Unpublished Perils Of Web Based Business Promotion
Never before have so many consumers been able to access so many different products and services. One major search engine reportedly searches 8,058,044,651 web pages daily. That is a huge number requiring study just to be able to pronounce. Given such demographics, a business person interested in building a website presence must consider a number of factors before actively pursuing internet marketing. Banners, pop up ads, opt-in e-mail, newsletters, affiliate advertising, e-books: the vast array of website promotions can be overwhelming to an internet surfer. Spamming has become an issue to the point of national attention. Various software programs have been developed to block spam and pop up ads.
Unless one has an established brick and mortar business with a solid customer base, one must acknowledge the uncomfortable fact that one is relatively anonymous from a business standpoint. Thus, a new business must have an established, well thought out plan of marketing and promotion. It is fine to have a wonderful product or service, but if no one knows it exists, the new business is almost certainly doomed to failure. It is best to carefully consider the available internet marketing and promotion programs and services existent and their associated costs. One must also be aware that there are many costs involved that are not listed right up front. In depth research is required in most cases to ferret out these rapidly mounting expenses.
Just as yellow pages advertising can be crafted to bring about a variety of results, internet marketing can be designed to achieve a number of effects depending on the type of business and the product or service involved. One may wish to encourage shoppers to visit his or her website but purchase products or services at the business person’s brick and mortar storefront, for example.
How does one bring customers to one’s website in the first place? Purchasing lists of potential customers through list building services is one way. It is important to insure the customers on the purchased list are opt-in.
Enticing customers to make a purchase before leaving the website can be a difficult proposition. One must be cognizant at all times of the intense competition for the consumer’s attention and dollar and craft the appropriate advertising campaign taking this into effect.
It is an interesting (and potentially ruinous) fact that all internet marketing services will require a credit card to purchase their product or service. Charges will accrue automatically to that card without any notice given to the card holder unless a maximum amount is entered when the advertising account is set up. Even then, the advertising purchaser may only receive an e-mail notification when the account reaches its maximum limit. One must be aware that the only paper trail generated to record these purchases will be the credit card statement one receives at the end of the month. Therefore, the prudent business person will be well advised to proactively track his or her advertising dollars with each marketing program, at least on a monthly or even weekly basis, but in most, if not all, cases a daily one. This sounds extreme and, indeed it is, but failure to follow one’s advertising closely and monitor expenses compared to sales can lead to early business failure or worse, personal bankruptcy.
Bringing customers to one’s website is, by and large, a useless endeavor unless one is successful in making a sale. Pay per click advertising sounds like the solution to this problem but consider this: if you agree to pay the seemingly innocuous fee of, say, .25Ã?¢ per click and in one day you receive 1,000 clicks on your website home page but no sales (or conversions, as sales are called), you owe the advertiser $250.00 charged to your credit card with no notice or bill in advance. You would need to sign in to your account to find this out. Now multiply that times 30 days and examine your results in light of your advertising budget. Hopefully, you have arranged for the customers to sign up for your newsletter, or opt-in e-mail before they left your site, giving you another opportunity for a sale after the fact.
Arranging for opt-in e-mail is an expense you must account for in your budget. Most website hosts charge for opt-in e-mail service. They may or may not state up front how much that charge may be. Some charge based on the number of customers that choose to opt-in. They also may charge for each individual opt-in e-mail sent out. If you pay for 10,000 e-mails to be sent out at a cost of .10�¢ each with a potential response rate of one percent, you may find a credit card bill at the end of the month for $1,000 resulting in only one hundred sales, maybe. Sending e-mails to someone without their express permission (them opting in) is called spamming and it is illegal.
A person can advertise in newsletters that accept ad copy, not as expensive as newspapers or radio, but an expense nevertheless. A one day run of your modest ad in a national newsletter may run several hundred dollars. What kind of response rate will that generate? How many sales can one expect as a result of the one day ad run? Will the expected sales be adequate to pay for the advertising plus a profit? Consider writing and publishing your own newsletter. You can sell advertising in your newsletter to help pay for the expense, but be careful to count the costs incurred in doing so. Even after crafting a well thought out newsletter one is faced with the prospect of distribution. Who will the newsletter be sent out to? How? Opt-in e-mail? Hard copy through the USPS? Will the newsletter include graphics? If so, will software be needed to edit the graphics and install it? Can the current computer system handle the needed software?
Another popular advertising ploy used to entice would-be customers is to sell on your website, or even give away there, a product called an e-book. Most of the e-books advertised as a give-away are actually products with an associated hidden cost. Open the e-book and you will almost certainly discover part way through the book you will be required to make a purchase to continue reading the book or post it on your site. Most of those books are treatises purporting to explain internet marketing or how someone used various internet marketing ploys to make an income of one size or another. Avoid those with exaggerated claims. Examine each one to determine how thoroughly various promoted internet advertising costs are addressed. An e-book can be an excellent tool to disseminate information about a product or service, but go slowly and take time to consider all the financial ramifications of e-book development, advertising, sales and distribution.
If you decide to write your own e-book, look into the software required in advance. You may need software to actually write the e-book text, software to convert the text to html or some other internet friendly code, software to design and publish the e-book cover, software to deal with any proposed graphics, or the money to hire all this done. Some software is multi-functional and can be used to craft more than one aspect of an e-book. The more complex software is, the more expensive it may be. Consider the suitability and compatibility of any proposed software purchase with the computer system currently in use in the business. Computer system upgrades may be required for new software, an unanticipated expense. Use of e-book sales and free distribution may work for the business person but it is imperative to closely examine all costs before embarking on a program of e-book advertising.
Affiliate advertising is another example of internet marketing that may be a business person’s choice. Once again, careful thought and research is necessary to root out all the costs associated with affiliate advertising. If possible, make a telephone call and talk to a person about their proposed affiliate advertising program. Write down any and all questions before making the phone call and write down all the responses. Request brochures or any documentation the advertiser may have available for you to study at your leisure. Be wary of any demands for an immediate decision. Ask for references. Reputable companies anxious for advertising business will not hesitate to supply them.
Use the same careful research and investigation into internet marketing and advertising as you would in developing a business marketing and promotional campaign in the real world. With thoughtful planning, realistic goals and diligent execution, internet marketing and promotion can be a boon to your website business and put you on the road to success!
