Website marketing - different tools and solutions

Hopefully by now everyone has realised that having a website does not constitute marketing your business, in fact it is now recognised that in many ways your website has to be marketed, so this brings a whole new set of challenges and raises many important questions about the role a website plays in the marketing of your business.

For now though we will only discuss marketing your website and how you would direct people to your website.

Offline marketing of your website

Offline marketing takes a bit of imagination and depending on which route you go down may also entail spending anything from a small amount of money to a large amount of money. You should really be thinking about all of this at the stage before you even start your website project. There is no point in having a great looking well-working website that no one visits.

Stationery

There are simple ways to direct people to your website and by far the simplest is to make sure your stationery has all the relevant email and web addresses located in prominent positions.

It really is a no brainer as you must have stationery. Whilst this sounds obvious we still get business cards from people without web addresses. Usually this is a small business trying to exhaust existing stationery but our advice is bin the old stuff and get the new stuff sooner rather than later containing your email and web addresses - you do not know when someone will find your card and visit your website as a result.

Your people

Perhaps the least utilised offline marketing method for getting people to your website is to tell people about your web site - again this sounds silly but have you ever called a company and asked the receptionist for the company's web address only to be confronted with someone who needs to go and ask what it is ?

If you have a reception area have a big sign on your wall with your web address on it - that way even if there is a temporary worker on reception they know exactly what your business web address is. That could make all the difference to winning or not winning business. Simple but effective.

Vehicles

We completed a web site not too long ago for a business with a fleet of vehicles. We see these cars and vans on the roads and still they do not have their web address on the vehicles. Amazing. We appreciate it all costs money and sometimes other things take precedence, but when considering creating or upgrading a website these additional costs should be factored in at the outset instead of being an afterthought.

Media

There are lots of different offline media areas that could be utilised to attract people to your website although the cost implications have to be taken into account. We hear large companies advertising on the television and / or radio, and this is perhaps out of reach of many smaller businesses, but there are other opportunities that could be looked at.

In Glasgow we have an underground system and a wide area bus network all with possible advertising routes to your market. There are the black taxis that offer advertising opportunities.

Newspapers - you could certainly advertise in newspapers but a better route would be to get free press that would get you much more readers and notice than simply advertising yourself. This may entail employing a PR agency though.

Sponsorship - sponsoring events or people participating in events can attract attention whilst performing a social role in the community at the same time.

Local football teams - if your business is primarily localised in one area then there may be a junior or amateur football team that would be happy to receive your sponsorship money to buy kit and wear your companies name or web address on their shirts.

Online marketing for your website

The days of thinking that advertising banners on other websites that will direct people to your website and turn your business into a multi million pound business are just about gone - fortunately. There are a few websites who over the years have greatly profited from the misconception that this route will benefit their advertisers but primarily the only businesses you will see still advertising using banner ads are the larger companies and organisations and it is our belief that this is more to do with brand building and emphasising than anything else. So first things first - don't waste your money on banner adds and lets look at more cost effective ways that will help.

Where are your target audience ?

Your target market will already be online somewhere. This is the first step to realising how to be successful using online marketing. Know where your audience already are online. This may take a bit of research but if you put the time and effort in you should get your reward. So where might they be ?

Forums

Who has visited forums ? Forums are plentiful on the internet and there will be forums there that are relevant to you and your business. The great thing about forums is that you have an audience who are interested in that particular subject. There are no people there that are not interested in it so you are onto a winner immediately. If you sell sporting memorabilia then you will find plenty of sporting enthusiast forums with a ready market as they are all there discussing everything to do with sporting events and people. Of course you do not go onto forums and tell people you have some great products to sell, you go on and become part of the online community and gradually people will ask you things and you will get an opportunity to mention what you do and how you perhaps can help them find what they are looking for.

Affiliations

Are you a member of an association ? If you are an accountancy firm you are more than likely to be affiliated to an accountancy association. Do they have a website that you can get a link from to your website ? What other organisations are you a member of ? Can they provide you with a link to your website ? Is it free

Associated business websites

Many businesses really to one degree or another on other businesses around them. For instance if you are in the hospitality industry and you run a small bed and breakfast which is near a golf course. You may advertise that golf course on your website and they may advertise your B & B on their website. Both of you stand to benefit from the association. Of course this association could also extend to other localised businesses such as the distillery, the local tourist information board, the local paint balling business, etc etc ....have a look at your business and ask the question - which other businesses can we associate ourselves with the boost our opportunities. Most businesses will find there are some and there are added benefits to doing this with regards to being found via search engines.

Industry Specific Websites.

There are many websites out there that are dedicated to particular industries. The hotel industry has a few and it can really pay off to be a member of these. We recently worked on a project for a hotel and linked the client up with an industry specific website. As a result 50% of their bookings came from people who had found their website as a result of being on the website they had subscribed to. This resulted in a significant increase in business for only a few hundred pounds per year.

Email signature files

Perhaps the easiest and most cost effective way of getting people to your website is including a link to your web address using email signature files. (To find out about how to direct people by utilising email campaigns please visit that page.)

Need to know more ?

Call us on 0141 332 7144 or alternatively contact us through our online contact form