Successfully expand your sales and market reach. Develop new market segments by utilizing Internet marketing, search marketing, and web branding strategies and sales solutions from Professional Web Services, and PPC online advertising such as Google AdWords.
For The Business to Consumer Industry B2C
RESTON, VA, March 21, 2006 – comScore Networks today released results from a new research study that confirms the importance of search in influencing offline buying. The results show that 25 percent of searchers purchased an item directly related to their query, and that of those buyers, 37 percent completed their purchase online. An even greater 63 percent completed a purchase offline following their search activity.
Globalization of The Business to Business Technical Industry B2B
Your Web Site
“With 98 percent of engineers using the Internet for work and over 90 percent using it to research technical products, your company’s Web site is one of your most significant marketing vehicles for reaching your target audience.”
http://www.globalspec.com/memberlink/Your_Web_Site.pdf
Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing Agents
Use of the Internet for finding suppliers is on the rise for Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing Agents.
Purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents evaluate suppliers based upon price, quality, service support, availability, reliability, and selection. To assist them in their search, they review catalogs, industry periodicals, directories, trade journals, and Internet sites.
Are Potential New B2B And B2C Customers Finding You Online?
The fact is more and more engineers, purchasing managers, consumers, buyers, and Small Business owners are going online to find the products and services that they need. These searches are conducted via the keywords entered into the search engines for every single industry on the plant. These keywords range on everything: from individual products, types of processes, consumer goods, business equipment, and manufacturing and fabrication services.
Niche Market Segments
By implementing targeted keyword advertisements and setting aside an Online advertising budget we can effectively target market segments and increase sales that would be very expensive to reach in the old traditional ways of advertisement spending in various engineering, print magazines, and trade journals. Or, even in the consumer market place where catalogs and direct marketing can be quite expensive as compared to online ads. Additionally the sales ROI of Online advertising can be very good compared to that of other forms from of advertisement spending such as print media, Yellow Pages, and even Tradeshows.
Pay Per Click PPC Ads
The type of online advertising I am referring to is known as Pay-Per-Click, PPC advertising and just like the name says – your account is charged when someone clicks on the ad. The ranking of the Ads displayed (position of ad on page) is based on an automatic bidding process and relevancy of the ad itself.
Local, National/International Ads Placements
As the advertiser, you have complete control on what keywords are targeted, what you are willing to pay for the cost of a click, and what your daily budget is going to be, plus being able to control where the ads are displayed; unlike the purchasing of a single placement ad through a media agency specialist for the Yellow Pages. Ads can be targeted Geographically, Locally, Nationally, And Internationally along with inclusion into affiliates and content related website networks. Maximize ROI — More than one advertising campaign can be set up at the same time to target several different industries or groups of keywords for different market segments.
Where Does The Online Advertising Click Take A Person?
The place a person is transported to is a page on a website, known as the Landing Page. The landing page is a targeted web page that has the information related to the ad itself. The page should be relevant to the topic at hand and provide an additional call to action item such as, contact us, go to another page for additional information, call us on the phone, or sign up for a Free Technical Marketing Newsletter. If the visitor follows the path set forth then this is considered a good conversion.
Importance Of Understanding A Website
A website is not like a book that you start at the beginning and read through. Most people are very specific in the type of information that they are looking for. Typically when a search is conducted, the person finding a page online is going to read the specific information on that page and any other related hyperlinks will be followed depending on what the person is interested in.
Organic Search Engine Data Results Pages
When someone does a search query on the Internet they type keywords into the search box. The natural or organic results are made up of websites that the search engine algorithms have cataloged as being the best results for that particular searched for term. Obtaining good SERPs, Search Engine Ranking Results Pages for your site involves: adding new content pages, editing and maintaining content up-to-date on older pages, adding new body text on older pages with the keywords specifically targeted to your target industries, and a host of other on site and off site variables for Help in obtaining good rankings. For an example of an off site variable that Helps with rankings would be the number and quality of websites that link back to your site or individual pages on your website.
Internet Marketing Strategies
The term Internet marketing is the field of marketing a business on the World Wide Web. This encompasses everything from keyword optimization on a website, upgrading the structural layout and underlying code design, improving text and image layout, COPYWRITING creativity, writing ads for online advertising, strategic business web branding, email marketing, creative online advertising PowerPoint presentations, and a host of other high-tech tools such as detailed videos, managing corporate blogs and producing webcasts, or implementing new Web Applications that can display engineering drawings in 3d which can provide additional insight for a potential customer.
What Is It Going To Take
To make internet marketing a success will involve substantial work from both your company and Professional Web Services.
Many times businesses have put websites together and think that is it. Other times some businesses think, we hardly get anyone visiting our website so we don’t have to worry about it. Both of these thoughts are definitely WRONG. Placing a website online is a reflection of your company. Not having information that is current can be a major turn off for potential new customers not to mention the legal liability issues of having false or misleading information online. Additionally, the reason some companies do not get any business from their websites is simply because of the lack of proper Internet marketing strategies. Many of the websites typically lack the proper foundation to begin with, and no concerted effort has been placed into developing the whole process.
Developing the website properly will take a partnership arrangement between both Professional Web Services and the client. Start with by developing a strategic marketing plan of attack after first analyzing the client’s website and online search engine exposure. Once a site is analyzed for layout and form then determine what needs to be fixed. Items such as layout and content will more than likely have to be improved by eliminating spam of certain keywords and copywriting editing to strengthen and expand upon other keyword areas. Additional content with well placed Digital Camera pictures along with detailed captions would be recommended to show some sample products and talk about generalities or Non-Proprietary specifics related to the industry market segments being targeted. Certainly being aware of non-disclosure agreements and not talking about specifics where these NDAs exist would be Legally & Ethically important to follow, including obtaining Releases for any type of OEM pictures or personally identifiable information.
An example of something from a website that is a poor reflection of the company is in the following side by side statements:
“… process of upgrading and implementing its quality manual and management system to ISO 9002 requirements. … engaging the British Standards Institute, BSI to provide guidance and registration, … anticipates certification before the end of 1999.”
While that statement made sense back in 1999 it shows that the page is quite out-of-date and should be changed or the statement removed altogether if this is not true.
Another example of something that is very poor from a search engine standpoint is a home page foundational structure with no written text. There is absolutely no body text content in the page. The whole page is little more than a graphic image which provides nothing in the way of body text content. Here is the entire actual code from a home page (slight modifications to protect privacy):
SRC=”world.jpeg” WIDTH=”520″ HEIGHT=”417″>
For a person to understand what all the different terms mean is not necessary, but please do understand that what you see above is all that the search engines see. A page needs to have body text to start showing up in the search engines results pages. The background of the home page is a darksky.jpeg image and all the links are graphic image links which do very little in helping you get found online.
Costs Involved
First and foremost there will be a substantial time commitment from both a client and Professional Web Services. Time will most definitely need to be set aside for developing the new content and revision of old subject matter. Professional Web Services, Inc. will work closely with you to develop the new content and revision of the old. There will have to be brainstorming discussions of the targeted keywords and the various different market segments that you would like to target along with detailed discussions of web pages and what exactly you want to say.
Before running a PPC Online advertising campaign we would recommend developing the website properly. We would suggest setting aside an appropriate amount for the overall online advertising campaign spending, depending on the industry and current bidding of the targeted keywords. An appropriate set aside amount would provide the capabilities of running several different advertising campaigns targeting different market segments or keywords.
Quality Website Link Building Process
Redoing, revising, adding to, and maintaining the website on a monthly basis to improve the keyword quality, plus quality link building is the type of program for your business that we would recommend. We install an analytical metrics application tool embedded into a website to monitor and provide real-time data metrics for: visitor actions, pages viewed, time spent on a page, where visitors come from, and keyword analysis, while also providing access for our clients to use as an additional marketing tool. The real-time data metrics provided can be extremly helpful for improving the site layout and design, plus Online data feedback for the client.
There may be some additional recommended fees to establish a website in some online directories. This has the benefit of bringing traffic to the website as well as giving a quality link for the search engines to see.
Why Spend Money On The Website?
Go back to the quotes above. Look at the numbers of people; consumers, buyers, purchasing managers, purchasing agents, and engineers searching online. All it takes is to get a couple of orders and the site or site improvements are paid for. A new customer and new market segment can bring in thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to the bottom line.
Sales Strategies
A good website is a 24/7 x 365 days a year SALESMAN. This salesman never gets tired, no need to pay health insurance premiums on, do not have to set aside state disability insurance, and no need to pay taxes for this salesman. This salesman can work for you In The Future, even when you are not able to. With the Future Of Our Global Economy and the Free Trade And Globalization impact on individual businesses, the only way to truly reach the world is with good B2B and B2C business websites. Simply put, No other marketing form can do what this one Sales tool can do for you. Plus, by developing a Good Web Site this can help in other forms of future marketing.
For example when talking with someone about a certain type of product or application imagine the type of impression that would be made if you could send an email link to a page on your website where it could explain more information with picture details of something you have already done in the past. This type of marketing works and works very well.
What You Can Expect To See
By seriously venturing into this online media outlet with a strategic Internet marketing plan, and an Online advertising campaign you will start to see leads come in, along with, converting those leads into paying customers. The process will take time and there are some differences to consider between b2b vs. b2c, but in the long run it will be well worth it, with a website that you can be proud of, a place where you can direct new customers to, and an online marketing and advertising tool that can be utilized as a powerful sales tool for you in the future.
By redesigning, revising, and optimizing the pages, and establishing quality links to your website, including keyword variables, & competitiveness of the on line market place, it can take several months or more to show up in the natural search results. Once the website pages are developed that is when to implement the online advertising campaign to target the various different industries, products, or services.
Ethical Issues In Business
Business Ethics, as it relates to Internet Marketing, Online Advertising, and Client confidentiality play an important part in the working relationships between principal owners and the outsourced services to be preformed. When dealing with online issues it is important to have someone you can place trust in. Consultations, brainstorming strategy sessions, and working closely with the owners or management assigned personal will be a prerequisite of ethics for building a solid online presence. ?
There will be web marketing recommendations of what legally should and should not be placed on the website. Issues will cover: displaying trademarks of other companies in a website, use of trademarks in ads, intellectual property rights, nondisclosure agreements, copyrights of others and your copyrights, along with covering privacy issues, And B2B & B2C Regulatory Issues related to EMAIL, SPAM, and Truth in Advertising. Advice will also be given as it relates to not revealing technology trade secrets OR protected proprietary information to the competition. Note: The eBusiness competition will surely be checking your website out, and for that reason it is always wise to make sure what is placed on the site will not compromise the company’s intellectual property position. Making sure all of these Internet marketing and advertising ethical, legal, and regulatory laws are followed are important from the ethics, legal, and Ecommerce perspective and staying out of lawsuits or other expensive LEGAL problems. ?
The Bottom Line
Options: Do nothing; spend no time or money on the website, never get any web traffic visitors, leads, or sales from the website, and the situation will be as before.
OR
Spend the time and money on the Solution to potentially bring in new visitors, leads, and net brand-new customers with the potential to Net a Return On Investment of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
James A. Warholic
President
Professional Web Services, Inc.
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