If you want to gain the maximum benefit from internet marketing you must understand three facts:
1. Online marketing will only work if you understand marketing.
2. Online marketing means much more than having a website.
3. Online marketing is only a fraction of all marketing.

Successful online marketing must be approached in a planned and systematic way and involves proper Planning, Content, Design, Involvement, Hosting, Maintenance and Promotion.

Planning

Planning your online marketing campaign is vital. A thorough understanding of your target audience and detailed knowledge of their needs will help you to establish the theme and content of your website and to define the most effective promotional activities that will generate relevant traffic to your site. An important part of the planning process is research, asking your existing customers for their opinions on your service, if they have access to the internet and how they search for products or services will provide you with valuable information.

Content

Content must be relevant and attractive to your audience, the potential buyer is your most important visitor! And, the most important element of a web site is the content. People will only visit your site if it matches their needs, they will only stay on your website if they find it interesting and useful and they will only make a purchase if they are sure of your credibility. Your web site should be designed around a main theme based upon the most relevant keywords or keyword phrases that describe your products or services. Content should also be structured to include an "About" section, contact details, Frequently Asked Questions and links to other relevant sites. It is worth considering the most appropriate way of presenting the content. Some sites are best designed by creating individual themes or categories while others are more suited to a step by step approach.

Design

Your site should primarily be designed for people. This means that it is simple to navigate, relatively quick to load and consistent in both theme and content. Some sites use sophisticated animations and graphics that use leading edge technology and create superb effects. Unfortunately these things take a lot longer to load than text and, as far as the internet is concerned, it is words that sell. Most people tend to use Search engines and Directories such as MSN, AltaVista or Google to search for information on products and services and, therefore, it is critical that your web site is search Engine optimised. We recognise the importance of search Engine optimisation and have established the web-optimisation.com website where you can find in depth information on this specialist topic.

Involvement

Most web sites are, by their very nature, static and no matter how relevant or good the content is the visitor is not able to make the same connection as they would in a real shop. To promote that interaction your website should include elements that involve the visitor and encourage them to provide data and participate in some way. This may be a simple guestbook, a newsletter subscription request, a forum or the opportunity to participate in a survey or competition. The nature of involvement will be driven by the content and should be consistent with the theme of the web site. The important thing is to ensure that your visitors provide sufficient information to allow you to follow up enquiries and to build up a long term relationship.

Hosting

Obviously, there is no point in investing in a high quality web site that attracts and involves visitors if it is not fully accessible all the time. When choosing an Internet Service Provider be sure that as a minimum they offer high speed access, server reliability and the resilience of dual feeds. You should also ensure that you have the facility to back up your web site just in case!

Maintenance

If the most important element of your website is content, then it is vital that it is kept up to date; and that returning visitors are rewarded with new information or new products. As mentioned earlier, web sites need to be relevant and interesting; regular updates will help to maintain sufficient interest to keep visitors coming back. Remember that as you build up a database of e-mail addresses you can inform your list of additions to your web site and send them regular newsletters. Enquiries received from the web site should be handled professionally and promptly. Auto-responders can be used to acknowledge receipt of an enquiry and you must keep (or better still exceed) your promises. If you say that an enquiry will be dealt with within 48 hours then it must be.

Promotion

The overriding goal of any business is to make profitable sales. A website is similar to a brochure and to be effective a brochure must be distributed rather than hidden in a cupboard! To drive traffic to your web site you should promote your web site address through both online activity such as search Engine submissions, participation in forums & newsgroups, adding the web site address to your e-mail signature file; and offline through advertising, PR and by ensuring the site URL is on stationery, vehicle livery and on other promotional material.