Web marketing or online marketing, put simply, is the general term for marketing your business on the Internet or creating an online brand for your small business. More specifically, it is using “online” marketing channels like your business’s website (at its core) complimented by channels such as: email marketing, search-marketing, social media, QR-codes, eCommerce and pay-per-click, to name a few.
According to the most recent survey by Statistic Canada on Internet Usage in Canada, 80% of Canadians 16 and older, about 21.7 million people, used the Internet in 2009 (Statistics Canada; Canadian Internet Usage 2010). Furthermore, almost 70% use the Internet for “window shopping”; that means looking for goods or services…your goods or services.
In addition, the growth of mobile devices has complimented the increase of online activity because of the ability for consumers to get information instantaneously.
So, with over 3 Billion online searches per day, is your website being found by your potential customers.
A web designer “designs’ webistes, a web developer, “develops” website. A web-marketer, designs, develops and knows how to market your small business website.
For small business marketing, the key is to ensure that your web-marketing goals are working together with other traditional and web marketing channels. The biggest mistake that small business owners commit when they use a web-marketing channel is that they use it independently from other strategies, on its own, with no goals or objectives. For example, just creating a Facebook Page is not your marketing strategy.
The key to any great web-marketing strategy is build a high-quality and optimized website at that core, with one goal in mind: generate sales leads and covert those leads into dollars.
What to look for in a great small business web marketing company?
1. Look for a unique blend of marketing expertise and Internet savviness.
2. You want a small business marketing company who knows how to plan marketing for growth, not one-off tactics.
3. The know-how to design high-quality websites and web-marketing strategies for the sole purpose of generating sales.
4. Expertise as accomplished entrepreneurs and small business owners. Big agencies don’t understand small business challenges.