Web Marketing Success Requires Time And/Or Money

Like most things these days, you get what you pay for in time and/or money with web marketing. We get inquiries from time to time from solopreneurs with a good idea that needs marketed online, and they are often shocked to find out the volume of effort it will take to make their idea shine online. Particularly, the effort needed to reach enough eyes in a reasonable amount of time to start seeing a return. It's an inconvenient reality, but it is reality nonetheless.

Sometimes these solopreneurs decide to use a self-service platform, or worse, the phone book company's online service to launch their web presence. We completely understand the need to conserve funds, but unfortunately, going this route commonly results in a waste of money and time, because the one size fits all solution does nothing for them. It doesn't focus on their specific target audience and a strategy to reach them. They don't do any real SEO. Some are at someone else's domain instead of the prospect's own, giving the platform SEO value instead of their business. Ultimately, having a website on a desolate island won't help your business.

Listen, if being successful online was as simple as setting up a DIY website, sitting back and watching the orders roll in, there would obviously be no reason for me to be writing this. That is a pipe dream at best. The truth is, to see real results, you will either need to invest your own time, money, or a combination of the 2. A combination of time and money often proves to be the most successful.

Small Businesses Face Similar Problems

Like solopreneurs, most of the businesses we work with have no full time marketing staff. We certainly understand the time challenge. As I've written before, many small businesses that we work with have someone "in charge" of the web marketing project that has a completely unrelated position at the company. They may be the HR person, the President's assistant, the IT guy, etc... These folks are not focused on the web marketing efforts of the company, or marketing in any form. They just want to get the project "done". I don't blame them. They've been tasked with a project outside of their expertise and often don't get the overall potential value of their efforts. It's looked at as more of a task on their list. Unfortunately, that won't produce a successful web marketing effort.

An investment in a web marketing strategy should be guided by a business's objectives, knowledge about their ideal buyers, what differentiates them from their competitors (truly) and their lead or sale generation processes at minimum. The person in charge of the web marketing efforts all too often has no grasp on any of these items. That's a big problem. This is where time comes in. A much better outcome will be had if multiple internal players are involved with the project. I mean truly involved, shaping the strategic efforts.

At minimum, a company without a dedicated marketing person or staff should involve the following roles in their web marketing project:

• CEO/President
• Sales
• Customer Service

Without these roles involved, it's very difficult to hit on the areas I outline above. Everyone wants to see a return on the time and money invested in their efforts. The time and effort is often the missing ingredient, when a minimal investment is made.

We Can Guide The Process

Sometimes all a company needs to transform the effectiveness of their web marketing efforts is a guiding hand. By becoming a true partner to your business, we can help guide the internal processes and efforts to make sure you succeed online. We'd be happy to discuss this option with you.