t let technology or personal inclination distract you from a focus on what the customer wants. And don’t get carried away with what Web technology can do.

From those principles, you can see that Web marketing fits within the defini-tion of marketing you’re already familiar with. When they’re well implemented, online techniques might offer a more cost-effective marketing mix, greater flexibility, or easier expansion to new markets than offline techniques. With this blog as your reference guide, you can master these new tools, adding a sense of adventure, as well as profits, to your bottom line.