Marketing and Selling in Favourable Economic Conditions

Useful tips for web-marketing

Prasanna Perera, Marketing and Management Consultant, Chartered Marketer, CIM U.K.

Web Marketing is now being practiced by organizations marketing products, services or even not-for-profit ventures (charity organizations). The purpose of this article is to provide some guidelines to practice web marketing or internet marketing in a simple manner, devoid of technical jargon.

2. Producing a Successful Business Website

Most good marketing websites follow a few, essential principles relating to navigation.

* The main menu of options appears consistently on every page in the same place.

* All contextual and navigation links are verified to be sure they work, open correctly and go to the right content page.

* The footer on each page includes links to the main pages, so users don't have to scroll back to the top of a page to navigate elsewhere.

* A linkable sitemap or index offers the overall layout of a site at a glance. (This is helpful for search engine ranking)

* Secondary menus cue users with a glimpse of what they will find within a section.

Writing effective marketing copy

Most people don't read online, but they scan to save time. That makes sense because it takes 25% longer to read the same material on screen, than it does to read it on paper.

The following are useful guidelines in writing effective web marketing copy.

* Write strong leads. (The first sentence on the page is called the lead). Hook readers with the benefits they'll find on your site, store or page.

* Limit use of PDF, since this file format isn't great for users/readers.

* Grab readers with headlines and subheads help break up the text on a page, making it easier to read.

* Keep it short, since people are busy and don't have time to read everything. Use short words, short sentences, short paragraphs and short pages.

* Use bullet lists. Think power-point style, not essay.

* Stay informal, since a conversational tone works better than a formal tone. (Of course with proper English).

Website design basics

Marketers will not be required to design websites, in most instances. However, it is important to understand the basics, so that working with web designers becomes easier.

* Concept of the website that will intimately connect your brand and target audience.

* Content : All the words, products, pictures, audio and any other material you put on your site.

* Navigation : The way users move through a site by using menus, links and sitemaps.

* Decoration : All supporting design elements, such as buttons, fonts and graphics.

* Marketing Efficiency : Methods such as calls to action or signup forms.

Always keep in mind the above mentioned website design basics, to ensure web marketing success.

Using multimedia (Rich Media)

Multimedia has increased in popularity as broadband use has exploded. Audio clips, music, video and flash animation all fall into this category.

The following reasons may make rich media worthwhile for your site.

* Your target audience wants or expects it. (Specially younger audiences)

* To achieve a competitive edge over other players in the market.

* It makes the site easier to use or otherwise enhances the user's experience.

Web Analytics

Is the art of using traffic and sales statistics to understand user behavior and improve the performance of your site.

Of the many statistics that are available, the following are key and should be tracked.

* Visits: How many times the website is viewed. This is the total traffic to the site.

* Page Views: The total number of distinct Web Pages downloaded - that is seen on the screen.

* Search Engines: Which search engine generated a link to your site.

* URL's Viewed: How many times each individual page of your site is viewed (downloaded).

Marketing websites

Given below are a few FREE methods of marketing a website.

* Put your URL on all stationery and packaging, including presentation folders, marketing collaterals etc.,

* Submit your website to the four top search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN etc.,)

* Include your URL in your e-mail signature block. E-mail programmes allow you to create a signature block that appears on every e-mail you send.

* Collect customer testimonials and ask for permission to include their recommendation on your site.

E-Mail marketing

Here are some points to keep in mind when composing e-mail messages.

* From Line: Is the very first criteria recipients use when deciding whether to open a message.

* Subject Line: Recipients use the subject line as their second criteria. Keep the subject line to less than 50 characters.

* Message Text: In the text itself, quickly identify yourself, the nature of your relationship with the recipient and the purpose of your message.

In this brief article my endeavor is to shed new light on different applications of WEB Marketing.

Web Marketing is a vast discipline with different tools, applications etc., In today's information era, Web Marketing is a must for all marketers.